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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 3 - "Latin Language" to "Lefebvre, François-Joseph"
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 3 - "Latin Language" to "Lefebvre, François-Joseph"" ***
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE LATIN LANGUAGE: "... this is the most convenient place in
which to state briefly the very little that can be said as yet to
have been ascertained as to the general relations of Italic to its
sister groups." 'that' amended from 'than'.
ARTICLE LATIN LANGUAGE: "... (which had been gradually noted, see
e.g. F. Skutsch in Kroll's Altertumswissenschaft im letzten
Vierteljahrhundert, 1905) their actual effect on the language."
'im' amended from 'in'.
ARTICLE LATIN LITERATURE: "... from the name of its greatest
literary representative, whose activity as a speaker and writer was
unremitting during nearly the whole period." 'speaker' amended from
'peaker'.
ARTICLE LATIUM: "See G. A. Colini in Bullettino di paletnologia
Italiana, xxxi. (1905)." 'paletnologia' amended from
'palentologia'.
ARTICLE LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE, THÉOPHILE MALO: "In 1784 he was
promoted captain, and in 1791 he received the cross of St Louis."
'1784' amended from '1748'.
ARTICLE LAVOISIER, ANTOINE LAURENT: "... his collaborators in the
reformed system of chemical terminology set forth in 1787 in the
Méthode de nomenclature chimique, were among the earliest French
converts ..." 'nomenclature' amended from 'momenclature'.
ARTICLE LAVOISIER, ANTOINE LAURENT: "Under the head of 'oxidable or
acidifiable' substances, the combination of which with oxygen
yielded acids, were placed sulphur, phosphorus, carbon, and the
muriatic, fluoric and boracic radicals." 'radicals' amended from
'radicles'.
ARTICLE LEATHER: "... and thickly split, the poorer hides being
utilized for chamois; they are now re-split at the fatty strata so
that all fat may be easily removed, and while the grains are
dressed as skivers ..." 'utilized' amended from 'ultilized'.
ARTICLE LEAVENWORTH: "The fort, from which the city took its name,
was built in 1827, in the Indian country, by Colonel Henry
Leavenworth (1783-1834) of the 3rd Infantry, for the protection of
traders plying between the Missouri river and Santa Fé." 'Santa'
amended from 'Sante'.
ARTICLE LECTOURE: "In 1473 Cardinal Jean de Jouffroy besieged the
town on behalf of Louis XI. and after its fall put the whole
population to the sword." 'population' amended from 'pupulation'.
ARTICLE LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN: "... and a selection from them
was translated by S. Hoole and published in English (London,
1781-1798)." '1781-1798' amended from '1798-1781'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XVI, SLICE III
Latin Language to Lefebvre, François-Joseph
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
LATIN LANGUAGE LAZARITES
LATIN LITERATURE LAZARUS (New Testament)
LATINUS LAZARUS, EMMA
LATITUDE LAZARUS, HENRY
LATIUM LAZARUS, MORITZ
LATONA LAZARUS, ST, ORDER OF
LATOUCHE, HYACINTHE JOSEPH DE LEA, HENRY CHARLES
LA TOUR, MAURICE QUENTIN DE LEAD (South Dakota, U.S.A.)
LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE, MALO LEAD (chemical element)
LATREILLE, PIERRE ANDRÉ LEADER, BENJAMIN WILLIAMS
LA TRÉMOILLE LEADHILLITE
LATROBE, CHARLES JOSEPH LEADHILLS
LATTEN LEAD POISONING
LATTICE LEAF PLANT LEADVILLE
LATUDE, JEAN HENRI LEAF
LATUKA LEAF-INSECT
LAUBAN LEAGUE
LAUBE, HEINRICH LEAKE, WILLIAM MARTIN
L'AUBESPINE LEAMINGTON
LAUCHSTÄDT LÉANDRE, CHARLES LUCIEN
LAUD, WILLIAM LEAP-YEAR
LAUD LEAR, EDWARD
LAUDANUM LEASE
LAUDER, SIR THOMAS DICK LEATHER
LAUDER, WILLIAM LEATHER, ARTIFICIAL
LAUDER (burgh of Scotland) LEATHERHEAD
LAUDERDALE, JOHN MAITLAND LEATHES, STANLEY
LAUENBURG LEAVEN
LAUFF, JOSEF LEAVENWORTH
LAUGHTER LEBANON (middle east)
LAUMONT, FRANÇOIS GILLET DE LEBANON (Illinois, U.S.A.)
LAUNCESTON (Cornwall, England) LEBANON (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
LAUNCESTON (Tasmania) LE BARGY, CHARLES GUSTAVE AUGUSTE
LAUNCH LE BEAU, CHARLES
LAUNDRY LEBEAU, JOSEPH
LA UNION (Salvador) LEBEL, JEAN
LA UNION (Spain) LEBER, JEAN MICHEL CONSTANT
LAURAHÜTTE LEBEUF, JEAN
LAUREATE LE BLANC, NICOLAS
LAUREL LE BLANC
LAURENS, HENRY LEBOEUF, EDMOND
LAURENT, FRANÇOIS LE BON, JOSEPH
LAURENTINA, VIA LEBRIJA
LAURENTIUS, PAUL LE BRUN, CHARLES
LAURIA ROGER DE LEBRUN, CHARLES FRANÇOIS
LAURIA (Italy) LEBRUN, PIERRE ANTOINE
LAURIER, SIR WILFRID LEBRUN, PONCE DENIS ÉCOUCHARD
LAURISTON, JACQUES BERNARD LAW LE CARON, HENRI
LAURIUM (Greece) LE CATEAU
LAURIUM (Michigan, U.S.A.) LECCE
LAURUSTINUS LECCO
LAURVIK LECH
LAUSANNE LE CHAMBON
LAUTREC, ODET DE FOIX LE CHAPELIER, ISAAC RENÉ GUY
LAUZUN, ANTONIN NOMPAR DE CAUMONT LECHLER, GOTTHARD VICTOR
LAVA LECKY, WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE
LAVABO LE CLERC, JEAN
LAVAGNA LECOCQ, ALEXANDRE CHARLES
LAVAL, ANDRÉ DE, DE LOHÉAC LECOINTE-PUYRAVEAU, MICHEL MATHIEU
LAVAL (France) LE CONTE, JOSEPH
LA VALLIÈRE, LOUISE FRANÇOISE DE LECONTE DE LISLE, CHARLES MARIE RENÉ
LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR LE COQ, ROBERT
LAVAUR LECOUVREUR, ADRIENNE
LAVEDAN, HENRI LÉON ÉMILE LE CREUSOT
LAVELEYE, ÉMILE LOUIS VICTOR DE LECTERN
LAVENDER LECTION, LECTIONARY
LAVERDY, CLÉMENT FRANÇOIS DE LECTISTERNIUM
LAVERNA LECTOR
LAVERY, JOHN LECTOURE
LAVIGERIE, CHARLES ALLEMAND LEDA
LA VILLEMARQUÉ, CLAUDE HENRI LE DAIM, OLIVIER
LAVINIUM LEDBURY
LAVISSE, ERNEST LEDGER
LAVOISIER, ANTOINE LAURENT LEDOCHOWSKI, MIECISLAUS JOHANN
LA VOISIN LEDRU-ROLLIN, ALEXANDRE AUGUSTE
LAW, JOHN LEDYARD, JOHN
LAW, WILLIAM LEE, ANN
LAW LEE, ARTHUR
LAWES, HENRY LEE, FITZHUGH
LAWES, SIR JOHN BENNET LEE, GEORGE ALEXANDER
LAW MERCHANT LEE, HENRY
LAWN LEE, JAMES PRINCE
LAWN-TENNIS LEE, NATHANIEL
LAWRENCE, ST LEE, RICHARD HENRY
LAWRENCE, AMOS (American merchant) LEE, ROBERT EDWARD
LAWRENCE, AMOS ADAMS (junior) LEE ROWLAND
LAWRENCE, GEORGE ALFRED LEE, SIDNEY
LAWRENCE, SIR HENRY MONTGOMERY LEE, SOPHIA
LAWRENCE, JOHN LAIRD LAWRENCE LEE, STEPHEN DILL
LAWRENCE, STRINGER LEE (Massachusetts, U.S.A.)
LAWRENCE, SIR THOMAS LEE (shelter or sediment)
LAWRENCE (Kansas, U.S.A.) LEECH, JOHN
LAWRENCE (Massachusetts, U.S.A.) LEECH (Chaetopod worms)
LAWRENCEBURG LEEDS, THOMAS OSBORNE
LAWSON, CECIL GORDON LEEDS (England)
LAWSON, SIR JOHN LEEK (English town)
LAWSON, SIR WILFRID LEEK (plant)
LAY LEER
LAYA, JEAN LOUIS LEEUWARDEN
LAYAMON LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN
LAYARD, SIR AUSTEN HENRY LEEWARD ISLANDS
LAYMEN, HOUSES OF LE FANU, JOSEPH SHERIDAN
LAYNEZ, DIEGO LEFEBVRE, PIERRE FRANÇOIS JOSEPH
LAZAR
LATIN LANGUAGE. 1. _Earliest Records of its Area._--Latin was the
language spoken in Rome and in the plain of Latium in the 6th or 7th
century B.C.--the earliest period from which we have any contemporary
record of its existence. But it is as yet impossible to determine
either, on the one hand, whether the archaic inscription of Praeneste
(see below), which is assigned with great probability to that epoch,
represents exactly the language then spoken in Rome; or, on the other,
over how much larger an area of the Italian peninsula, or even of the
lands to the north and west, the same language may at that date have
extended. In the 5th century B.C. we find its limits within the
peninsula fixed on the north-west and south-west by Etruscan (see
ETRURIA: _Language_); on the east, south-east, and probably north and
north-east, by Safine (Sabine) dialects (of the Marsi, Paeligni,
Samnites, Sabini and Picenum, qq.v.); but on the north we have no direct
record of Sabine speech, nor of any non-Latinian tongue nearer than
Tuder and Asculum or earlier than the 4th century B.C. (see UMBRIA,
IGUVIUM, PICENUM). We know however, both from tradition and from the
archaeological data, that the Safine tribes were in the 5th century B.C.
migrating, or at least sending off swarms of their younger folk, farther
and farther southward into the peninsula. Of the languages they were
then displacing we have no explicit record save in the case of Etruscan
in Campania, but it may be reasonably inferred from the evidence of
place-names and tribal names, combined with that of the Faliscan
inscriptions, that before the Safine invasion some idiom, not remote
from Latin, was spoken by the pre-Etruscan tribes down the length of the
west coast (see FALISCI; VOLSCI; also ROME: _History_; LIGURIA; SICULI).
2. _Earliest Roman Inscriptions._--At Rome, at all events, it is clear
from the unwavering voice of tradition that Latin was spoken from the
beginning of the city. Of the earliest Latin inscriptions found in Rome
which were known in 1909, the oldest, the so-called "Forum inscription,"
can hardly be referred with confidence to an earlier century than the
5th; the later, the well-known _Duenos_ (= later Latin _bonus_)
inscription, certainly belongs to the 4th; both of these are briefly
described below (§§ 40, 41). At this date we have probably the period of
the narrowest extension of Latin; non-Latin idioms were spoken in
Etruria, Umbria, Picenum and in the Marsian and Volscian hills. But
almost directly the area begins to expand again, and after the war with
Pyrrhus the Roman arms had planted the language of Rome in her military
colonies throughout the peninsula. When we come to the 3rd century B.C.
the Latin inscriptions begin to be more numerous, and in them (e.g. the
oldest epitaphs of the Scipio family) the language is very little
removed from what it was in the time of Plautus.
3. _The Italic Group of Languages._--For the characteristics and
affinities of the dialects that have just been mentioned, see the
article ITALY: _Ancient Languages and Peoples_, and to the separate
articles on the tribes. Here it is well to point out that the only one
of these languages which is not akin to Latin is Etruscan; on the other
hand, the only one very closely resembling Latin is Faliscan, which with
it forms what we may call the Latinian dialect of the Italic group of
the Indo-European family of languages. Since, however, we have a far
more complete knowledge of Latin than of any other member of the Italic
group, this is the most convenient place in which to state briefly the
very little that can be said as yet to have been ascertained as to the
general relations of Italic to its sister groups. Here, as in many
kindred questions, the work of Paul Kretschmer of Vienna (_Einleitung in
die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_, Göttingen, 1896) marked an
important epoch in the historical aspects of linguistic study, as the
first scientific attempt to interpret critically the different kinds of
evidence which the Indo-European languages give us, not in vocabulary
merely, but in phonology, morphology, and especially in their mutual
borrowings, and to combine it with the non-linguistic data of tradition
and archaeology. A certain number of the results so obtained have met
with general acceptance and may be briefly treated here. It is, however,
extremely dangerous to draw merely from linguistic kinship deductions as
to racial identity, or even as to an original contiguity of habitation.
Close resemblances in any two languages, especially those in their inner
structure (morphology), may be due to identity of race, or to long
neighbourhood in the earliest period of their development; but they may
also be caused by temporary neighbourhood (for a longer or shorter
period), brought about by migrations at a later epoch (or epochs). A
particular change in sound or usage may spread over a whole chain of
dialects and be in the end exhibited alike by them all, although the
time at which it first began was long after their special and
distinctive characteristics had become clearly marked. For example, the
limitation of the word-accent to the last three syllables of a word in
Latin and Oscan (see below)--a phenomenon which has left deep marks on
all the Romance languages--demonstrably grew up between the 5th and 2nd
centuries B.C.; and it is a permissible conjecture that it started from
the influence of the Greek colonies in Italy (especially Cumae and
Naples), in whose language the same limitation (although with an accent
whose actual character was probably more largely musical) had been
established some centuries sooner.
4. _Position of the Italic Group._--The Italic group, then, when
compared with the other seven main "families" of Indo-European speech,
in respect of their most significant differences, ranges itself thus:
(i.) _Back-palatal and Velar Sounds._--In point of its treatment of
the Indo-European back-palatal and velar sounds, it belongs to the
western or _centum_ group, the name of which is, of course, taken from
Latin; that is to say, like German, Celtic and Greek, it did not
sibilate original _k_ and _g_, which in Indo-Iranian, Armenian,
Slavonic and Albanian have been converted into various types of
sibilants (Ind.-Eur.* _kmtom_ = Lat. _centum_, Gr. _[Greek:
(he)-katon]_, Welsh _cant_, Eng. _hund_-(_red_), but Sans. _satam_,
Zend _sat[schwa]m_); but, on the other hand, in company with just the
same three western groups, and in contrast to the eastern, the Italic
languages labialized the original velars (Ind.-Eur. * _qod_ = Lat.
_quod_, Osc. _pod_, Gr. _[Greek: pod-(apos)]_, Welsh _pwy_, Eng.
_what_, but Sans. _kás_, "who?").
(ii.) _Indo-European Aspirates._--Like Greek and Sanskrit, but in
contrast to all the other groups (even to Zend and Armenian), the
Italic group largely preserves a distinction between the Indo-European
_mediae aspiratae_ and _mediae_ (e.g. between Ind.-Eur. _dh_ and _d_,
the former when initial becoming initially regularly Lat. _f_ as in
Lat. _fec-i_ [cf. Umb. _feia_, "_faciat_"], beside Gr. [Greek:
he-thêk-a] [cf. Sans. _da-dha-ti_, "he places"], the latter simply _d_
as in _domus_, Gr. [Greek: domos]). But the _aspiratae_, even where
thus distinctly treated in Italic, became fricatives, not pure
aspirates, a character which they only retained in Greek and Sanskrit.
(iii.) _Indo-European o._--With Greek and Celtic, Latin preserved the
Indo-European _o_, which in the more northerly groups (Germanic,
Balto-Slavonic), and also in Indo-Iranian, and, curiously, in
Messapian, was confused with _a_. The name for olive-oil, which spread
with the use of this commodity from Greek ([Greek: elaiwon]) to Italic
speakers and thence to the north, becoming by regular changes (see
below) in Latin first *_ólaivom_, then *_óleivom_, and then taken into
Gothic and becoming _alev_, leaving its parent form to change further
(not later than 100 B.C.) in Latin to _oleum_, is a particularly
important example, because (a) of the chronological limits which are
implied, however roughly, in the process just described, and (b) of
the close association in time of the change of _o_ to _a_ with the
earlier stages of the "sound-shifting" (of the Indo-European plosives
and aspirates) in German; see Kretschmer, _Einleit_. p. 116, and the
authorities he cites.
(iv.) _Accentuation._--One marked innovation common to the western
groups as compared with what Greek and Sanskrit show to have been an
earlier feature of the Indo-European parent speech was the development
of a strong expiratory (sometimes called stress) accent upon the first
syllable of all words. This appears early in the history of Italic,
Celtic, Lettish (probably, and at a still later period) in Germanic,
though at a period later than the beginning of the "sound-shifting."
This extinguished the complex system of Indo-European accentuation,
which is directly reflected in Sanskrit, and was itself replaced in
Latin and Oscan by another system already mentioned, but not in Latin
till it had produced marked effects upon the language (e.g. the
degradation of the vowels in compounds as in _conficio_ from
_cón-facio_, _includo_ from _ín-claudo_). This curious wave of
accentual change (first pointed out by Dieterich, _Kuhn's
Zeitschrift_, i., and later by Thurneysen, _Revue celtique_, vi. 312,
_Rheinisches Museum_, xliii. 349) needs and deserves to be more
closely investigated from a chronological standpoint. At present it is
not clear how far it was a really connected process in all the
languages. (See further Kretschmer, _op. cit._ p. 115, K. Brugmann,
_Kurze vergleichende Grammatik_ (1902-1904), p. 57, and their
citations, especially Meyer-Lübke, _Die Betonung im Gallischen_
(1901).)
To these larger affinities may be added some important points in which
the Italic group shows marked resemblances to other groups.
5. _Italic and Celtic._--It is now universally admitted that the Celtic
languages stand in a much closer relation than any other group to the
Italic. It may even be doubted whether there was any real frontier-line
at all between the two groups before the Etruscan invasion of Italy (see
ETRURIA: _Language_; LIGURIA). The number of morphological innovations
on the Indo-European system which the two groups share, and which are
almost if not wholly peculiar to them, is particularly striking. Of
these the chief are the following.
(i.) Extension of the abstract-noun stems in -_ti_- (like Greek
[Greek: phatis] with Attic [Greek: basis], &c.) by an -_n_- suffix, as
in Lat. _mentio_ (stem _mention_-) = Ir. (_er_-)_mitiu_ (stem
_miti-n_-), contrasted with the same word without the _n_-suffix in
Sans. _mati_-, Lat. _mens_, Ind.-Eur. *_mn-ti_-. A similar extension
(shared also by Gothic) appears in Lat. _iuventu-t_-, O. Ir. _óitiu_
(stem _oiliut_-) beside the simple -_tu_- in nouns like _senatus_.
(ii.) Superlative formation in -_is-mmo_- as in Lat. _aegerrimus_ for
*_aegr-ismmos_, Gallic [Greek: Ouxisamê] the name of a town meaning
"the highest."
(iii.) Genitive singular of the _o_-stems (second declension) in -_i_
Lat. _agri_, O. Ir. (Ogam inscriptions) _magi_, "of a son."
(iv.) Passive and deponent formation in -_r_, Lat. _sequitur_ = Ir.
_sechedar_, "he follows." The originally active meaning of this
curious -_r_ suffix was first pointed out by Zimmer (_Kuhn's
Zeitschrift_, 1888, xxx. 224), who thus explained the use of the
accusative pronouns with these "passive" forms in Celtic; Ir.
-_m-berar_, "I am carried," literally "folk carry me"; Umb. _pir
ferar_, literally _ignem feratur_, though as _pir_ is a neuter word (=
Gr. [Greek: pyr]) this example was not so convincing. But within a
twelvemonth of the appearance of Zimmer's article, an Oscan
inscription (Conway, _Camb. Philol. Society's Proceedings_, 1890, p.
16, and _Italic Dialects_, p. 113) was discovered containing the
phrase _ultiumam_ (_iuvilam_) _sakrafir_, "ultimam (imaginem)
consecraverint" (or "ultima consecretur") which demonstrated the
nature of the suffix in Italic also. This originally active meaning of
the -_r_ form (in the third person singular passive) is the cause of
the remarkable fondness for the "impersonal" use of the passive in
Latin (e.g., _itur in antiquam silvam_, instead of _eunt_), which was
naturally extended to all tenses of the passive (_ventum est_, &c.),
so soon as its origin was forgotten. Fuller details of the development
will be found in Conway, _op. cit._ p. 561, and the authorities there
cited (very little is added by K. Brugmann, _Kurze vergl. Gramm._
1904, p. 596).
(v.) Formation of the perfect passive from the -_to_- past participle,
Lat. _monitus_ (_est_), &c., Ir. _léic-the_, "he was left,"
_ro-léiced_, "he has been left." In Latin the participle maintains its
distinct adjectival character; in Irish (J. Strachan, _Old Irish
Paradigms_, 1905, p. 50) it has sunk into a purely verbal form, just
as the perfect participles in -_us_ in Umbrian have been absorbed into
the future perfect in -_ust_ (_entelust_, "intenderit"; _benust_,
"venerit") with its impersonal passive or third plural active
-_us_(_s_)_so_ (probably standing for -_ussor_) as in _benuso_,
"ventum erit" (or "venerint").
To these must be further added some striking peculiarities in
phonology.
(vi.) Assimilation of _p_ to a _q^u_ in a following syllable as in
Lat. _quinque_ = Ir. _cóic_, compared with Sans. _pánca_, Gr. [Greek:
pente], Eng. _five_, Ind.-Eur. *_penqe_.
(vii.) Finally--and perhaps this parallelism is the most important of
all from the historical standpoint--both Italic and Celtic are divided
into two sub-families which differ, and differ in the same way, in
their treatment of the Ind.-Eur. velar tenuis _q_. In both halves of
each group it was labialized to some extent; in one half of each group
it was labialized so far as to become _p_. This is the great line of
cleavage (i.) between Latinian (Lat. _quod_, _quando_, _quinque_;
Falisc. _cuando_) and Osco-Umbrian, better called Safine (Osc. _pod_,
Umb. _panu_- [for *_pando_], Osc.-Umb. _pompe_-, "five," in Osc.
_pumperias_ "nonae," Umb. _pumpedia_-, "fifth day of the month"); and
(ii.) between Goidelic (Gaelic) (O. Ir. _cóic_, "five," _maq_, "son";
modern Irish and Scotch _Mac_ as in _MacPherson_) and Brythonic
(Britannic) (Welsh _pump_, "five," _Ap_ for map, as in _Powel_ for _Ap
Howel_).
The same distinction appears elsewhere; Germanic belongs, broadly
described, to the _q_-group, and Greek, broadly described, to the
_p_-group. The ethnological bearing of the distinction within Italy is
considered in the articles SABINI and VOLSCI; but the wider questions
which the facts suggest have as yet been only scantily discussed; see
the references for the "Sequanian" dialect of Gallic (in the
inscription of Coligny, whose language preserves _q_) in the article
CELTS: _Language_.
From these primitive affinities we must clearly distinguish the
numerous words taken into Latin from the Celts of north Italy within
the historic period; for these see especially an interesting study by
J. Zwicker, _De vocabulis et rebus Gallicis sive Transpadanis apud
Vergilium_ (Leipzig dissertation, 1905).
6. _Greek and Italic._--We have seen above (§ 4, i., ii., iii.) certain
broad characteristics which the Greek and the Italic groups of language
have in common. The old question of the degree of their affinity may be
briefly noticed. There are deep-seated differences in morphology,
phonology and vocabulary between the two languages--such as (a) the loss
of the forms of the ablative in Greek and of the middle voice in Latin;
(b) the decay of the fricatives (_s_, _v_, _^i_) in Greek and the
cavalier treatment of the aspirates in Latin; and (c) the almost total
discrepancy of the vocabularies of law and religion in the two
languages--which altogether forbid the assumption that the two groups
can ever have been completely identical after their first dialectic
separation from the parent language. On the other hand, in the first
early periods of that dialectic development in the Indo-European family,
the precursors of Greek and Italic cannot have been separated by any
very wide boundary. To this primitive neighbourhood may be referred such
peculiarities as (a) the genitive plural feminine ending in -_asom_ (Gr.
[Greek: -aôn], later in various dialects [Greek: -eôn, -ôn, -an]; cf.
Osc. _egmazum_ "rerum"; Lat. _mensarum_, with -_r_- from -_s_-), (b) the
feminine gender of many nouns of the -_o_- declension, cf. Gr. [Greek:
hê hodos], Lat. _haec fagus_; and some important and ancient
syntactical features, especially in the uses of the cases (e.g. (c) the
genitive of price) of the (d) infinitive and of the (e) participles
passive (though in each case the forms differ widely in the two
groups), and perhaps (f) of the dependent moods (though here again the
forms have been vigorously reshaped in Italic). These syntactic
parallels, which are hardly noticed by Kretschmer in his otherwise
careful discussion (_Einleit._ p. 155 seq.), serve to confirm his
general conclusion which has been here adopted; because syntactic
peculiarities have a long life and may survive not merely complete
revolutions in morphology, but even a complete change in the speaker's
language, e.g. such Celticisms in Irish-English as "What are you after
doing?" for "What have you done?" or in Welsh-English as "whatever" for
"anyhow." A few isolated correspondences in vocabulary, as in _remus_
from *_ret-s-mo_-, with [Greek: eretmos] and in a few plant-names (e.g.
[Greek: prason] and _porrum_), cannot disturb the general conclusion,
though no doubt they have some historical significance, if it could be
determined.
7. _Indo-Iranian and Italo-Celtic._--Only a brief reference can here be
made to the striking list of resemblances between the Indo-Iranian and
Italo-Celtic groups, especially in vocabulary, which Kretschmer has
collected (ibid. pp. 126-144). The most striking of these are _rex_, O.
Ir. _rig_-, Sans. _raj_-, and the political meaning of the same root in
the corresponding verb in both languages (contrast _regere_ with the
merely physical meaning of Gr. [Greek: oregnymi]); Lat. _flamen_ (for
*_flag-men_) exactly = Sans. _brahman_- (neuter), meaning probably
"sacrificing," "worshipping," and then "priesthood," "priest," from the
Ind.-Eur. root *_bhelgh_-, "blaze," "make to blaze"; _res_, _rem_
exactly = Sans. _ras_, _ram_ in declension and especially in meaning;
and _Ario_-, "noble," in Gallic _Ariomanus_, &c., = Sans. _arya_-,
"noble" (whence "Aryan"). So _argentum_ exactly = Sans. _rajata_-, Zend
_erezata_-; contrast the different (though morphologically kindred)
suffix in Gr. [Greek: argyros]. Some forty-two other Latin or Celtic
words (among them _credere_, _caesaries_, _probus_, _castus_ (cf. Osc.
_kasit_, Lat. _caret_, Sans. _sista_-), _Volcanus_, _Neptunus_, _ensis_,
_erus_, _pruina_, _rus_, _novacula_) have precise Sanskrit or Iranian
equivalents, and none so near in any other of the eight groups of
languages. Finally the use of an -_r_ suffix in the third plural is
common to both Italo-Celtic (see above) and Indo-Iranian. These things
clearly point to a fairly close, and probably in part political,
intercourse between the two communities of speakers at some early epoch.
A shorter, but interesting, list of correspondences in vocabulary with
Balto-Slavonic (e.g. the words _mentiri_, _ros_, _ignis_ have close
equivalents in Balto-Slavonic) suggests that at the same period the
precursor of this dialect too was a not remote neighbour.
8. _Date of the Separation of the Italic Group._--The date at which the
Italic group of languages began to have (so far as it had at all) a
separate development of its own is at present only a matter of
conjecture. But the combination of archaeological and linguistic
research which has already begun can have no more interesting object
than the approximate determination of this date (or group of dates); for
it will give us a point of cardinal importance in the early history of
Europe. The only consideration which can here be offered as a
starting-point for the inquiry is the chronological relation of the
Etruscan invasion, which is probably referable to the 12th century B.C.
(see ETRURIA), to the two strata of Indo-European population--the -CO-
folk (_Falisci_, _Marruci_, _Volsci_, _Hernici_ and others), to whom the
Tuscan invaders owe the names _Etrusci_ and _Tusci_, and the -NO- folk,
who, on the West coast, in the centre and south of Italy, appear at a
distinctly later epoch, in some places (as in the Bruttian peninsula,
see BRUTTII) only at the beginning of our historical record. If the view
of Latin as mainly the tongue of the -CO- folk prove to be correct (see
ROME: _History_; ITALY: _Ancient Languages and Peoples_; SABINI; VOLSCI)
we must regard it (a) as the southern or earlier half of the Italic
group, firmly rooted in Italy in the 12th century B.C., but (b) by no
means yet isolated from contact with the northern or later half; such is
at least the suggestion of the striking peculiarities in morphology
which it shares with not merely Oscan and Umbrian, but also, as we have
seen, with Celtic. The progress in time of this isolation ought before
long to be traced with some approach to certainty.
THE HISTORY OF LATIN
9. We may now proceed to notice the chief changes that arose in Latin
after the (more or less) complete separation of the Italic group
whenever it came about. The contrasted features of Oscan and Umbrian, to
some of which, for special reasons, occasional reference will be here
made, are fully described under OSCA LINGUA and IGUVIUM respectively.
It is rarely possible to fix with any precision the date at which a
particular change began or was completed, and the most serviceable form
for this conspectus of the development will be to present, under the
heads of Phonology, Morphology and Syntax, the chief characteristics of
Ciceronian Latin which we know to have been developed after Latin became
a separate language. Which of these changes, if any, can be assigned to
a particular period will be seen as we proceed. But it should be
remembered that an enormous increase of exact knowledge has accrued from
the scientific methods of research introduced by A. Leskien and K.
Brugmann in 1879, and finally established by Brugmann's great
_Grundriss_ in 1886, and that only a brief enumeration can be here
attempted. For adequate study reference must be made to the fuller
treatises quoted, and especially to the sections bearing on Latin in K.
Brugmann's _Kurze vergleichende Grammatik_ (1902).
I. PHONOLOGY
10. _The Latin Accent._--It will be convenient to begin with some
account of the most important discovery made since the application of
scientific method to the study of Latin, for, though it is not
strictly a part of phonology, it is wrapped up with much of the
development both of the sounds and, by consequence, of the inflexions.
It has long been observed (as we have seen § 4, iv. above) that the
restriction of the word-accent in Latin to the last three syllables of
the word, and its attachment to a long syllable in the penult, were
certainly not its earliest traceable condition; between this, the
classical system, and the comparative freedom with which the
word-accent was placed in pro-ethnic Indo-European, there had
intervened a period of first-syllable accentuation to which were due
many of the characteristic contractions of Oscan and Umbrian, and in
Latin the degradation of the vowels in such forms as _accentus_ from
_ad_ + _cantus_ or _praecipitem_ from _prae_ + _caput_- (§ 19 below).
R. von Planta (_Osk.-Umbr. Grammatik_, 1893, i. p. 594) pointed out
that in Oscan also, by the 3rd century B.C., this
first-syllable-accent had probably given way to a system which limited
the word-accent in some such way as in classical Latin. But it
remained for C. Exon, in a brilliant article (_Hermathena_ (1906),
xiv. 117, seq.), to deduce from the more precise stages of the change
(which had been gradually noted, see e.g. F. Skutsch in Kroll's
_Altertumswissenschaft im letzten Vierteljahrhundert_, 1905) their
actual effect on the language.
11. _Accent in Time of Plautus._--The rules which have been
established for the position of the accent in the time of Plautus are
these:
(i.) The quantity of the final syllable had no effect on accent.
(ii.) If the penult was long, it bore the accent (_amabamus_).
(iii.) If the penult was short, then
(a) if the ante-penult was long, it bore the accent (_amabimus_);
(b) if the ante-penult was short, then
(i.) if the ante-ante-penult was long, the accent was on the
ante-penult (_amicítia_); but
(ii.) if the ante-ante-penult was also short, it bore the accent
(_cólumine, puéritia_).
_Exon's Laws of Syncope._--With these facts are now linked what may be
called Exon's Laws, viz:--
_In pre-Plautine Latin_ in all words or word-groups of four or more
syllables whose chief accent is on one long syllable, a short
unaccented medial vowel was syncopated; thus *_quínquedecem_ became
*_quínqdecem_ and thence _quíndecim_ (for the -_im_ see § 19),
*_súps-emere_ became *_súpsmere_ and that _sumere_ (on -_psm- v.
inf._) *_súrregere_, *_surregémus_, and the like became _surgere_,
_surgémus_, and the rest of the paradigm followed; so probably _validé
bonus_ became _valdé bonus_, _exterá viam_ became _extrá viam_; so
*_supo-téndo_ became _subtendo_ (pronounced _sup-tendo_), *_aridére_,
*_avidére_ (from _aridus_, _avidus_) became _ardére_, _audére_. But
the influence of cognate forms often interfered; _posterí-die_ became
_postrídie_, but in _posterórum_, _posterárum_ the short syllable was
restored by the influence of the trisyllabic cases, _pósterus_,
_pósteri_, &c., to which the law did not apply. Conversely, the nom.
*_áridor_ (more correctly at this period *_aridos_), which would not
have been contracted, followed the form of _ardórem_ (from
*_aridórem_), _ardére_, &c.
The same change produced the monosyllabic forms _nec_, _ac_, _neu_,
_seu_, from _neque_, &c., before consonants, since they had no accent
of their own, but were always pronounced in one breath with the
following word, _neque tántum_ becoming _nec tantum_, and the like. So
in Plautus (and probably always in spoken Latin) the words _nemp(e)_,
_ind(e)_, _quipp(e)_, _ill(e)_, are regularly monosyllables.
12. _Syncope of Final Syllables._--It is possible that the frequent
but far from universal syncope of final syllables in Latin (especially
before -_s_, as in _mens_, which represents both Gr. [Greek: menos]
and Sans. matís = Ind.-Eur. _mntís_, Eng. _mind_) is due also to this
law operating on such combinations as _bona mens_ and the like, but
this has not yet been clearly shown. In any case the effects of any
such phonetic change have been very greatly modified by analogical
changes. The Oscan and Umbrian syncope of short vowels before final
_s_ seems to be an independent change, at all events in its detailed
working. The outbreak of the unconscious affection of slurring final
syllables may have been contemporaneous.
13. _In post-Plautine Latin_ words accented on the ante-antepenult:--
(i.) suffered syncope in the short syllable following the accented
syllable (_bálineae_ became _bálneae_, _puéritia_ became _puértia_
(Horace), _cólumine_, _tégimine_, &c., became _cúlmine_, _tégmine_,
&c., beside the trisyllabic _cólumen_, _tégimen_) unless
(ii.) that short vowel was _e_ or _i_, followed by another vowel (as
in _párietem_, _múlierem_, _Púteoli_), when, instead of contraction,
the accent shifted to the penult, which at a later stage of the
language became lengthened, _pariétem_ giving Ital. _paréete_, Fr.
_paroi_, _Puteóli_ giving Ital. _Pozzuoli_.
The restriction of the accent to the last three syllables was
completed by these changes, which did away with all the cases in which
it had stood on the fourth syllable.
14. _The Law of the Brevis Brevians._--Next must be mentioned another
great phonetic change, also dependent upon accent, which had come
about before the time of Plautus, the law long known to students as
the _Brevis Brevians_, which may be stated as follows (Exon,
_Hermathena_ (1903), xii. 491, following Skutsch in, e.g.,
Vollmöller's _Jahresbericht für romanische Sprachwissenschaft_, i.
33): a syllable long by nature or position, and preceded by a short
syllable, was itself shortened if the word-accent fell immediately
before or immediately after it--that is, on the preceding short
syllable or on the next following syllable. The sequence of syllables
need not be in the same word, but must be as closely connected in
utterance as if it were. Thus _modo_ became _módo_, _voluptatem_
became _volu(p)tatem_, _quid est?_ became _quid est?_ either the _s_
or the _t_ or both being but faintly pronounced.
It is clear that a great number of flexional syllables so shortened
would have their quantity immediately restored by the analogy of the
same inflexion occurring in words not of this particular shape; thus,
for instance, the long vowel of _ama_ and the like is due to that in
other verbs (_pulsa_, _agita_) not of iambic shape. So ablatives like
_modö_, _sono_ get back their -_o_, while in particles like _modo_,
"only," _quomodo_, "how," the shortened form remains. Conversely, the
shortening of the final -_a_ in the nom. sing. fem. of the
_a_-declension (contrast _luna_ with Gr. [Greek: chôrã]) was probably
partly due to the influence of common forms like _ea_, _bona_, _mala_,
which had come under the law.
15. _Effect on Verb Inflexion._--These processes had far-reaching
effects on Latin inflexion. The chief of these was the creation of the
type of conjugation known as the _capio_-class. All these verbs were
originally inflected like _audio_, but the accident of their short
root-syllable, (in such early forms as *_fúgis_, *_fugiturus_,
*_fugisetis_, &c., becoming later _fúgis_, _fugiturus_, _fugeretis_)
brought great parts of their paradigm under this law, and the rest
followed suit; but true forms like _fugire_, _cupire_, _moriri_, never
altogether died out of the spoken language. St Augustine, for
instance, confessed in 387 A.D. (_Epist._ iii. 5, quoted by Exon,
_Hermathena_ (1901), xi. 383,) that he does not know whether _cupi_ or
_cupiri_ is the pass. inf. of _cupio_. Hence we have Ital. _fuggire_,
_morire_, Fr. _fuir_, _mourir_. (See further on this conjugation, C.
Exon, _l.c._, and F. Skutsch, _Archiv für lat. Lexicographie_, xii.
210, two papers which were written independently.)
16. The question has been raised how far the true phonetic shortening
appears in Plautus, produced not by word-accent but by metrical
ictus--e.g. whether the reading is to be trusted in such lines as
_Amph._ 761, which gives us _dedisse_ as the first foot (tribrach) of
a trochaic line "because the metrical ictus fell on the syllable
_ded_-"--but this remarkable theory cannot be discussed here. See the
articles cited and also F. Skutsch, _Forschungen zu Latein. Grammatik
und Metrik_, i. (1892); C. Exon, _Hermathena_ (1903) xii. p. 492, W.
M. Lindsay, _Captivi_ (1900), appendix.
In the history of the vowels and diphthongs in Latin we must
distinguish the changes which came about independently of accent and
those produced by the preponderance of accent in another syllable.
17. _Vowel Changes independent of Accent._--In the former category the
following are those of chief importance:--
(i.) _i_ became _e_ (a) when final, as in _ant-e_ beside Gr. [Greek:
anti], _triste_ besides _tristi-s_, contrasted with e.g., the Greek
neuter [Greek: idri] (the final -_e_ of the infinitive--_regere_,
&c.--is the -_i_ of the locative, just as in the so-called ablatives
_genere_, &c.); (b) before -_r_- which has arisen from -_s_-, as in
_cineris_ beside _cinis_, _cinisculus_; _sero_ beside Gr. [Greek:
i(s)êmi] (Ind.-Eur. *_si-semi_, a reduplicated non-thematic present).
(ii.) Final _o_ became _e_; imperative _sequere_ = Gr. [Greek:
epe(s)o]; Lat. _ille_ may contain the old pronoun *_so_, "he," Gr.
[Greek: ho], Sans. _sa_ (otherwise Skutsch, _Glotta_, i. Hefte 2-3).
(iii.) _el_ became _ol_ when followed by any sound save _e_, _i_ or
_l_, as in _volo_, _volt_ beside _velle_; _colo_ beside Gr. [Greek:
tellomai, polein], Att. [Greek: telos]; _colonus_ for *_quelonus_,
beside _inquilinus_ for *_en-quelenus_.
(iv.) _e_ became _i_ (i.) before a nasal followed by a palatal or
velar consonant (_tingo_, Gr. [Greek: teggô]; _in-cipio_ from
*_en-capio_); (ii.) under certain conditions not yet precisely
defined, one of which was _i_ in a following syllable (_nihil_,
_nisi_, _initium_). From these forms _in_- spread and banished _en_-,
the earlier form.
(v.) The "neutral vowel" ("schwa Indo-Germanicum") which arose in
pro-ethnic Indo-European from the reduction of long _a_, _e_ or _o_ in
unaccented syllables (as in the -_tós_ participles of such roots as
_sta_-, _dhe_-, _do_-, *_st[schwa]tós_, *_dh[schwa]tós_,
*_d[schwa]tós_) became _a_ in Latin (_status con-ditus_ [from
*_con-dhatos_], _datus_), and it is the same sound which is
represented by _a_ in most of the forms of _do_ (_damus_, _dabo_,
&c.).
(vi.) When a long vowel came to stand before another vowel in the same
word through loss of _^i_ or _^u_, it was always shortened; thus the
-_eo_ of intransitive verbs like _candeo_, _caleo_ is for -_e^io_
(where the _e_ is identical with the [eta] in Gr. [Greek: ephanên,
emanên]) and was thus confused with the causative -_eio_ (as in
_moneo_, "I make to think," &c.), where the short _e_ is original. So
_audiui_ became _audii_ and thence _audii_ (the form audivi would have
disappeared altogether but for being restored from _audiveram_, &c.;
conversely _audieram_ is formed from _audii_). In certain cases the
vowels contracted, as in _tres_, _partes_, &c. with -_es_ from
_e^ies_, *_amo_ from _ama(^i)o_.
18. _Of the Diphthongs._
Changes of the diphthongs independent of accent.
(vii.) _eu_ became _ou_ in pro-ethnic Italic, Lat. _novus_: Gr.
[Greek: neos], Lat. _novem_, Umb. _nuviper_ (i.e. _noviper_), "usque
ad noviens": Gr. [Greek: (en-)nea]; in unaccented syllables this
-_ov_- sank to -_u(v)_- as in _denuo_ from _de novo_, _suus_ (which is
rarely anything but an enclitic word), Old Lat. _sovos_: Gr. [Greek:
he(w)os].
(viii.) _ou_, whether original or from _eu_, when in one syllable
became -_u_-, probably about 200 B.C., as in _duco_, Old Lat. _douco_,
Goth, _tiuhan_, Eng. _tow_, Ind.-Eur. *_de^uco_.
(ix.) _ei_ became _i_ (as in _dico_, Old Lat. _deico_: Gr. [Greek:
deik-nymi], _fido_: Gr. [Greek: peithomai], Ind.-Eur. *_bheidho_) just
before the time of Lucilius, who prescribes the spellings _puerei_
(nom. plur.) but _pueri_ (gen. sing.), which indicates that the two
forms were pronounced alike in his time, but that the traditional
distinction in spelling had been more or less preserved. But after his
time, since the sound of _ei_ was merely that of _i_, _ei_ is
continually used merely to denote a long _i_, even where, as in
_faxeis_ for faxis, there never had been any diphthongal sound at all.
(x.) In rustic Latin (Volscian and Sabine) _au_ became _o_ as in the
vulgar terms _explodere_, _plostrum_. Hence arose interesting doublets
of meaning;--_lautus_ (the Roman form), "elegant," but _lotus_,
"washed"; _haustus_, "draught," but _hostus_ (Cato), "the season's
yield of fruit."
(xi.) _oi_ became _oe_ and thence _u_ some time after Plautus, as in
_unus_, Old Lat. _oenus_: Gr. [Greek: oinê] "ace." In Plautus the
forms have nearly all been modernized, save in special cases, e.g. in
_Trin._ i. 1, 2, _immoene facinus_, "a thankless task," has not been
changed to _immune_ because that meaning had died out of the adjective
so that _immune facinus_ would have made nonsense; but at the end of
the same line _utile_ has replaced _oetile_. Similarly in a small
group of words the old form was preserved through their frequent use
in legal or religious documents where tradition was strictly
preserved--_poena_, _foedus_ (neut.), _foedus_ (adj.), "ill-omened."
So the archaic and poetical _moenia_, "ramparts," beside the true
classical form _munia_, "duties"; the historic _Poeni_ beside the
living and frequently used _Punicum_ (_bellum_)--an example which
demonstrates conclusively (_pace_ Sommer) that the variation between
_u_ and _oe_ is not due to any difference in the surrounding sounds.
(xii.) _ai_ became _ae_ and this in rustic and later Latin (2nd or 3rd
century A.D.) simple _e_, though of an open quality--Gr. [Greek:
aithos, aithô], Lat. _aedes_ (originally "the place for the fire");
the country forms of _haedus_, _praetor_ were _edus_, _pretor_ (Varro,
_Ling. Lat._ v. 97, Lindsay, _Lat. Lang._ p. 44).
19. _Vowels and Diphthongs in unaccented Syllables._--The changes of
the short vowels and of the diphthongs in unaccented syllables are too
numerous and complex to be set forth here. Some took place under the
first-syllable system of accent, some later (§§ 9, 10). Typical
examples are _pep_E_rci_ from *_péparcai_ and _ónustus_ from
*_ónostos_ (before two consonants); _concIno_ from *_cóncano_ and
_hosp_I_t_I_s_ from *_hóstipotes_, _legImus_ beside Gr. [Greek:
legomen] (before one consonant); _Sic_U_li_ from *_Siceloi_ (before a
thick _l_, see § 17, 3); _dil_I_g_I_t_ from *_dísleget_ (contrast,
however, the preservation of the second _e_ in _negl_E_g_I_t_);
_occ_U_pat_ from *_opcapat_ (contrast _accipit_ with _i_ in the
following syllable); the varying spelling in _monumentum_ and
_monimentum_, _maxumus_ and _maximus_, points to an intermediate sound
(_ü_) between _u_ and _i_ (cf. Quint. i. 4. 8, reading _optumum_ and
_optimum_ [not _opimum_] with W. M. Lindsay, _Latin Language_ §§ 14,
16, seq.), which could not be correctly represented in spelling; this
difference may, however, be due merely to the effect of differences in
the neighbouring sounds, an effect greatly obscured by analogical
influences.
Inscriptions of the 4th or 3rd century, B.C. which show original -_es_
and -_os_ in final syllables (e.g. _Veneres_, gen. sing., _navebos_
abl. pl.) compared with the usual forms in -_is_, -_us_ a century
later, give us roughly the date of these changes. But final -_os_,
-_om_, remained after -_u_- (and _v_) down to 50 B.C. as in _servos_.
20. Special mention should be made of the change of -_ri_- and -_ro_-
to -_er_- (_incertus_ from *_encritos_; _ager_, _acer_ from *_agros_,
*_acris_; the feminine _acris_ was restored in Latin (though not in
North Oscan) by the analogy of other adjectives, like _tristis_, while
the masculine _acer_ was protected by the parallel masculine forms of
the -_o_- declension, like _tener_, _niger_ [from *_teneros_,
*_nigros_]).
21. Long vowels generally remained unchanged, as in _compago_,
_condono_.
22. Of the diphthongs, _ai_ and _oi_ both sank to _ei_, and with
original _ei_ further to _i_, in unaccented syllables, as in _Achivi_
from Gr. [Greek: Achaiwoi], _oliivom_, earlier *_oleivom_ (borrowed
into Gothic and there becoming _alev_) from Gr. [Greek: elaiwon]. This
gives us interesting chronological data, since the _el_- must have
changed to _ol_- (§ 16. 3) before the change of -_ai_- to -_ei_-, and
that before the change of the accent from the first syllable to the
penultimate (§ 9); and the borrowing took place after -_ai_- had
become -_ei_-, but before -_eivom_ had become -_eum_, as it regularly
did before the time of Plautus.
But cases of _ai_, _ae_, which arose later than the change to _ei_,
_i_, were unaffected by it; thus the nom. plur. of the first
declension originally ended in -_as_ (as in Oscan), but was changed at
some period before Plautus to -_ae_ by the influence of the pronominal
nom. plur. ending -_ae_ in _quae?_ _hae_, &c., which was accented in
these monosyllables and had therefore been preserved. The history of
the -_ae_ of the dative, genitive and locative is hardly yet clear
(see Exon, _Hermathena_ (1905), xiii. 555; K. Brugmann, _Grundriss_,
1st ed. ii. 571, 601).
The diphthongs _au_, _ou_ in unaccented syllables sank to -_u_-, as in
_includo_ beside _claudo_; the form _cludo_, taken from the compounds,
superseded _claudo_ altogether after Cicero's time. So _cudo_, taken
from _incudo_, _excudo_, banished the older *_caudo_, "I cut, strike,"
with which is probably connected _cauda_, "the striking member, tail,"
and from which comes _caussa_, "a cutting, decision, legal case,"
whose -_ss_- shows that it is derived from a root ending in a dental
(see §25 (b) below and Conway, _Verner's Law in Italy_, p. 72).
_Consonants._--Passing now to the chief changes of the consonants we
may notice the following points:--
23. Consonant _i_ (wrongly written _j_; there is no _g_-sound in the
letter), conveniently written _^i_ by phoneticians,
(i.) was lost between vowels, as in _tres_ for *_tre^ies_, &c. (§ 17.
6);
(ii.) in combination: -_m^i_- became -_ni_-, as in _veniö_, from
Ind.-Eur. *[g]^u _m^io_, "I come," Sans. _gam_-, Eng. _come_; -_n^i_-
probably (under certain conditions at least) became -_nd_-, as in
_tendo_ beside Gr. [Greek: teinô], _fendo_ = Gr. [Greek: theinô], and
in the gerundive stem -_endus_, -_undus_, probably for -_en^ios_,
-_on^ios_; cf. the Sanskrit gerundive in -_an-iya-s_; -_g^i_-, -_d^i_-
became -_^i_- as in _maior_ from *_mag-ior_, _peior_ from *_ped-ior_;
(iii.) otherwise -_^i_- after a consonant became generally syllabic
(-_i^i_-), as in _capio_ (trisyllabic) beside Goth. _hafya_.
24. Consonant _u_ (formerly represented by English _v_), conveniently
written _^u_,
(i.) was lost between similar vowels when the first was accented, as
in _audiui_, which became _audii_ (§ 17 [6]), but not in _amaui_, nor
in _avarus_.
(ii.) in combination: _d^u_ became _b_, as in _bonus_, _bellum_, O.
Lat. _d^uonus_, *_d^uellum_ (though the poets finding this written
form in old literary sources treated it as trisyllabic); _p^u_-,
_f^u_-, _b^u_-, lost the _^u_, as in _ap-erio_, _op-erio_ beside Lith.
-_veriu_, "I open," Osc. _veru_, "gate," and in the verbal endings
-_bam_, -_bo_, from -_bh^u-am_, -_bh^uo_ (with the root of Lat.
_fui_), and _fio_, _du-bius_, _super-bus_, _vasta-bundus_, &c., from
the same; -_s^u_- between vowels (at least when the second was
accented) disappeared (see below § 25 (a), iv.), as in _pruina_ for
_prusuina_, cf. Eng. _fros-t_, Sans, _prusva_, "hoar-frost." Contrast
_Minérva_ from an earlier *_menes-^ua_, _s^ue_-, _s^uo_-, both became
so-, as in _soroor_(_em_) beside Sans. _svasar-am_, Ger.
_schwes-t-er_, Eng. _sister_, _sordes_, beside O. Ger. _swart-s_, mod.
_schwarz_. -_^uo_- in final syllables became -_u_-, as in _cum_ from
_quom_, _parum_ from _par^uom_; but in the declensional forms -_^uu_-
was commonly restored by the analogy of the other cases, thus (a)
_ser^uos_, _ser^uom_, _ser^ui_ became (b) *_serus_, *_serum_,
*_ser^ui_, but finally (c) _ser^uus_, _ser^uum_, _ser^ui_.
(iii.) In the 2nd century A.D., Lat. _v_ (i.e. _^u_) had become a
voiced labio-dental fricative, like Eng. _v_; and the voiced labial
plosive _b_ had broken down (at least in certain positions) into the
same sound; hence they are frequently confused as in spellings like
_vene_ for _bene_, _Bictorinus_ for _Victorinus_.
25. (a) Latin _s_
(i.) became _r_ between vowels between 450 and 350 B.C. (for the date
see R. S. Conway, _Verner's Law in Italy_, pp. 61-64), as _ara_,
beside O. Lat. _asa_, _generis_ from *_geneses_, Gr. [Greek: geneos];
_eram_, _ero_ for *_esam_, *_eso_, and so in the verbal endings
-_eram_, -_ero_, -_erim_. But a considerable number of words came into
Latin, partly from neighbouring dialects, with -_s_- between vowels,
after 350 B.C., when the change ceased, and so show -_s_-, as _rosa_
(probably from S. Oscan for *_rod^ia_ "rose-bush" cf. Gr. [Greek:
rhodon]), _caseus_, "cheese," _miser_, a term of abuse, beside Gr.
[Greek: mysaros] (probably also borrowed from south Italy), and many
more, especially the participles in -_sus_ (_fusus_), where the -_s_-
was -_ss_- at the time of the change of -_s_- to -_r_- (so in _causa_,
see above). All attempts to explain the retention of the -_s_-
otherwise must be said to have failed (e.g. the theory of accentual
difference in _Verner's Law in Italy_, or that of dissimilation, given
by Brugmann, _Kurze vergl. Gram._ p. 242).
(ii.) _sr_ became _þr_ (= Eng. _thr_ in _throw_) in pro-ethnic Italic,
and this became initially _fr_- as in _frigus_, Gr. [Greek: rhigos]
(Ind.-Eur. *_srigos_), but medially -_br_-, as in _funebris_, from
_funus_, stem _funes_-.
(iii.) -_rs_-, _ls_- became -_rr_-, -_ll_-, as in _ferre_, _velle_,
for *_fer-se_, *_vel-se_ (cf. _es-se_).
(iv.) Before _m_, _n_, _l_, and _v_, -_s_- vanished, having previously
caused the loss of any preceding plosive or -_n_-, and the preceding
vowel, if short, was lengthened as in
_primus_ from *_prismos_, Paelig. _prismu_, "prima," beside
_pris-cus_.
_iumentum_ from O. Lat. _iouxmentum_, older *_ieugsmentom_; cf. Gr.
[Greek: zeugma, zygon], Lat. _iugum_, _iungo_.
_luna_ from *_leucsna_-, Praenest, _losna_, Zend _rao[chi]sna_-; cf.
Gr. [Greek: leukos], "white-ness" neut. e.g. [Greek: leukos],
"white," Lat. _luceo_.
_telum_ from *_tens-lom_ or *_tends-lom_, _tranare_ from
*_trans-nare_.
_seviri_ from *_sex-viri_, _eveho_ from *_ex-veho_, and so
_e-mitto_, _e-lido_, _e-numero_, and from these forms arose the
proposition _e_ instead of _ex_.
(v.) Similarly -_sd_- became -_d_-, as in _idem_ from _is-dem_.
(vi.) Before _n_-, _m_-, _l_-, initially _s_- disappeared, as in
_nubo_ beside Old Church Slavonic _snubiti_, "to love, pay court to";
_miror_ beside Sans, _smáyate_, "laughs," Eng. _smi-le_; _lubricus_
beside Goth, _sliupan_, Eng. _slip_.
(b) Latin -_ss_- arose from an original -_t_ + _t_-, -_d_ + _t_-,
-_dh_ + _t_- (except before -_r_), as in _missus_, earlier *_mit-tos_;
_tonsus_, earlier *_tond-tos_, but _tonstrix_ from *_tond-trix_. After
long vowels this -_ss_- became a single -_s_- some time before Cicero
(who wrote _caussa_ [see above], _divissio_, &c., but probably only
pronounced them with -_s_-, since the -_ss_- came to be written single
directly after his time).
26. Of the Indo-European velars the breathed _q_ was usually preserved
in Latin with a labial addition of -_u_- (as in _sequor_, Gr. [Greek:
epomai], Goth, _saihvan_, Eng. _see_; _quod_, Gr. [Greek: pod-(apos)],
Eng. _what_); but the voiced [g]^u remained (as -_gu_-) only after
-_n_- (_unguo_ beside Ir. _imb_, "butter") and (as _g_) before _r_,
_l_, and _u_ (as in _gravis_, Gr. [Greek: barys]; _glans_, Gr. [Greek:
balanos]; _legumen_, Gr. [Greek: lobos, lebinthos]). Elsewhere it
became _v_, as in _venio_ (see § 23, ii.), _nudus_ from *_novedos_,
Eng. _naked_. Hence _bos_ (Sans. _gaus_, Eng. _cow_) must be regarded
as a farmer's word borrowed from one of the country dialects (e.g.
Sabine); the pure Latin would be *_vos_, and its oblique cases, e.g.
acc. *_vovem_, would be inconveniently close in sound to the word for
sheep _ovem_.
27. The treatment of the Indo-European voiced aspirates (_bh_, _dh_,
_gh_, _[g]h_) in Latin is one of the most marked characteristics of the
language, which separates it from all the other Italic dialects, since
the fricative sounds, which represented the Indo-European aspirates in
pro-ethnic Italic, remained fricatives medially if they remained at
all in that position in Oscan and Umbrian, whereas in Latin they were
nearly always changed into voiced explosives. Thus--
Ind.-Eur. _bh_: initially Lat. _f_- (_fero_; Gr. [Greek: pherô]).
medially Lat. -_b_- (_tibi_; Umb. _tefe_; Sans, _tubhy_-(_am_), "to
thee"; the same suffix in Gr. [Greek: biê-phi], &c.).
Ind.-Eur. _dh_: initially Lat. _f_- (_fa-c-ere_, _fe-c-i_; Gr. [Greek:
thetos] (instead of *[Greek: thatos]), [Greek: ethê-ka]).
medially -_d_- (_medius_; Osc. _mefio_-; Gr. [Greek: messos, mesos]
from *[Greek: methios); except after _u_ (_iubere_ beside _iussus_
for *_iudh-tos_; Sans. _yodhati_, "rouses to battle"); before _l_
(_stabulum_, but Umb. _staflo_-, with the suffix of Gr. [Greek:
otergêthron], &c.); before or after _r_ (_verbum_: Umb. _verfale_:
Eng. _word_. Lat. _glaber_ [v. inf].: Ger. _glatt_: Eng. _glad_).
Ind.-Eur. _gh_: initially _h_- (_humi_: Gr. [Greek: chamai]); except
before -_u_- (_fundo_: Gr. [Greek: che(w)ô, chutra]).
medially -_h_- (_veho_: Gr. [Greek: echô, öchos]; cf. Eng. _wagon_);
except after -_n_- (_fingere_: Osc. _feiho_-, "wall": Gr. [Greek:
thinganô]: Ind.-Eur. _dhei^gh_-, _dhin^gh_-); and before _l_
(_fig(u)lus_, from the same root).
Ind.-Eur _guh_: initially _f_- (_formus_ and _furnus_, "oven", Gr.
[Greek: thermos, thermê], cf. Ligurian _Bormio_, "a place with hot
springs," _Bormanus_, "a god of hot springs"; _fendo_: Gr. [Greek:
theino, phonos, pros-phatos]).
medially _v_, -_gu_- or -_g_- just as Ind.-Eur. [g]u (_ninguere_,
_nivem_ beside Gr. [Greek: nipha, neiphei]; _fragrare_ beside Gr.
[Greek: osphpainomai os]- for _ods_-, cf. Lat. _odor_], a
reduplicated verb from a root _[g]uhra_-).
For the "non-labializing velars" (H_ostis_, _con_G_ius_, G_laber_)
reference must be made to the fuller accounts in the handbooks.
28. AUTHORITIES.--This summary account of the chief points in Latin
phonology may serve as an introduction to its principles, and give
some insight into the phonetic character of the language. For
systematic study reference must be made to the standard books, Karl
Brugmann, _Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der
Indo-Germanischen Sprachen_ (vol. i., _Lautlehre_, 2nd ed. Strassburg,
1897; Eng. trans. of ed. 1 by Joseph Wright, Strassburg, 1888) and his
_Kurze vergleichende Grammatik_ (Strassburg, 1902); these contain
still by far the best accounts of Latin; Max Niederman, _Précis de
phonétique du Latin_ (Paris, 1906), a very convenient handbook,
excellently planned; F. Sommer, _Lateinische Laut- und Flexionslehre_
(Heidelberg, 1902), containing many new conjectures; W. M. Lindsay,
_The Latin Language_ (Oxford, 1894), translated into German (with
corrections) by Nohl (Leipzig, 1897), a most valuable collection of
material, especially from the ancient grammarians, but not always
accurate in phonology; F. Stolz, vol. i. of a joint _Historische
Grammatik d. lat. Sprache_ by Blase, Landgraf, Stolz and others
(Leipzig, 1894); Neue-Wagener, _Formenlehre d. lat. Sprache_ (3 vols.,
3rd ed. Leipzig, 1888, foll.); H. J. Roby's _Latin Grammar_ (from
Plautus to Suetonius; London, 7th ed., 1896) contains a masterly
collection of material, especially in morphology, which is still of
great value. W. G. Hale and C. D. Buck's _Latin Grammar_ (Boston,
1903), though on a smaller scale, is of very great importance, as it
contains the fruit of much independent research on the part of both
authors; in the difficult questions of orthography it was, as late as
1907, the only safe guide.
II. MORPHOLOGY
In morphology the following are the most characteristic Latin
innovations:--
29. _In nouns._
(i.) The complete loss of the dual number, save for a survival in the
dialect of Praeneste (_C.I.L._ xiv. 2891, = Conway, _Ital. Dial._ p.
285, where _Q. k. Cestio Q. f._ seems to be nom. dual); so _C.I.L._
xi. 6706_5, T. C. Vomanio, see W. Schulze, _Lat. Eigennamen_, p. 117.
(ii.) The introduction of new forms in the gen. sing, of the -_o_-
stems (_domini_), of the -_a_- stems (_mensae_) and in the nom. plural
of the same two declensions; innovations mostly derived from the
pronominal declension.
(iii.) The development of an adverbial formation out of what was
either an instrumental or a locative of the -_o_- stems, as in
_longe_. And here may be added the other adverbial developments, in
-_m_ (_palam_, _sensim_) probably accusative, and -_iter_, which is
simply the accusative of _iter_, "way," crystallized, as is shown
especially by the fact that though in the end it attached itself
particularly to adjectives of the third declension (_molliter_), it
appears also from adjectives of the second declension whose meaning
made their combination with _iter_ especially natural, such as
_longiter_, _firmiter_, _largiter_ (cf. English _straightway_,
_longways_). The only objections to this derivation which had any real
weight (see F. Skutsch, _De nominibus no- suffixi ope formatis_, 1890,
pp. 4-7) have been removed by Exon's Law (§ 11), which supplies a
clear reason why the contracted type _constanter_ arose in and was
felt to be proper to Participial adverbs, while _firmiter_ and the
like set the type for those formed from adjectives.
(iv.) The development of the so-called fifth declension by a
re-adjustment of the declension of the nouns formed with the suffix
-_ie_-: _ia_- (which appears, for instance, in all the Greek feminine
participles, and in a more abstract sense in words like _materies_) to
match the inflexion of two old root-nouns _res_ and _dies_, the stems
of which were originally _rei_- (Sans. _ras_, _rayas_, cf. Lat.
_reor_) and _dieu_-.
(v.) The disuse of the -_ti_- suffix in an abstract sense. The great
number of nouns which Latin inherited formed with this suffix were
either (1) marked as abstract by the addition of the further suffix
-_on_- (as in _natio_ beside the Gr. [Greek: gnêsi-os], &c.) or else
(2) confined to a concrete sense; thus _vectis_, properly "a carrying,
lifting," came to mean "pole, lever"; _ratis_, properly a "reckoning,
devising," came to mean "an (improvised) raft" (contrast _ratio_);
_postis_, a "placing," came to mean "post."
(vi.) The confusion of the consonantal stems with stems ending in
-_i_-. This was probably due very largely to the forms assumed through
phonetic changes by the gen. sing. and the nom. and acc. plural. Thus
at say 300 B.C. the inflexions probably were:
conson. stem -_i_- stem
Nom. plur. *_reg-es_ _host-es_
Acc. plur. _reg-es_ _host-is_
The confusing difference of signification of the long -_es_ ending led
to a levelling of these and other forms in the two paradigms.
(vii.) The disuse of the _u_ declension (Gr. [Greek: hêdys, stachys])
in adjectives; this group in Latin, thanks to its feminine form (Sans.
fem. _svadvi_, "sweet"), was transferred to the _i_ declension
(_suavis_, _gravis_, _levis_, _dulcis_).
30. _In verbs._
(i.) The disuse of the distinction between the personal endings of
primary and secondary tenses, the -_t_ and -_nt_, for instance, being
used for the third person singular and plural respectively in all
tenses and moods of the active. This change was completed after the
archaic period, since we find in the oldest inscriptions -_d_
regularly used in the third person singular of past tenses, e.g.
_deded_, _feced_ in place of the later _dedit_, _fecit_; and since in
Oscan the distinction was preserved to the end, both in singular and
plural, e.g. _faamat_ (perhaps meaning "auctionatur"), but _deded_
("dedit"). It is commonly assumed from the evidence of Greek and
Sanskrit (Gr. [Greek: hesti], Sans. _asti_ beside Lat. est) that the
primary endings in Latin have lost a final -_i_, partly or wholly by
some phonetic change.
(ii.) The non-thematic conjugation is almost wholly lost, surviving
only in a few forms of very common use, _est_, "is"; _est_, "eats";
_volt_, "wills," &c.
(iii.) The complete fusion of the aorist and perfect forms, and in the
same tense the fusion of active and middle endings; thus _tutudi_,
earlier *_tutudai_, is a true middle perfect; _dixi_ is an _s_ aorist
with the same ending attached; _dixit_ is an aorist active;
_tutudisti_ is a conflation of perfect and aorist with a middle
personal ending.
(iv.) The development of perfects in -_ui_ and -_vi_, derived partly
from true perfects of roots ending in _v_ or _u_, e.g. _movi rui_.
For the origin of _monui_ see Exon, _Hermathena_ (1901), xi. 396 sq.
(v.) The complete fusion of conjunctive and optative into a single
mood, the subjunctive; _regam_, &c., are conjunctive forms, whereas
_rexerim_, _rexissem_ are certainly and _regerem_ most probably
optative; the origin of _amem_ and the like is still doubtful.
Notice, however, that true conjunctive forms were often used as
futures, _reges_, _reget_, &c., and also the simple thematic
conjunctive in forms like _ero_, _rexero_, &c.
(vi.) The development of the future in -_bo_ and imperfect in -_bam_
by compounding some form of the verb, possibly the Present Participle
with forms from the root of _fui_, *_amans-fuo_ becoming _amabo_,
*_amans-fuam_ becoming _amabam_ at a very early period of Latin; see
F. Skutsch, _Atti d. Congresso Storico Intern._ (1903), vol. ii. p.
191.
(vii.) We have already noticed the rise of the passive in -_r_ (§ 5
(d)). Observe, however, that several middle forms have been pressed
into the service, partly because the -_r_- in them which had come from
-_s_- seemed to give them a passive colour (_legere_ = Gr. [Greek:
lege(s)o], Attic [Greek: legou]). The interesting forms in -_mini_ are
a confusion of two distinct inflexions, namely, an old infinitive in
-_menai_, used for the imperative, and the participial -_menoi_,
masculine, -_menai_, feminine, used with the verb "to be" in place of
the ordinary inflexions. Since these forms had all come to have the
same shape, through phonetic change, their meanings were fused; the
imperative forms being restricted to the plural, and the participial
forms being restricted to the second person.
31. _Past Participle Passive._--Next should be mentioned the great
development in the use of the participle in -_tos_ (_factus_, _fusus_,
&c.). This participle was taken with _sum_ to form the perfect tenses
of the passive, in which, thanks partly to the fusion of perfect and
aorist active, a past aorist sense was also evolved. This reacted on
the participle itself giving it a prevailingly past colour, but its
originally timeless use survives in many places, e.g. in the
participle _ratus_, which has as a rule no past sense, and more
definitely still in such passages as Vergil, _Georg._ i. 206
(_vectis_), _Aen._ vi. 22 (_ductis_), both of which passages demand a
present sense. It is to be noticed also that in the earliest Latin, as
in Greek and Sanskrit, the _passive_ meaning, though the commonest, is
not universal. Many traces of this survive in classical Latin, of
which the chief are
1. The active meaning of deponent participles, in spite of the fact
that some of them (e.g. _adeptus_, _emensus_, _expertus_) have also
a passive sense, and
2. The familiar use of these participles by the Augustan poets with
an accusative attached (_galeam indutus_, _traiectus lora_). Here no
doubt the use of the Greek middle influenced the Latin poets, but no
doubt they thought also that they were reviving an old Latin idiom.
32. _Future Participle._--Finally may be mentioned together (a) the
development of the future participle active (in -_urus_, never so
freely used as the other participles, being rare in the ablative
absolute even in Tacitus) from an old infinitive in -_urum_ ("scio
inimicos meos hoc dicturum," C. Gracchus (and others) _apud_ Gell. 1.
7, and Priscian ix. 864 (p. 475 Keil), which arose from combining the
dative or locative of the verbal noun in -_tu_ with an old infinitive
_esom_ "esse" which survives in Oscan, *_dictu esom_ becoming
_dicturum_. This was discovered by J. P. Postgate (_Class. Review_, v.
301, and _Idg. Forschungen_ iv. 252). (b) From the same infinitival
accusative with the post-position -_do_, meaning "to," "for," "in"
(cf. _quando_ for *_quam-do_, and Eng. _to_, Germ, _zu_) was formed
the so-called gerund _agen-do_, "for doing," "in doing," which was
taken for a Case, and so gave rise to the accusative and genitive in
-_dum_ and -_di_. The form in -do still lives in Italian as an
indeclinable present participle. The modal and purposive meanings of
-_do_ appear in the uses of the gerund.
The authorities giving a fuller account of Latin morphology are the
same as those cited in § 28 above, save that the reader must consult
the second volume of Brugmann's _Grundriss_, which in the English
translation (by Conway and Rouse, Strassburg, 1890-1896) is divided
into volumes ii, iii. and iv.; and that Niedermann does not deal with
morphology.
III. SYNTAX
The chief innovations of syntax developed in Latin may now be briefly
noted.
33. _In nouns._
(i.) Latin restricted the various Cases to more sharply defined uses
than either Greek or Sanskrit; the free use of the internal accusative
in Greek (e.g. [Greek: habron bainein tuphlos ta ôta]) is strange to
Latin, save in poetical imitations of Greek; and so is the freedom of
the Sanskrit instrumental, which often covers meanings expressed in
Latin by _cum_, _ab_, _inter_.
(ii.) The syncretism of the so-called ablative case, which combines
the uses of (a) the true ablative which ended in -_d_ (O. Lat.
_praidad_); (b) the instrumental sociative (plural forms like
_dominis_, the ending being that of Sans. _çivais_); and (c) the
locative (_noct-e_, "at night"; _itiner-e_, "on the road," with the
ending of Greek [Greek: elpid-i]). The so-called absolute construction
is mainly derived from the second of these, since it is regularly
attached fairly closely to the subject of the clause in which it
stands, and when accompanied by a passive participle most commonly
denotes an action performed by that subject. But the other two sources
cannot be altogether excluded (_orto sole_, "starting from sunrise";
_campo patente_, "on, in sight of, the open plain").
34. _In verbs._
(i.) The rich development and fine discrimination of the uses of the
subjunctive mood, especially (a) in indirect questions (based on
direct deliberative questions and not fully developed by the time of
Plautus, who constantly writes such phrases as _dic quis es_ for the
Ciceronian _dic quis sis_); (b) after the relative of essential
definition (_non is sum qui negem_) and the circumstantial _cum_ ("at
such a time as that"). The two uses (a) and (b) with (c) the common
Purpose and Consequence-clauses spring from the "prospective" or
"anticipatory" meaning of the mood. (d) Observe further its use in
subordinate oblique clauses (_irascitur quod abierim_, "he is angry
because, _as he asserts_, I went away"). This and all the uses of the
mood in oratio obliqua are derived partly from (a) and (b) and partly
from the (e) Unreal Jussive of past time (_Non illi argentum redderem?
Non redderes_, "Ought I not to have returned the money to him?" "You
certainly ought not to have," or, more literally, "You were not to").
On this interesting chapter of Latin syntax see W. G. Hale's
"Cum-constructions" (_Cornell University Studies in Classical
Philology_, No. 1, 1887-1889), and _The Anticipatory Subjunctive_
(Chicago, 1894).
(ii.) The complex system of oratio obliqua with the sequence of tenses
(on the growth of the latter see Conway, _Livy II._, Appendix ii.,
Cambridge, 1901).
(iii.) The curious construction of the gerundive (_ad capiendam
urbem_), originally a present (and future?) passive participle, but
restricted in its use by being linked with the so-called gerund (see §
32, b). The use, but probably not the restriction, appears in Oscan
and Umbrian.
(iv.) The favourite use of the impersonal passive has already been
mentioned (§ 5, iv.).
35. The chief authorities for the study of Latin syntax are:
Brugmann's _Kurze vergl. Grammatik_, vol. ii. (see § 28); Landgraf's
_Historische lat. Syntax_ (vol. ii. of the joint _Hist. Gram._, see §
28); Hale and Buck's _Latin Grammar_ (see § 28); Draeger's
_Historische lat. Syntax_, 2 vols. (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1878-1881),
useful but not always trustworthy; the Latin sections in Delbrück's
_Vergleichende Syntax_, being the third volume of Brugmann's
_Grundriss_ (§ 28).
IV. IMPORTATION OF GREEK WORDS
36. It is convenient, before proceeding to describe the development of
the language in its various epochs, to notice briefly the debt of its
vocabulary to Greek, since it affords an indication of the steadily
increasing influence of Greek life and literature upon the growth of the
younger idiom. Corssen (_Lat. Aussprache_, ii. 814) pointed out four
different stages in the process, and though they are by no means sharply
divided in time, they do correspond to different degrees and kinds of
intercourse.
(a) The first represents the period of the early intercourse of Rome
with the Greek states, especially with the colonies in the south of
Italy and Sicily. To this stage belong many names of nations,
countries and towns, as _Siculi_, _Tarentum_, _Graeci_, _Achivi_,
_Poenus_; and also names of weights and measures, articles of industry
and terms connected with navigation, as _mina_, _talentum_, _purpura_,
_patina_, _ancora_, _aplustre_, _nausea_. Words like _amurca_,
_scutula_, _pessulus_, _balineum_, _tarpessita_ represent familiarity
with Greek customs and bear equally the mark of naturalization. To
these may be added names of gods or heroes, like _Apollo_, _Pollux_
and perhaps _Hercules_. These all became naturalized Latin words and
were modified by the phonetic changes which took place in the Latin
language after they had come into it (cf. §§ 9-27 _supra_). (b) The
second stage was probably the result of the closer intercourse
resulting from the conquest of southern Italy, and the wars in Sicily,
and of the contemporary introduction of imitations of Greek literature
into Rome, with its numerous references to Greek life and culture. It
is marked by the free use of hybrid forms, whether made by the
addition of Latin suffixes to Greek stems as _ballistarius_,
_hepatarius_, _subbasilicanus_, _sycophantiosus_, _comissari_ or of
Greek suffixes to Latin stems as _plagipatidas_, _pernonides_; or by
derivation, as _thermopotare_, _supparasitari_; or by composition as
_ineuscheme_, _thyrsigerae_, _flagritribae_, _scrophipasci_. The
character of many of these words shows that the comic poets who coined
them must have been able to calculate upon a fair knowledge of
colloquial Greek on the part of a considerable portion of their
audience. The most remarkable instance of this is supplied by the
burlesque lines in Plautus (_Pers._ 702 seq.), where Sagaristio
describes himself as
Vaniloquidorus, Virginisvendonides,
Nugipiloquides, Argentumexterebronides,
Tedigniloquides, Nummosexpalponides,
Quodsemelarripides, Nunquameripides.
During this period Greek words are still generally inflected according
to the Latin usage.
(c) But with Accius (see below) begins a third stage, in which the
Greek inflexion is frequently preserved, e.g. _Hectora_, _Oresten_,
_Cithaeron_; and from this time forward the practice wavers. Cicero
generally prefers the Latin case-endings, defending, e.g., _Piraeeum_
as against _Piraeea_ (_ad Att._ vii. 3, 7), but not without some
fluctuation, while Varro takes the opposite side, and prefers
_poëmasin_ to the Ciceronian _poëmatis_. By this time also _y_ and _z_
were introduced, and the representation of the Greek aspirates by
_th_, _ph_, _ch_, so that words newly borrowed from the Greek could be
more faithfully reproduced. This is equally true whatever was the
precise nature of the sound which at that period the Greek aspirates
had reached in their secular process of change from pure aspirates (as
in Eng. _ant-hill_, &c.) to fricatives (like Eng. _th_ in _thin_).
(See Arnold and Conway, _The Restored Pronunciation of Greek and
Latin_, 4th ed., Cambridge, 1908, p. 21.)
(d) A fourth stage is marked by the practice of the Augustan poets,
who, especially when writing in imitation of Greek originals, freely
use the Greek inflexions, such as _Arcades_, _Tethy_, _Aegida_,
_Echus_, &c. Horace probably always used the Latin form in his
_Satires_ and _Epistles_, the Greek in his Odes. Later prose writers
for the most part followed the example of his _Odes_. It must be
added, however, in regard to these literary borrowings that it is not
quite clear whether in this fourth class, and even in the unmodified
forms in the preceding class, the words had really any living use in
spoken Latin.
V. PRONUNCIATION
This appears the proper place for a rapid survey of the
pronunciation[1] of the Latin language, as spoken in its best days.
37. CONSONANTS.--(i.) _Back palatal._ Breathed plosive _c_, pronounced
always as _k_ (except that in some early inscriptions--probably none
much later, if at all later, than 300 B.C.--the character is used also
for _g_) until about the 7th century after Christ. _K_ went out of use
at an early period, except in a few old abbreviations for words in
which it had stood before _a_, e.g., _kal._ for _kalendae_. _Q_,
always followed by the consonantal _u_, except in a few old
inscriptions, in which it is used for _c_ before the vowel _u_, e.g.
_pequnia_. _X_, an abbreviation for _cs_; _xs_ is, however, sometimes
found. Voiced plosive _g_, pronounced as in English _gone_, but never
as in English _gem_ before about the 6th century after Christ.
Aspirate _h_, the rough breathing as in English.
(ii.) _Palatal._--The consonantal _i_, like the English _y_; it is
only in late inscriptions that we find, in spellings like _Zanuario_,
_Giove_, any definite indication of a pronunciation like the English
_j_. The precise date of the change is difficult to determine (see
Lindsay's _Latin Lang._ p. 49), especially as we may, in isolated
cases, have before us merely a dialectic variation; see PAELIGNI.
(iii.) _Lingual._--_r_ as in English, but probably produced more with
the point of the tongue. _l_ similarly more dental than in English.
_s_ always breathed (as Eng. _ce_ in _ice_). _z_, which is only found
in the transcription of Greek words in and after the time of Cicero,
as _dz_ or _zz_.
(iv.) _Dental._--Breathed, _t_ as in English. Voiced, _d_ as in
English; but by the end of the 4th century _di_ before a vowel was
pronounced like our j (cf. _diurnal_ and _journal_). Nasal, _n_ as in
English; but also (like the English _n_) a guttural nasal (_ng_)
before a guttural. Apparently it was very lightly pronounced, and
easily fell away before _s_.
(v.) _Labial._--Breathed, _p_ as in English. Voiced, _b_ as in
English; but occasionally in inscriptions of the later empire _v_ is
written for _b_, showing that in some cases _b_ had already acquired
the fricative sound of the contemporary [beta] (see § 24, iii.). _b_
before a sharp _s_ was pronounced _p_, e.g. in _urbs_. Nasal, _m_ as
in English, but very slightly pronounced at the end of a word.
Spirant, _v_ like the _ou_ in French _oui_, but later approximating to
the _w_ heard in some parts of Germany, Ed. Sievers, _Grundzüge d.
Phonetik_, ed. 4, p. 117, i.e. a labial _v_, not (like the English
_v_) a labio-dental _v_.
(vi.) _Labio-dental._--Breathed fricative, _f_ as in English.
38. VOWELS.--_a_, _u_, _i_, as the English _ah_, oo, _ee_; _o_, a
sound coming nearer to Eng. _aw_ than to Eng. _o_; _e_ a close Italian
_e_, nearly as the _a_ of Eng. _mate_, _ée_ of Fr. _passée_. The short
sound of the vowels was not always identical in quality with the long
sound. _a_ was pronounced as in the French _chatte_, _u_ nearly as in
Eng. _pull_, _i_ nearly as in _pit_, _o_ as in _dot_, _e_ nearly as in
_pet_. The diphthongs were produced by pronouncing in rapid succession
the vowels of which they were composed, according to the above scheme.
This gives, _au_ somewhat broader than _ou_ in house; _eu_ like _ow_
in the "Yankee" pronunciation of _town_; _ae_ like the vowel in _hat_
lengthened, with perhaps somewhat more approximation to the _i_ in
_wine_; _oe_, a diphthongal sound approximating to Eng. _oi_; _ui_, as
the French _oui_.
To this it should be added that the Classical Association, acting on
the advice of a committee of Latin scholars, has recommended for the
diphthongs _ae_ and _oe_ the pronunciation of English _i_ (really
_ai_) in _wine_ and _oi_ in _boil_, sounds which they undoubtedly had
in the time of Plautus and probably much later, and which for
practical use in teaching have been proved far the best.
VI. THE LANGUAGE AS RECORDED
39. Passing now to a survey of the condition of the language at various
epochs and in the different authors, we find the earliest monument of it
yet discovered in a donative inscription on a fibula or brooch found in
a tomb of the 7th century B.C. at Praeneste. It runs "Manios med
fhefhaked Numasioi," i.e. "Manios made me for Numasios." The use of _f_
(_fh_) to denote the sound of Latin _f_ supplied the explanation of the
change of the symbol _f_ from its Greek value (= Eng. _w_) to its Latin
value _f_, and shows the Chalcidian Greek alphabet in process of
adaptation to the needs of Latin (see WRITING). The reduplicated
perfect, its 3rd sing. ending -_ed_, the dative masculine in -_oi_ (this
is one of the only two recorded examples in Latin), the -_s_- between
vowels (§ 25, 1), and the -_a_- in what was then (see §§ 9, 10)
certainly an unaccented syllable and the accusative _med_, are all
interesting marks of antiquity.[2]
40. The next oldest fragment of continuous Latin is furnished by a
vessel dug up in the valley between the Quirinal and the Viminal early
in 1880. The vessel is of a dark brown clay, and consists of three small
round pots, the sides of which are connected together. All round this
vessel runs an inscription, in three clauses, two nearly continuous, the
third written below; the writing is from right to left, and is still
clearly legible; the characters include one sign not belonging to the
later Latin alphabet, namely [symbol] for R, while the M has five
strokes and the Q has the form of a Koppa.
The inscription is as follows:--
"iovesat deivos qoi med mitat, nei ted endo cosmis virco sied, asted
noisi opetoitesiai pacari vois.
dvenos med feced en manom einom duenoi ne med malo statod."
The general style of the writing and the phonetic peculiarities make it
fairly certain that this work must have been produced not later than 300
B.C. Some points in its interpretation are still open to doubt,[3] but
the probable interpretation is--
"Deos iurat ille (_or_ iurant illi) qui me mittat (_or_ mittant) ne in
te Virgo (i.e. Proserpina) comis sit, nisi quidem optimo (?) Theseae
(?) pacari vis. Duenos me fecit contra Manum, Dueno autem ne per me
malum stato (= imputetur, imponatur)."
"He (or they) who dispatch me binds the gods (by his offering) that
Proserpine shall not be kind to thee unless thou wilt make terms with
(or "for") Opetos Thesias (?). Duenos made me against Manus, but let no
evil fall to Duenos on my account."
41. Between these two inscriptions lies in point of date the famous
stele discovered in the Forum in 1899 (G. Boni, _Notiz. d. scavi_, May
1899). The upper half had been cut off in order to make way for a new
pavement or black stone blocks (known to archaeologists as the _niger
lapis_) on the site of the comitium, just to the north-east of the Forum
in front of the Senate House. The inscription was written lengthwise
along the (pyramidal) stele from foot to apex, but with the alternate
lines in reverse directions, and one line not on the full face of any
one of the four sides, but up a roughly-flattened fifth side made by
slightly broadening one of the angles. No single sentence is complete
and the mutilated fragments have given rise to a whole literature of
conjectural "restorations."
R. S. Conway examined it _in situ_ in company with F. Skutsch in 1903
(cf. his article in Vollmöller's _Jahresbericht_, vi. 453), and the
only words that can be regarded as reasonably certain are _regei_
(_regi_) on face 2, _kalatorem_ and _iouxmenta_ on face 3, and
_iouestod_ (_iusto_) on face 4.[3] The date may be said to be fixed by
the variation of the sign for _m_ between [symbol] and [symbol] (with
[symbol] for _r_) and other alphabetic indications which suggest the
5th century B.C. It has been suggested also that the reason for the
destruction of the stele and the repavement may have been either (1)
the pollution of the comitium by the Gallic invasion of 390 B.C., all
traces of which, on their departure, could be best removed by a
repaving; or (2) perhaps more probably, the Augustan restorations
(Studniczka, _Jahresheft d. Österr. Institut_, 1903, vi. 129 ff.).
(R. S. C.)
42. Of the earlier long inscriptions the most important would be the
_Columna Rostrata_, or column of Gaius Duilius (q.v.), erected to
commemorate his victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C., but for
the extent to which it has suffered from the hands of restorers. The
shape of the letters plainly shows that the inscription, as we have
it, was cut in the time of the empire. Hence Ritschl and Mommsen
pointed out that the language was modified at the same time, and that,
although many archaisms have been retained, some were falsely
introduced, and others replaced by more modern forms. The most
noteworthy features in it are--C always written for G (CESET =
_gessit_), single for double consonants (_clases-classes_), _d_
retained in the ablative (e.g., _in altod marid_), _o_ for _u_ in
inflexions (_primos_, _exfociont_ = _exfugiunt_), _e_ for _i_
(_navebos_ = _navibus_, _exemet_ = _exemit_); of these the first is
probably an affected archaism, G having been introduced some time
before the assumed date of the inscription. On the other hand, we have
_praeda_ where we should have expected _praida_; no final consonants
are dropped; and the forms -_es_, -_eis_ and -_is_ for the accusative
plural are interchanged capriciously. The doubts hence arising
preclude the possibility of using it with confidence as evidence for
the state of the language in the 3rd century B.C.
43. Of unquestionable genuineness and the greatest value are the
_Scipionum Elogia_, inscribed on stone coffins, found in the monument
of the Scipios outside the Capene gate (_C.I.L._[1] i. 32). The
earliest of the family whose epitaph has been preserved is L.
Cornelius Scipio Barbatus (consul 298 B.C.), the latest C. Cornelius
Scipio Hispanus (praetor in 139 B.C.); but there are good reasons for
believing with Ritschl that the epitaph of the first was not
contemporary, but was somewhat later than that of his son (consul 259
B.C.). This last may therefore be taken as the earliest specimen of
any length of Latin and it was written at Rome; it runs as follows:--
honcoino . ploirume . cosentiont . r[_omai_]
duonoro . optumo . fuise . uiro [_virorum_]
luciom . scipione . filios . barbati
_co_]nsol . censor . aidilis . hic . fuet a [_pud vos_]
_he_]c . cepit . corsica . aleriaque . urbe[_m_]
_de_]det . tempestatebus . aide . mereto[_d votam_].
The archaisms in this inscription are--(1) the retention of _o_ for
_u_ in the inflexion of both nouns and verbs; (2) the diphthongs _oi_
(= later _u_) and _ai_ (= later _ae_); (3) -_et_ for -_it_, _hec_ for
_hic_, and -_ebus_ for -_ibus_; (4) _duon_- for _bon_; and (5) the
dropping of a final _m_ in every case except in _Luciom_, a variation
which is a marked characteristic of the language of this period.
44. The oldest specimen of the Latin language preserved to us in any
literary source is to be found in two fragments of the Carmina
Saliaria (Varro, _De ling. Lat._ vii. 26, 27), and one in Terentianus
Scaurus, but they are unfortunately so corrupt as to give us little
real information (see B. Maurenbrecher, _Carminum Saliarium
reliquiae_, Leipzig, 1894; G. Hempl, _American Philol. Assoc.
Transactions_, xxxi., 1900, 184). Rather better evidence is supplied
in the _Carmen Fratrum Arvalium_, which was found in 1778 engraved on
one of the numerous tablets recording the transactions of the college
of the Arval brothers, dug up on the site of their grove by the Tiber,
5 m. from the city of Rome; but this also has been so corrupted in its
oral tradition that even its general meaning is by no means clear
(_C.I.L._^1 i. 28; Jordan, _Krit. Beiträge_, pp. 203-211).
45. The text of the Twelve Tables (451-450 B.C.), if preserved in its
integrity, would have been invaluable as a record of antique Latin; but
it is known to us only in quotations. R. Schoell, whose edition and
commentary (Leipzig, 1866) is the most complete, notes the following
traces, among others, of an archaic syntax: (1) both the subject and the
object of the verb are often left to be understood from the context,
e.g. _ni it antestamino, igitur, em capito_; (2) the imperative is used
even for permissions, "si volet, plus dato," "if he choose, he may give
him more"; (3) the subjunctive is apparently never used in conditional,
only in final sentences, but the future perfect is common; (4) the
connexion between sentences is of the simplest kind, and conjunctions
are rare. There are, of course, numerous isolated archaisms of form and
meaning, such as _calvitur_, _pacunt_, _endo_, _escit_. Later and less
elaborate editions are contained in _Fontes Iuris Romani_, by
Bruns-Mommsen-Gradenwitz (1892); and P. Girard, _Textes de droit romain_
(1895).
46. Turning now to the language of literature we may group the Latin
authors as follows:--[5]
I. _Ante-Classical_ (240-80 B.C.).--Naevius (? 269-204), Plautus
(254-184), Ennius (239-169), Cato the Elder (234-149), Terentius (?
195-159), Pacuvius (220-132), Accius (170-94), Lucilius (? 168-103).
II. _Classical--Golden Age_ (80 B.C.-A.D. 14).--Varro (116-28), Cicero
(106-44), Lucretius (99-55), Caesar (102-44), Catullus (87-? 47),
Sallust (86-34), Virgil (70-19), Horace (65-8), Propertius (? 50- ?),
Tibullus (? 54-? 18), Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18), Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 18).
III. _Classical--Silver Age_ (A.D. 14-180).--Velleius (? 19 B.C.-? A.D.
31), M. Seneca (d. c. A.D. 30), Persius (34-62), Petronius (d. 66),
Lucan (39-65), L. Seneca (d. A.D. 65), Plinius major (23-A.D. 79),
Martial (40-101), Quintilian (42-118), Pliny the Younger (61-? 113),
Tacitus (? 60-? 118), Juvenal (? 47-? 138), Suetonius (75-160), Fronto
(c. 90-170).
47. _Naevius and Plautus._--In Naevius we find archaisms proportionally
much more numerous than in Plautus, especially in the retention of the
original length of vowels, and early forms of inflexion, such as the
genitive in -_as_ and the ablative in -_d_. The number of archaic words
preserved is perhaps due to the fact that so large a proportion of his
fragments have been preserved only by the grammarians, who cited them
for the express purpose of explaining these.
Of the language of Plautus important features have already been
mentioned (§§ 10-16); for its more general characteristics see PLAUTUS.
48. _Ennius._--The language of Ennius deserves especial study because of
the immense influence which he exerted in fixing the literary style. He
first established the rule that in hexameter verse all vowels followed
by two consonants (except in the case of a mute and a liquid), or a
double consonant, must be treated as lengthened by position. The number
of varying quantities is also much diminished, and the elision of final
-_m_ becomes the rule, though not without exceptions. On the other hand
he very commonly retains the original length of verbal terminations
(_esset_, _faciet_) and of nominatives in _or_ and _a_, and elides final
_s_ before an initial consonant. In declension he never uses -_ae_ as
the genitive, but -_ai_ or -_as_; the older and shorter form of the gen.
plur. is -_um_ in common; obsolete forms of pronouns are used, as _mis_,
_olli_, _sum_ (= eum), _sas_, _sos_, _sapsa_; and in verbal inflexion
there are old forms like _morimur_ (§ 15), _fuimus_ (§ 17, vi.),
_potestur_ (cf. § 5, iv.). Some experiments in the way of tmesis (_saxo_
cere _comminuit_-brum) and apocope (_divum domus altisonum_ cael,
_replet te laetificum_ gau) were happily regarded as failures, and never
came into real use. His syntax is simple and straightforward, with the
occasional pleonasms of a rude style, and conjunctions are comparatively
rare. From this time forward the literary language of Rome parted
company with the popular dialect. Even to the classical writers Latin
was in a certain sense a dead language. Its vocabulary was not identical
with that of ordinary life. Now and again a writer would lend new vigour
to his style by phrases and constructions drawn from homely speech. But
on the whole, and in ever-increasing measure, the language of literature
was the language of the schools, adapted to foreign models. The genuine
current of Italian speech is almost lost to view with Plautus and
Terence, and reappears clearly only in the semi-barbarous products of
the early Romance literature.
49. _Pacuvius, Accius and Lucilius._--Pacuvius is noteworthy especially
for his attempt to introduce a free use of compounds after the fashion
of the Greek, which were felt in the classical times to be unsuited to
the genius of the Latin language, Quintilian censures severely his
line--
Nerei repandirostrum incurvicervicum pecus.
Accius, though probably the greatest of the Roman tragedians, is only
preserved in comparatively unimportant fragments. We know that he paid
much attention to grammar and orthography; and his language is much more
finished than that of Ennius. It shows no marked archaisms of form,
unless the infinitive in -_ier_ is to be accounted as such.
Lucilius furnishes a specimen of the language of the period, free from
the restraints of tragic diction and the imitation of Greek originals.
Unfortunately the greater part of his fragments are preserved only by a
grammarian whose text is exceptionally corrupt; but they leave no doubt
as to the justice of the criticism passed by Horace on his careless and
"muddy" diction. The _urbanitas_ which is with one accord conceded to
him by ancient critics seems to indicate that his style was free from
the taint of provincial Latinity, and it may be regarded as reproducing
the language of educated circles in ordinary life; the numerous
Graecisms and Greek quotations with which it abounds show the
familiarity of his readers with the Greek language and literature. Varro
ascribes to him the _gracile genus dicendi_, the distinguishing features
of which were _venustas_ and _subtilitas_. Hence it appears that his
numerous archaisms were regarded as in no way inconsistent with grace
and precision of diction. But it may be remembered that Varro was
himself something of an archaizer, and also that the grammarians'
quotations may bring this aspect too much into prominence. Lucilius
shares with the comic poets the use of many plebeian expressions, the
love for diminutives, abstract terms and words of abuse; but
occasionally he borrows from the more elevated style of Ennius forms
like _simitu_ (= simul), _noenu_ (= non), _facul_ (= facile), and the
genitive in -_ai_, and he ridicules the contemporary tragedians for
their _zetematia_, their high-flown diction and _sesquipedalia verba_,
which make the characters talk "not like men but like portents, flying
winged snakes." In his ninth book he discusses questions of grammar, and
gives some interesting facts as to the tendencies of the language. For
instance, when he ridicules a _praetor urbanus_ for calling himself
_pretor_, we see already the intrusion of the rustic degradation of _ae_
into _e_, which afterwards became universal. He shows a great command of
technical language, and (partly owing to the nature of the fragments)
[Greek: hapax legomena] are very numerous.
50. _Cato._--The treatise of Cato the elder, _De re rustica_, would have
afforded invaluable material, but it has unfortunately come down to us
in a text greatly modernized, which is more of interest from the point
of view of literature than of language. We find in it, however,
instances of the accusative with _uti_, of the old imperative
_praefamino_ and of the fut. sub. _servassis_, _prohibessis_ and such
interesting subjunctive constructions as _dato bubus bibant omnibus_,
"give all the oxen (water) to drink."
51. _Growth of Latin Prose._--It is unfortunately impossible to trace
the growth of Latin prose diction through its several stages with the
same clearness as in the case of poetry. The fragments of the earlier
Latin prose writers are too scanty for us to be able to say with
certainty when and how a formed prose style was created. But the impulse
to it was undoubtedly given in the habitual practice of oratory. The
earliest orators, like Cato, were distinguished for strong common sense,
biting wit and vigorous language, rather than for any graces of style;
and probably personal _auctoritas_ was of far more account than rhetoric
both in the law courts and in the assemblies of the people. The first
public speaker, according to Cicero, who aimed at a polished style and
elaborate periods was M. Aemilius Lepidus Porcina, in the middle of the
2nd century B.C.[6] On his model the Gracchi and Carbo fashioned
themselves, and, if we may judge from the fragments of the orations of
C. Gracchus which are preserved, there were few traces of archaism
remaining. A more perfect example of the _urbanitas_ at which good
speakers aimed was supplied by a famous speech of C. Fannius against C.
Gracchus, which Cicero considered the best oration of the time. No
small part of the _urbanitas_ consisted in a correct urban
pronunciation; and the standard of this was found in the language of the
women of the upper classes, such as Laelia and Cornelia.
In the earliest continuous prose work which remains to us the four books
_De Rhetorica ad Herennium_, we find the language already almost
indistinguishable from that of Cicero. There has been much discussion as
to the authorship of this work, now commonly, without very convincing
reasons, ascribed to Q. Cornificius; but, among the numerous arguments
which prove that it cannot have been the work of Cicero, none has been
adduced of any importance drawn from the character of the language. It
is worth while noticing that not only is the style in itself perfectly
finished, but the treatment of the subject of style, _elocutio_ (iv. 12.
17), shows the pains which had already been given to the question. The
writer lays down three chief requisites--(1) _elegantia_, (2)
_compositio_ and (3) _dignitas_. Under the first come _Latinitas_, a due
avoidance of solecisms and barbarisms, and _explanatio_, clearness, the
employment of familiar and appropriate expressions. The second demands a
proper arrangement; hiatus, alliteration, rhyme, the repetition or
displacement of words, and too long sentences are all to be eschewed.
Dignity depends upon the selection of language and of sentiments.
52. _Characteristics of Latin Prose._--Hence we see that by the time of
Cicero Latin prose was fully developed. We may, therefore, pause here to
notice the characteristic qualities of the language at its most perfect
stage. The Latin critics were themselves fully conscious of the broad
distinction in character between their own language and the Greek.
Seneca dwells upon the stately and dignified movement of the Latin
period, and uses for Cicero the happy epithet of _gradarius_. He allows
to the Greeks _gratia_, but claims _potentia_ for his own countrymen.
Quintilian (xii. 10. 27 seq.) concedes to Greek more euphony and variety
both of vocalization and of accent; he admits that Latin words are
harsher in sound, and often less happily adapted to the expression of
varying shades of meaning. But he too claims "power" as the
distinguishing mark of his own language. Feeble thought may be carried
off by the exquisite harmony and subtleness of Greek diction; his
countrymen must aim at fulness and weight of ideas if they are not to be
beaten off the field. The Greek authors are like lightly moving skiffs;
the Romans spread wider sails and are wafted by stronger breezes; hence
the deeper waters suit them. It is not that the Latin language fails to
respond to the calls made upon it. Lucretius and Cicero concur, it is
true, in complaints of the poverty of their native language; but this
was only because they had had no predecessors in the task of adapting it
to philosophic utterance; and the long life of Latin technical terms
like _qualitas_, _species_, _genus_, _ratio_, shows how well the need
was met when it arose. H. A. J. Munro has said admirably of this very
period:--
"The living Latin for all the higher forms of composition, both prose
and verse, was a far nobler language than the living Greek. During the
long period of Grecian pre-eminence and literary glory, from Homer to
Demosthenes, all the manifold forms of poetry and prose which were
invented one after the other were brought to such exquisite perfection
that their beauty of form and grace of language were never afterwards
rivalled by Latin or any other people. But hardly had Demosthenes and
Aristotle ceased to live when that Attic which had been gradually
formed into such a noble instrument of thought in the hands of
Aristophanes, Euripides, Plato and the orators, and had superseded for
general use all the other dialects, became at the same time the
language of the civilized world and was stricken with a mortal
decay.... Epicurus, who was born in the same year as Menander, writes
a harsh jargon that does not deserve to be called a style; and others
of whose writings anything is left entire or in fragments, historians
and philosophers alike, Polybius, Chrysippus, Philodemus, are little
if any better. When Cicero deigns to translate any of their sentences,
see what grace and life he instils into their clumsily expressed
thoughts, how satisfying to the ear and taste are the periods of Livy
when he is putting into Latin the heavy and uncouth clauses of
Polybius! This may explain what Cicero means when at one time he gives
to Greek the preference over Latin, at another to Latin over Greek; in
reading Sophocles or Plato he could acknowledge their unrivalled
excellence; in translating Panaetius or Philodemus he would feel his
own immeasurable superiority."
The greater number of long syllables, combined with the paucity of
diphthongs and the consequent monotony of vocalization, and the
uniformity of the accent, lent a weight and dignity of movement to the
language which well suited the national _gravitas_. The precision of
grammatical rules and the entire absence of dialectic forms from the
written literature contributed to maintain the character of unity which
marked the Roman republic as compared with the multiplicity of Greek
states. It was remarked by Francis Bacon that artistic and imaginative
nations indulge freely in verbal compounds, practical nations in simple
concrete terms. In this respect, too, Latin contrasts with Greek. The
attempts made by some of the earlier poets to indulge in novel compounds
was felt to be out of harmony with the genius of the language.
Composition, though necessarily employed, was kept within narrow limits,
and the words thus produced have a sharply defined meaning, wholly
unlike the poetical vagueness of some of the Greek compounds. The
vocabulary of the language, though receiving accessions from time to
time in accordance with practical needs, was rarely enriched by the
products of a spontaneous creativeness. In literature the taste of the
educated town circles gave the law; and these, trained in the study of
the Greek masters of style, required something which should reproduce
for them the harmony of the Greek period. Happily the orators who gave
form to Latin prose were able to meet the demand without departing from
the spirit of their own language.[7]
53. _Cicero and Caesar._--To Cicero especially the Romans owed the
realization of what was possible to their language in the way of
artistic finish of style. He represents a protest at one and the same
time against the inroads of the _plebeius sermo_, vulgarized by the
constant influx of non-Italian provincials into Rome, and the "jargon of
spurious and partial culture" in vogue among the Roman pupils of the
Asiatic rhetoricians. His essential service was to have caught the tone
and style of the true Roman _urbanitas_, and to have fixed it in
extensive and widely read speeches and treatises as the final model of
classical prose. The influence of Caesar was wholly in the same
direction. His cardinal principle was that every new-fangled and
affected expression, from whatever quarter it might come, should be
avoided by the writer, as rocks by the mariner. His own style for
straightforward simplicity and purity has never been surpassed; and it
is not without full reason that Cicero and Caesar are regarded as the
models of classical prose. But, while they fixed the type of the best
Latin, they did not and could not alter its essential character. In
subtlety, in suggestiveness, in many-sided grace and versatility, it
remained far inferior to the Greek. But for dignity and force, for
cadence and rhythm, for clearness and precision, the best Latin prose
remains unrivalled.
It is needless to dwell upon the grammar or vocabulary of Cicero. His
language is universally taken as the normal type of Latin; and, as
hitherto the history of the language has been traced by marking
differences from his usage, so the same method may be followed for what
remains.
54. _Varro_, "the most learned of the ancients," a friend and
contemporary of Cicero, seems to have rejected the periodic rhythmical
style of Cicero, and to have fallen back upon a more archaic structure.
Mommsen says of one passage "the clauses of the sentence are arranged on
the thread of the relative like dead thrushes on a string." But, in
spite (some would say, because) of his old-fashioned tendencies, his
language shows great vigour and spirit. In his Menippean satires he
intentionally made free use of plebeian expressions, while rising at
times to a real grace and showing often fresh humour. His treatise _De
Re Rustica_, in the form of a dialogue, is the most agreeable of his
works, and where the nature of his subject allows it there is much
vivacity and dramatic picturesqueness, although the precepts are
necessarily given in a terse and abrupt form. His sentences are as a
rule co-ordinated, with but few connecting links; his diction contains
many antiquated or unique words.
55. _Sallust._--In Sallust, a younger contemporary of Cicero, we have
the earliest complete specimen of historical narrative. It is probably
due to his subject-matter, at least in part, that his style is marked by
frequent archaisms; but something must be ascribed to intentional
imitation of the earlier chroniclers, which led him to be called
_priscorum Catonisque verborum ineruditissimus fur_. His archaisms
consist partly of words and phrases used in a sense for which we have
only early authorities, e.g. _cum animo habere_, &c., _animos tollere_,
_bene factum_, _consultor_, _prosapia_, _dolus_, _venenum_, _obsequela_,
_inquies_, _sallere_, _occipere_, _collibeo_, and the like, where we may
notice especially the fondness for frequentatives, which he shares with
the early comedy; partly in inflections which were growing obsolete,
such as _senati_, _solui_, _comperior_ (dep.), _neglegisset_, _vis_
(acc. pl.) _nequitur_. In syntax his constructions are for the most part
those of the contemporary writers.
56. _Lucretius_ is largely archaic in his style. We find _im_ for _eum_,
_endo_ for _in_, _illae_, _ullae_, _unae_ and _aliae_ as genitives,
_alid_ for _aliud_, _rabies_ as a genitive by the side of genitives in
-_ai_, ablatives in -_i_ like _colli_, _orbi_, _parti_, nominatives in
_s_ for _r_, like _colos_, _vapos_, _humos_. In verbs there are
_scatit_, _fulgit_, _quaesit_, _confluxet_ = _confluxisset_, _recesse_ =
_recessisse_, _induiacere_ for _inicere_; simple forms like _fligere_,
_lacere_, _cedere_, _stinguere_ for the more usual compounds, the
infinitive passive in -_ier_, and archaic forms from _esse_ like _siet_,
_escit_, _fuat_. Sometimes he indulges in tmesis which reminds us of
Ennius: _inque pediri_, _disque supata_, _ordia prima_. But this archaic
tinge is adopted only for poetical purposes, and as a proof of his
devotion to the earlier masters of his art; it does not affect the
general substance of his style, which is of the freshest and most
vigorous stamp. But the purity of his idiom is not gained by any slavish
adherence to a recognized vocabulary: he coins words freely; Munro has
noted more than a hundred [Greek: hapax legomena], or words which he
alone among good writers uses. Many of these are formed on familiar
models, such as compounds and frequentatives; others are directly
borrowed from the Greek apparently with a view to sweetness of rhythm
(ii. 412, v. 334, 505); others again (forty or more in number) are
compounds of a kind which the classical language refused to adopt, such
as _silvifragus_, _terriloquus_, _perterricrepus_. He represents not so
much a stage in the history of the language as a protest against the
tendencies fashionable in his own time. But his influence was deep upon
Virgil, and through him upon all subsequent Latin literature.
57. _Catullus_ gives us the type of the language of the cultivated
circles, lifted into poetry by the simple directness with which it is
used to express emotion. In his heroic and elegiac poems he did not
escape the influence of the Alexandrian school, and his genius is ill
suited for long-continued flights; but in his lyrical poems his language
is altogether perfect. As Macaulay says: "No Latin writer is so Greek.
The simplicity, the pathos, the perfect grace, which I find in the great
Athenian models are all in Catullus, and in him alone of the Romans."
The language of these poems comes nearest perhaps to that of Cicero's
more intimate letters. It is full of colloquial idioms and familiar
language, of the diminutives of affection or of playfulness. Greek words
are rare, especially in the lyrics, and those which are employed are
only such as had come to be current coin. Archaisms are but sparingly
introduced; but for metrical reasons he has four instances of the inf.
pass., in -_ier_, and several contracted forms; we find also _alis_ and
_alid_, _uni_ (gen.), and the antiquated _tetuli_ and _recepso_. There
are traces of the popular language in the shortened imperatives _cave_
and _mane_, in the analytic perfect _paratam habes_, and in the use of
_unus_ approaching that of the indefinite article.
58. _Horace._--The poets of the Augustan age mark the opening of a new
chapter in the history of the Latin language. The influence of Horace
was less than that of his friend and contemporary Virgil; for Horace
worked in a field of his own, and, although Statius imitated his
lyrics, and Persius and Juvenal, especially the former, his satires, on
the whole there are few traces of any deep marks left by him on the
language of later writers. In his _Satires_ and _Epistles_ the diction
is that of the contemporary _urbanitas_, differing hardly at all from
that of Cicero in his epistles and dialogues. The occasional archaisms,
such as the syncope in _erepsemus_, _evasse_, _surrexe_, the infinitives
in -ier, and the genitives _deum_, _divum_, may be explained as still
conversationally allowable, though ceasing to be current in literature;
and a similar explanation may account for plebeian terms, e.g.
_balatro_, _blatero_, _giarrio_, _mutto_, _vappa_, _caldus_, _soldus_,
_surpite_, for the numerous diminutives, and for such pronouns, adverbs,
conjunctions and turns of expression as were common in prose, but not
found, or found but rarely, in elevated poetry. Greek words are used
sparingly, not with the licence which he censures in Lucilius, and in
his hexameters are framed according to Latin rules. In the _Odes_, on
the other hand, the language is much more precisely limited. There are
practically no archaisms (_spargier_ in Carm. iv. 11. 8 is a doubtful
exception), or plebeian expressions; Greek inflections are employed, but
not with the licence of Catullus; there are no datives in _i_ or _sin_
like _Tethyi_ or _Dryasin_; Greek constructions are fairly numerous,
e.g. the genitive with verbs like _regnare_, _abstinere_, _desinere_,
and with adjectives, as _integer vitae_, the so-called Greek accusative,
the dative with verbs of contest, like _luctari_, _decertare_, the
transitive use of many intransitive verbs in the past participle, as
_regnatus_, _triumphatus_; and finally there is a "prolative" use of the
infinitive after verbs and adjectives, where prose would have employed
other constructions, which, though not limited to Horace, is more common
with him than with other poets. Compounds are very sparingly employed,
and apparently only when sanctioned by authority. His own innovations in
vocabulary are not numerous. About eighty [Greek: hapax legomena] have
been noted. Like Virgil, he shows his exquisite skill in the use of
language rather in the selection from already existing stores, than in
the creation of new resources: _tantum series iuncturaque pollet_. But
both his diction and his syntax left much less marked traces upon
succeeding writers than did those of either Virgil or Ovid.
59. _Virgil._--In Virgil the Latin language reached its full maturity.
What Cicero was to the period, Virgil was to the hexameter; indeed the
changes that he wrought were still more marked, inasmuch as the language
of verse admits of greater subtlety and finish than even the most
artistic prose. For the straightforward idiomatic simplicity of
Lucretius and Catullus he substituted a most exact and felicitous
diction, rich with the suggestion of the most varied sources of
inspiration. Sometimes it is a phrase of Homer's "conveyed" literally
with happy boldness, sometimes it is a line of Ennius, or again some
artistic Sophoclean combination. Virgil was equally familiar with the
great Greek models of style and with the earlier Latin poets. This
learning, guided by an unerring sense of fitness and harmony, enabled
him to give to his diction a music which recalls at once the fullest
tones of the Greek lyre and the lofty strains of the most genuinely
national song. His love of antiquarianism in language has often been
noticed, but it never passes into pedantry. His vocabulary and
constructions are often such as would have conveyed to his
contemporaries a grateful flavour of the past, but they would never have
been unintelligible. Forms like _iusso_, _olle_ or _admittier_ can have
delayed no one.
In the details of syntax it is difficult to notice any peculiarly
Virgilian points, for the reason that his language, like that of Cicero,
became the canon, departures from which were accounted irregularities.
But we may notice as favourite constructions a free use of oblique cases
in the place of the more definite construction with prepositions usual
in prose, e.g. _it clamor caelo_, _flet noctem_, _rivis currentia vina_,
_bacchatam iugis Naxon_, and many similar phrases; the employment of
some substantives as adjectives, like _venator canis_, and vice versa,
as _plurimus volitans_; a proleptic use of adjectives, as _tristia
torquebit_; idioms involving _ille_, _atque_, _deinde_, _haud_, _quin_,
_vix_, and the frequent occurrence of passive verbs in their earlier
reflexive sense, as _induor_, _velor_, _pascor_.
60. _Livy._--In the singularly varied and beautiful style of Livy we
find Latin prose in rich maturity. To a training in the rhetorical
schools, and perhaps professional experience as a teacher of rhetoric,
he added a thorough familiarity with contemporary poetry and with the
Greek language; and these attainments have all deeply coloured his
language. It is probable that the variety of style naturally suggested
by the wide range of his subject matter was increased by a
half-unconscious adoption of the phrases and constructions of the
different authorities whom he followed in different parts of his work;
and the industry of German critics has gone far to demonstrate a
conclusion likely enough in itself. Hence perhaps comes the fairly long
list of archaisms, especially in formulae (cf. Kühnast, _Liv. Synt._ pp.
14-18). These are, however, purely isolated phenomena, which do not
affect the general tone. It is different with the poetical constructions
and Graecisms, which appear on every page. Of the latter we find
numerous instances in the use of the cases, e.g. in genitives like _via
praedae omissae_, _oppidum Antiochiae_, _aequum campi_; in datives like
_quibusdam volentibus erat_; in accusatives like _iurare calumniam_,
_certare multam_; an especially frequent use of transitive verbs
absolutely; and the constant omission of the reflexive pronoun as the
subject of an infinitive in reported speech. To the same source must be
assigned the very frequent pregnant construction with prepositions, an
attraction of relatives, and the great extension of the employment of
relative adverbs of place instead of relative pronouns, e.g. _quo_ = _in
quem_. Among his poetical characteristics we may place the extensive
list of words which are found for the first time in his works and in
those of Virgil or Ovid, and perhaps his common use of concrete words
for collective, e.g. _eques_ for _equitatus_, of abstract terms such as
_remigium_, _servitia_, _robora_, and of frequentative verbs, to say
nothing of poetical phrases like _haec ubi dicta dedit, adversum
montium_, &c. Indications of the extended use of the subjunctive, which
he shares with contemporary writers, especially poets, are found in the
construction of _ante quam_, _post quam_ with this mood, even when there
is no underlying notion of anticipation, of _donec_, and of _cum_
meaning "whenever." On the other hand, _forsitan_ and _quamvis_, as in
the poets, are used with the indicative in forgetfulness of their
original force. Among his individual peculiarities may be noticed the
large number of verbal nouns in -_tus_ (for which Cicero prefers forms
in -_tio_) and in -_tor_, and the extensive use of the past passive
participle to replace an abstract substantive, e.g. _ex dictatorio
imperio concusso_. In the arrangement of words Livy is much more free
than any previous prose writer, aiming, like the poets, at the most
effective order. His periods are constructed with less regularity than
those of Cicero, but they gain at least as much in variety and energy as
they lose in uniformity of rhythm and artistic finish. His style cannot
be more fitly described than in the language of Quintilian, who speaks
of his _mira iucunditas_ and _lactea ubertas_.
61. _Propertius._--The language of Propertius is too distinctly his own
to call for detailed examination here. It cannot be taken as a specimen
of the great current of the Latin language; it is rather a tributary
springing from a source apart, tinging to some slight extent the stream
into which it pours itself, but soon ceasing to affect it in any
perceptible fashion. "His obscurity, his indirectness and his
incoherence" (to adopt the words of J. P. Postgate) were too much out of
harmony with the Latin taste for him to be regarded as in any sense
representative; sometimes he seems to be hardly writing Latin at all.
Partly from his own strikingly independent genius, partly from his
profound and not always judicious study of the Alexandrian writers, his
poems abound in phrases and constructions which are without a parallel
in Latin poetry. His archaisms and Graecisms, both in diction and in
syntax, are very numerous; but frequently there is a freedom in the use
of cases and prepositions which can only be due to bold and independent
innovations. His style well deserves a careful study for its own sake
(cf. J. P. Postgate's _Introduction_, pp. lvii.-cxxv.); but it is of
comparatively little significance in the history of the language.
62. _Ovid._--The brief and few poems of Tibullus supply only what is
given much more fully in the works of Ovid. In these we have the
language recognized as that best fitted for poetry by the fashionable
circles in the later years of Augustus. The style of Ovid bears many
traces of the imitation of Virgil, Horace and Propertius, but it is not
less deeply affected by the rhetoric of the schools. His never-failing
fertility of fancy and command of diction often lead him into a
diffuseness which mars the effect of his best works; according to
Quintilian it was only in his (lost) tragedy of _Medea_ that he showed
what real excellence he might have reached if he had chosen to control
his natural powers. His influence on later poets was largely for evil;
if he taught them smoothness of versification and polish of language, he
also co-operated powerfully with the practice of recitation to lead them
to aim at rhetorical point and striking turns of expression, instead of
a firm grasp of a subject as a whole, and due subordination of the
several parts to the general impression. Ovid's own influence on
language was not great; he took the diction of poetry as he found it,
formed by the labours of his predecessors; the conflict between the
archaistic and the Graecizing schools was already settled in favour of
the latter; and all that he did was to accept the generally accepted
models as supplying the material in moulding which his luxuriant fancy
could have free play. He has no deviations from classical syntax but
those which were coming into fashion in his time (e.g. _forsitan_ and
_quamvis_ with the indic., the dative of the agent with passive verbs,
the ablative for the accusative of time, the infinitive after adjectives
like _certus_, _aptus_, &c.), and but few peculiarities in his
vocabulary. It is only in the letters from the Pontus that laxities of
construction are detected, which show that the purity of his Latin was
impaired by his residence away from Rome, and perhaps by increasing
carelessness of composition.
63. _The Latin of Daily Life._--While the leading writers of the
Ciceronian and Augustan eras enable us to trace the gradual development
of the Latin language to its utmost finish as an instrument of literary
expression, there are some less important authors who supply valuable
evidence of the character of the _sermo plebeius_. Among them may be
placed the authors of the _Bellum Africanum_ and the _Bellum
Hispaniense_ appended to Caesar's Commentaries. These are not only far
inferior to the exquisite _urbanitas_ of Caesar's own writings; they are
much rougher in style even than the less polished _Bellum Alexandrinum_
and _De Bello Gallico Liber VIII._, which are now with justice ascribed
to Hirtius. There is sufficient difference between the two to justify us
in assuming two different authors; but both freely employ words and
constructions which are at once antiquated and vulgar. The writer of the
_Bellum Alexandrinum_ uses a larger number of diminutives within his
short treatise than Caesar in nearly ten times the space; _postquam_ and
_ubi_ are used with the pluperfect subjunctive; there are numerous forms
unknown to the best Latin, like _tristimonia_, _exporrigere_,
_cruciabiliter_ and _convulnero_; _potior_ is followed by the
accusative, a simple relative by the subjunctive. There is also a very
common use of the pluperfect for the imperfect, which seems a mark of
this _plebeius sermo_ (Nipperdey, _Quaest. Caes._ pp. 13-30).
Another example of what we may call the Latin of business life is
supplied by Vitruvius. Besides the obscurity of many of his technical
expressions, there is a roughness and looseness in his language, far
removed from a literary style; he shares the incorrect use of the
pluperfect, and uses plebeian forms like _calefaciuntur_, _faciliter_,
_expertiones_ and such careless phrases as _rogavit Archimedem uti in
se sumeret sibi de eo cogitationem_. At a somewhat later stage we
have, not merely plebeian, but also provincial Latin represented in
the Satyricon of Petronius. The narrative and the poems which are
introduced into it are written in a style distinguished only by the
ordinary peculiarities of silver Latinity; but in the numerous
conversations the distinctions of language appropriate to the various
speakers are accurately preserved; and we have in the talk of the
slaves and provincials a perfect storehouse of words and constructions
of the greatest linguistic value. Among the unclassical forms and
constructions may be noticed masculines like _fatus_, _vinus_,
_balneus_, _fericulus_ and _lactem_ (for _lac_), _striga_ for _strix_,
_gaudimonium_ and _tristimonium_, _sanguen_, _manducare_, _nutricare_,
_molestare_, _nesapius_ (_sapius_ = Fr. _sage_), _rostrum_ (= _os_),
_ipsimus_ (= master), _scordalias_, _baro_, and numerous diminutives
like _camella_, _audaculus_, _potiuncula_, _savunculum_, _offla_,
_peduclus_, _corcillum_, with constructions such as _maledicere_ and
_persuadere_ with the accusative, and _adiutare_ with the dative, and
the deponent forms _pudeatur_ and _ridetur_. Of especial interest for
the Romance languages are _astrum_ (_désastre_), _berbex_ (_brébis_),
_botellus_ (_boyau_), _improperare_, _muttus_, _naufragare_.
Suetonius (_Aug._ c. 87) gives an interesting selection of plebeian
words employed in conversation by Augustus, who for the rest was
something of a purist in his written utterances: _ponit assidue et pro
stulto baceolum, et pro pullo pulleiaceum, et pro cerrito vacerrosum,
et vapide se habere pro male, et betizare pro languere, quod vulgo
lachanizare dicitur_.
The inscriptions, especially those of Pompeii, supply abundant
evidence of the corruptions both of forms and of pronunciation common
among the vulgar. It is not easy always to determine whether a
mutilated form is evidence of a letter omitted in pronunciation, or
only in writing; but it is clear that the ordinary man habitually
dropped final _m_, _s_, and _t_, omitted _n_ before _s_, and
pronounced _i_ like _e_. There are already signs of the decay of _ae_
to _e_, which later on became almost universal. The additions to our
vocabulary are slight and unimportant (cf. _Corpus Inscr._ Lat. iv.,
with Zangemeister's _Indices_).
64. To turn to the language of literature. In the dark days of Tiberius
and the two succeeding emperors a paralysis seemed to have come upon
prose and poetry alike. With the one exception of oratory, literature
had long been the utterance of a narrow circle, not the expression of
the energies of national life; and now, while all free speech in the
popular assemblies was silenced, the nobles were living under a
suspicious despotism, which, whatever the advantage which it brought to
the poorer classes and to the provincials, was to them a reign of
terror. It is no wonder that the fifty years after the accession of
Tiberius are a blank as regards all higher literature. Velleius
Paterculus, Valerius Maximus, Celsus and Phaedrus give specimens of the
Latin of the time, but the style of no one of these, classical for the
most part in vocabulary, but occasionally approaching the later usages
in syntax, calls for special analysis. The elder Seneca in his
collection of _suasoriae_ and _controversiae_ supplies examples of the
barren quibblings by which the young Romans were trained in the
rhetorical schools. A course of instruction, which may have been of
service when its end was efficiency in active public life, though even
then not without its serious drawbacks, as is shown by Cicero in his
treatise _De Oratore_, became seriously injurious when its object was
merely idle display. Prose came to be overloaded with ornament, and
borrowed too often the language, though not the genius, of poetry; while
poetry in its turn, partly owing to the fashion of recitation, became a
string of rhetorical points.
65. _Seneca, Persius and Lucan._--In the writers of Nero's age there are
already plain indications of the evil effects of the rhetorical schools
upon language as well as literature. The leading man of letters was
undoubtedly Seneca the younger, "the Ovid of prose"; and his style set
the model which it became the fashion to imitate. But it could not
commend itself to the judgment of sound critics like Quintilian, who
held firmly to the great masters of an earlier time. He admits its
brilliance, and the fertility of its pointed reflections, but charges
the author justly with want of self-restraint, jerkiness, frequent
repetitions and tawdry tricks of rhetoric. Seneca was the worst of
models, and pleased by his very faults. In his tragedies the rhetorical
elaboration of the style only serves to bring into prominence the
frigidity and frequent bad taste of the matter. But his diction is on
the whole fairly classical; he is, in the words of Muretus, _vetusti
sermonis diligentior quam quidam inepte fastidiosi suspicantur_. In
Persius there is a constant straining after rhetorical effect, which
fills his verses with harsh and obscure expressions. The careful choice
of diction by which his master Horace makes every word tell is
exaggerated into an endeavour to gain force and freshness by the most
contorted phrases. The sin of allusiveness is fostered by the fashion of
the day for epigram, till his lines are barely intelligible after
repeated reading. Conington happily suggested that this style was
assumed only for satiric purposes, and pointed out that when not writing
satire Persius was as simple and unaffected as Horace himself. This
view, while it relieves Persius of much of the censure which has been
directed against his want of judgment, makes him all the more typical a
representative of this stage of silver Latinity. In his contemporary
Lucan we have another example of the faults of a style especially
attractive to the young, handled by a youth of brilliant but
ill-disciplined powers. The _Pharsalia_ abounds in spirited rhetoric, in
striking epigram, in high sounding declamation; but there are no flights
of sustained imagination, no ripe wisdom, no self-control in avoiding
the exaggerated or the repulsive, no mature philosophy of life or human
destiny. Of all the Latin poets he is the least Virgilian. It has been
said of him that he corrupted the style of poetry, not less than Seneca
that of prose.
66. _Pliny_, _Quintilian_, _Frontinus._--In the elder Pliny the same
tendencies are seen occasionally breaking out in the midst of the
prosaic and inartistic form in which he gives out the stores of his
cumbrous erudition. Wherever he attempts a loftier tone than that of the
mere compiler, he falls into the tricks of Seneca. The nature of his
encyclopaedic subject matter naturally makes his vocabulary very
extensive; but in syntax and general tone of language he does not differ
materially from contemporary writers. Quintilian is of interest
especially for the sound judgment which led him to a true appreciation
of the writers of Rome's golden age. He set himself strenuously to
resist the tawdry rhetoric fashionable in his own time, and to hold up
before his pupils purer and loftier models. His own criticisms are
marked by excellent taste, and often by great happiness of expression,
which is pointed without being unduly epigrammatic. But his own style
did not escape, as indeed it hardly could, the influences of his time;
and in many small points his language falls short of classical purity.
There is more approach to the simplicity of the best models in
Frontinus, who furnishes a striking proof that it was rather the
corruption of literary taste than any serious change in the language of
ordinary cultivated men to which the prevalent style was due. Writing on
practical matters--the art of war and the water-supply of Rome--he goes
straight to the point without rhetorical flourishes; and the ornaments
of style which he occasionally introduces serve to embellish but not to
distort his thought.
67. _The Flavian Age._--The epic poets of the Flavian age present a
striking contrast to the writers of the Claudian period. As a strained
originality was the cardinal fault of the one school, so a tame and
slavish following of authority is the mark of the other. The general
_correctness_ of this period may perhaps be ascribed (with Merivale)
partly to the political conditions, partly to the establishment of
professional schools. Teachers like Quintilian must have done much to
repress extravagance of thought and language; but they could not kindle
the spark of genius. Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus and Papinius
Statius are all correct in diction and in rhythm, and abound in
learning; but their inspiration is drawn from books and not from nature
or the heart; details are elaborated to the injury of the impression of
the whole; every line is laboured, and overcharged with epigrammatic
rhetoric. Statius shows by far the greatest natural ability and
freshness; but he attempts to fill a broad canvas with drawing and
colouring suited only to a miniature. Juvenal exemplifies the tendencies
of the language of his time, as moulded by a singularly powerful mind. A
careful study of the earlier poets, especially Virgil and Lucan, has
kept his language up to a high standard of purity. His style is
eminently rhetorical; but it is rhetoric of real power. The concise
brevity by which it is marked seems to have been the result of a
deliberate attempt to mould his natural diffuseness into the form
recognized as most appropriate for satire. In his verses we notice a few
metrical peculiarities which represent the pronunciation of his age,
especially the shortening of the final -_o_ in verbs, but as a rule they
conform to the Virgilian standard. In Martial the tendency of this
period to witty epigram finds its most perfect embodiment, combined with
finished versification.
68. _Pliny the Younger and Tacitus._--The typical prose-writers of this
time are Pliny the younger and Tacitus. Some features of the style of
Tacitus are peculiar to himself; but on the whole the following
statement represents the tendencies shared in greater or less degree by
all the writers of this period. The gains lie mainly in the direction of
a more varied and occasionally more effective syntax; its most striking
defect is a lack of harmony in the periods, of arrangements in words, of
variety in particles arising from the loose connexion of sentences. The
vocabulary is extended, but there are losses as well as gains.
Quintilian's remarks are fully borne out by the evidence of extant
authorities: on the one hand, _quid quod nihil iam proprium placet, dum
parum creditur disertum, quod et alius dixisset_ (viii. _prooem._ 24);
_a corruptissimo quoque poetarum figuras seu translationes mutuamur; tum
demum ingeniosi scilicet, si ad intelligendos nos opus sit ingenio_ (ib.
25); _sordet omne quod natura dictavit_ (ib. 26); on the other hand,
_nunc utique, cum haec exercitatio procul a veritate seiuncta laboret
incredibili verborum fastidio, ac sibi magnam partem sermonis
absciderit_ (viii. 3, 23), _multa cotidie ab antiquis ficta moriuntur_
(ib. 6, 32). A writer like Suetonius therefore did good service in
introducing into his writings terms and phrases borrowed, not from the
rhetoricians, but from the usage of daily life.
69. In the vocabulary of Tacitus there are to be noted:--
1. Words borrowed (consciously or unconsciously) from the classical
poets, especially Virgil, occurring for the most part also in
contemporary prose. Of these Dräger gives a list of ninety-five
(_Syntax und Stil des Tacitus_, p. 96).
2. Words occurring only, or for the first time, in Tacitus. These are
for the most part new formations or compounds from stems already in
use, especially verbal substantives in -_tor_ and -_sor_, -_tus_ and
-_sus_, -_tura_ and -_mentum_, with new frequentatives.
3. Words used with a meaning (a) not found in earlier prose, but
sometimes borrowed from the poets, e.g. _componere_, "to bury";
_scriptura_, "a writing"; _ferratus_ "armed with a sword"; (b)
peculiar to later writers, e.g. _numerosus_, "numerous"; _famosus_,
"famous"; _decollare_, "to behead"; _imputare_, "to take credit for,"
&c.; (c) restricted to Tacitus himself, e.g. _dispergere_ =
_divolgare_.
Generally speaking, Tacitus likes to use a simple verb instead of a
compound one, after the fashion of the poets, employs a pluperfect for
a perfect, and (like Livy and sometimes Caesar) aims at vividness and
variety by retaining the present and perfect subjunctive in indirect
speech even after historical tenses. Collective words are followed by
a plural far more commonly than in Cicero. The ellipse of a verb is
more frequent. The use of the cases approximates to that of the poets,
and is even more free. The accusative of limitation is common in
Tacitus, though never found in Quintilian. Compound verbs are
frequently followed by the accusative where the dative might have been
expected; and the Virgilian construction of an accusative with middle
and passive verbs is not unusual. The dative of purpose and the dative
with a substantive in place of a genitive are more common with Tacitus
than with any writer. The ablative of separation is used without a
preposition, even with names of countries and with common nouns; the
ablative of place is employed similarly without a preposition; the
ablative of time has sometimes the force of duration; the instrumental
ablative is employed even of persons. A large extension is given to
the use of the quantitative genitive after neuter adjectives and
pronouns, and even adverbs, and to the genitive with active
participles; and the genitive of relation after adjectives is
(probably by a Graecism) very freely employed. In regard to
prepositions, there are special uses of _citra_, _erga_, _iuxta_ and
_tenus_ to be noted, and a frequent tendency to interchange the use of
a preposition with that of a simple case in corresponding clauses. In
subordinate sentences _quod_ is used for "the fact that," and
sometimes approaches the later use of "that"; the infinitive follows
many verbs and adjectives that do not admit of this construction in
classical prose; the accusative and infinitive are used after negative
expressions of doubt, and even in modal and hypothetical clauses.
Like Livy, the writers of this time freely employ the subjunctive of
repeated action with a relative, and extend its use to relative
conjunctions, which he does not. In clauses of comparison and
proportion there is frequently an ellipse of a verb (with _nihil aliud
quam_, _ut_, _tanquam_); _tanquam_, _quasi_ and _velut_ are used to
imply not comparison but alleged reason; _quin_ and _quominus_ are
interchanged at pleasure. _Quamquam_ and _quamvis_ are commonly
followed by the subjunctive, even when denoting facts. The free use of
the genitive and dative of the gerundive to denote purpose is common
in Tacitus, the former being almost limited to him. Livy's practice in
the use of participles is extended even beyond the limits to which he
restricts it. It has been calculated that where Caesar uses five
participial clauses, Livy has sixteen, Tacitus twenty-four.
In his compressed brevity Tacitus may be said to be individual; but in
the poetical colouring of his diction, in the rhetorical cast of his
sentences, and in his love for picturesqueness and variety he is a
true representative of his time.
70. _Suetonius._--The language of Suetonius is of interest as giving a
specimen of silver Latinity almost entirely free from personal
idiosyncrasies; his expressions are regular and straightforward, clear
and business-like; and, while in grammar he does not attain to
classical purity, he is comparatively free from rhetorical affectations.
71. _The African Latinity._--A new era commences with the accession of
Hadrian (117). As the preceding half century had been marked by the
influence of Spanish Latinity (the Senecas, Lucan, Martial, Quintilian),
so in this the African style was paramount. This is the period of
affected archaisms and pedantic learning, combined at times with a
reckless love of innovation and experiment, resulting in the creation of
a large number of new formations and in the adoption of much of the
plebeian dialect. Fronto and Apuleius mark a strong reaction against the
culture of the preceding century, and for evil far more than for good
the chain of literary tradition was broken. The language which had been
unduly refined and elaborated now relapsed into a tasteless and confused
patch-work, without either harmony or brilliance of colouring. In the
case of the former the subject matter is no set-off against the
inferiority of the style. He deliberately attempts to go back to the
obsolete diction of writers like Cato and Ennius. We find compounds like
_altipendulus_, _nudiustertianus_, _tolutiloquentia_, diminutives such
as _matercella_, _anulla_, _passercula_, _studiolum_, forms like
_congarrire_, _disconcinnus_, _pedetemptius_, _desiderantissimus_
(passive), _conticinium_; _gaudeo_, _oboedio_ and _perfungor_ are used
with an accusative, _modestus_ with a genitive. On the other hand he
actually attempts to revive the form _asa_ for _ara_. In Apuleius the
archaic element is only one element in the queer mixture which
constitutes his style, and it probably was not intended to give the tone
to the whole. Poetical and prosaic phrases, Graecisms, solecisms,
jingling assonances, quotations and coinages apparently on the spur of
the moment, all appear in this wonderful medley. There are found such
extraordinary genitives as _sitire beatitudinis_, _cenae pignerarer_,
_incoram omnium_, _foras corporis_, sometimes heaped one upon another as
_fluxos vestium Arsacidas et frugum pauperes Ityraeos et odorum divites
Arabas_. Diminutives are coined with reckless freedom, e.g. _diutule_,
_longule_, _mundule amicta el altiuscule sub ipsas papillas
succinctula_. He confesses himself that he is writing in a language not
familiar to him: _In urbe Latia advena studiorum Quiritium indigenam
sermonem aerumnabili labore, nullo magistro praeeunte, aggressus
excolui_; and the general impression of his style fully bears out his
confession. Melanchthon is hardly too severe when he says that Apuleius
brays like his own ass. The language of Aulus Gellius is much superior
in purity; but still it abounds in rare and archaic words, e.g.
_edulcare_, _recentari_, _aeruscator_, and in meaningless frequentatives
like _solitavisse_. He has some admirable remarks on the pedantry of
those who delighted in obsolete expressions (xi. 7) such as _apluda_,
_flocus_ and _bovinator_; but his practice falls far short of his
theory.
72. _The Lawyers._--The style of the eminent lawyers of this period,
foremost among whom is Gaius, deserves especial notice as showing well
one of the characteristic excellences of the Latin language. It is for
the most part dry and unadorned, and in syntax departs occasionally from
classical usages, but it is clear, terse and exact. Technical terms may
cause difficulty to the ordinary reader, but their meaning is always
precisely defined; new compounds are employed whenever the subject
requires them, but the capacities of the language rise to the demands
made upon it; and the conceptions of jurisprudence have never been more
adequately expressed than by the great Romanist jurists.
(A. S. W.; R. S. C.)
For the subsequent history of the language see ROMANCE LANGUAGES.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The grounds for this pronunciation will be found best stated in
Postgate, _How to pronounce Latin_ (1907), Arnold and Conway, _The
Restored Pronunciation of Greek and Latin_ (4th ed., Cambridge,
1908); and in the grammars enumerated in § 28 above, especially the
preface to vol. i. of _Roby's Grammar_. The chief points about _c_
may be briefly given as a specimen of the kind of evidence. (1) In
some words the letter following c varies in a manner which makes it
impossible to believe that the pronunciation of the _c_ depended upon
this, e.g. _decumus_ and _decimus_, _dic_ from Plaut. _dice_; (2) if
_c_ was pronounced before _e_ and _i_ otherwise than before _a_, _o_
and _u_, it is hard to see why _k_ should not have been retained for
the latter use; (3) no ancient writer gives any hint of a varying
pronunciation of _c_; (4) a Greek [kappa] is always transliterated by
_c_, and _c_ by [kappa]; (5) Latin words containing _c_ borrowed by
Gothic and early High German are always spelt with _k_; (6) the
varying pronunciations of _ce_, _ci_ in the Romance languages are
inexplicable except as derived independently from an original _ke_,
_ki_.
[2] The inscription was first published by Helbig and Dümmler in
_Mittheilungen des deutschen archaol. Inst. Rom._ ii. 40; since in
_C.I.L._ xiv. 4123 and Conway, _Italic Dial._ 280, where other
references will be found.
[3] This inscription was first published by Dressel, _Annali dell'
Inst. Archeol. Romano_ (1880), p. 158, and since then by a multitude
of commentators. The view of the inscription as a curse, translating
a Greek cursing-formula, which has been generally adopted, was first
put forward by R. S. Conway in the _American Journal of Philology_,
x. (1889), 453; see further his commentary _Italic Dialects_, p. 329,
and since then G. Hempl, _Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc._ xxxiii.
(1902), 150, whose interpretation of _iouesat = iurat_ and _Opetoi
Tesiai_ has been here adopted, and who gives other references.
[4] The most important writings upon it are those of Domenico
Comparetti, _Iscriz. arcaica del Foro Romano_ (Florence-Rome, 1900);
Hülsen, _Berl. philolog. Wochenschrift_ (1899), No. 40; and
Thurneysen, _Rheinisches Museum_ (Neue Folge), iii. 2. Prof. G.
Tropea gives a _Cronaca della discussione_ in a series of very useful
articles in the _Rivista di storia antica_ (Messina, 1900 and 1901).
Skutsch's article already cited puts the trustworthy results in an
exceedingly brief compass.
[5] For further information see special articles on these authors,
and LATIN LITERATURE.
[6] Cicero also refers to certain _scripta dulcissima_ of the son of
Scipio Africanus Maior, which must have possessed some merits of
style.
[7] The study of the rhythm of the _Clausulae_, i.e. of the last
dozen (or half-dozen) syllables of a period in different Latin
authors, has been remarkably developed in the last three years, and
is of the highest importance for the criticism of Latin prose. It is
only possible to refer to Th. Zielinski's _Das Clauselgesetz in
Cicero's Reden_ (St. Petersburg, 1904), reviewed by A. C. Clark in
_Classical Review_, 1905, p. 164, and to F. Skutsch's important
comments in Vollmöller's _Jahresberichten über die Fortschritte der
romanischen Philologie_ (1905) and _Glotta_ (i. 1908, esp. p. 413),
also to A. C. Clark's _Fontes Prosae Numerosae_ (Oxford, 1909), _The
Cursus in Mediaeval and Vulgar Latin_ (ibid. 1910), and article
CICERO.
LATIN LITERATURE. The germs of an indigenous literature had existed at
an early period in Rome and in the country districts of Italy, and they
have an importance as indicating natural wants in the Italian race,
which were ultimately satisfied by regular literary forms. The art of
writing was first employed in the service of the state and of religion
for books of ritual, treaties with other states, the laws of the Twelve
Tables and the like. An approach to literature was made in the _Annales
Maximi_, records of private families, funeral orations and inscriptions
on busts and tombs such as those of the Scipios in the Appian Way. In
the satisfaction they afforded to the commemorative and patriotic
instincts they anticipated an office afterwards performed by the
national epics and the works of regular historians. A still nearer
approach to literature was probably made in oratory, as we learn from
Cicero that the famous speech delivered by Appius Claudius Caecus
against concluding peace with Pyrrhus (280 B.C.) was extant in his time.
Appius also published a collection of moral maxims and reflections in
verse. No other name associated with any form of literature belonging to
the pre-literary age has been preserved by tradition.
But it was rather in the chants and litanies of the ancient religion,
such as those of the Salii and the Fratres Arvales, and the dirges for
the dead (_neniae_), and in certain extemporaneous effusions, that some
germs of a native poetry might have been detected; and finally in the
use of Saturnian verse, a metre of pure native origin, which by its
rapid and lively movement gave expression to the vivacity and quick
apprehension of the Italian race. This metre was employed in ritual
hymns, which seem to have assumed definite shapes out of the
exclamations of a primitive priesthood engaged in a rude ceremonial
dance. It was also used by a class of bards or itinerant soothsayers
known by the name of _vates_, of whom the most famous was one Marcius,
and in the "Fescennine verses," as sung at harvest-homes and weddings,
which gave expression to the coarse gaiety of the people and to their
strong tendency to personal raillery and satiric comment. The metre was
also employed in commemorative poems, accompanied with music, which were
sung at funeral banquets in celebration of the exploits and virtues of
distinguished men. These had their origin in the same impulse which
ultimately found its full gratification in Roman history, Roman epic
poetry, and that form of Roman oratory known as _laudationes_, and in
some of the _Odes_ of Horace. The latest and probably the most important
of these rude and inchoate forms was that of dramatic _saturae_
(medleys), put together without any regular plot and consisting
apparently of contests of wit and satiric invective, and perhaps of
comments on current events, accompanied with music (Livy vii. 2). These
have a real bearing on the subsequent development of Latin literature.
They prepared the mind of the people for the reception of regular
comedy. They may have contributed to the formation of the style of
comedy which appears at the very outset much more mature than that of
serious poetry, tragic or epic. They gave the name and some of the
characteristics to that special literary product of the Roman soil, the
_satura_, addressed to readers, not to spectators, which ultimately was
developed into pure poetic satire in Lucilius, Horace, Persius and
Juvenal, into the prose and verse miscellany of Varro, and into
something approaching the prose novel in Petronius.
_First Period: from 240 to about 80 B.C._
Livius Andronicus.
The historical event which brought about the greatest change in the
intellectual condition of the Romans, and thereby exercised a decisive
influence on the whole course of human culture, was the capture of
Tarentum in 272. After the capture many Greek slaves were brought to
Rome, and among them the young Livius Andronicus (c. 284-204), who was
employed in teaching Greek in the family of his master, a member of the
Livian gens. From that time to learn Greek became a regular part of the
education of a Roman noble. The capture of Tarentum was followed by the
complete Romanizing of all southern Italy. Soon after came the first
Punic war, the principal scene of which was Sicily, where, from common
hostility to the Carthaginian, Greek and Roman were brought into
friendly relations, and the Roman armies must have become familiar with
the spectacles and performances of the Greek theatre. In the year after
the war (240), when the armies had returned and the people were at
leisure to enjoy the fruits of victory, Livius Andronicus substituted at
one of the public festivals a regular drama, translated or adapted from
the Greek, for the musical medleys (_saturae_) hitherto in use. From
this time dramatic performances became a regular accompaniment of the
public games, and came more and more to encroach on the older kinds of
amusement, such as the chariot races. The dramatic work of Livius was
mainly of educative value. The same may be said of his translation of
the _Odyssey_, which was still used as a school-book in the days of
Horace, and the religious hymn which he was called upon to compose in
207 had no high literary pretensions. He was, however, the first to
familiarize the Romans with the forms of the Greek drama and the Greek
epic, and thus to determine the main lines which Latin literature
followed for more than a century afterwards.
Naevius.
His immediate successor, Cn. Naevius (d. c. 200 B.C.), was not, like
Livius, a Greek, but either a Roman citizen or, more probably, a
Campanian who enjoyed the limited citizenship of a Latin and who had
served in the Roman army in the first Punic war. His first appearance as
a dramatic author was in 235. He adapted both tragedies and comedies
from the Greek, but the bent of his genius, the tastes of his audience,
and the condition of the language developed through the active
intercourse and business of life, gave a greater impulse to comedy than
to tragedy. Naevius tried to use the theatre, as it had been used by the
writers of the Old Comedy of Athens, for the purposes of political
warfare, and thus seems to have anticipated by a century the part played
by Lucilius. But his attacks upon the Roman aristocracy, especially the
Metelli, were resented by their objects; and Naevius, after being
imprisoned, had to retire in his old age into banishment. He was not
only the first in point of time, and according to ancient testimony one
of the first in point of merit, among the comic poets of Rome, and in
spirit, though not in form, the earliest of the line of Roman satirists,
but he was also the oldest of the national poets. Besides celebrating
the success of M. Claudius Marcellus in 222 over the Gauls in a play
called _Clastidium_, he gave the first specimen of the _fabula
praetexta_ in his _Alimonium Romuli et Remi_, based on the most national
of all Roman traditions. Still more important service was rendered by
him in his long Saturnian poem on the first Punic war, in which he not
only told the story of contemporary events but gave shape to the legend
of the settlement of Aeneas in Latium,--the theme ultimately adopted for
the great national epic of Rome.
Plautus.
His younger contemporary T. Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184) was the
greatest comic dramatist of Rome. He lived and wrote only to amuse his
contemporaries, and thus, although more popular in his lifetime and more
fortunate than any of the older authors in the ultimate survival of a
large number of his works, he is less than any of the great writers of
Rome in sympathy with either the serious or the caustic spirit in Latin
literature. Yet he is the one extant witness to the humour and vivacity
of the Italian temperament at a stage between its early rudeness and
rigidity and its subsequent degeneracy.
Ennius.
Thus far Latin literature, of which the predominant characteristics are
dignity, gravity and fervour of feeling, seemed likely to become a mere
vehicle of amusement adapted to all classes of the people in their
holiday mood. But a new spirit, which henceforth became predominant,
appeared in the time of Plautus. Latin literature ceased to be in close
sympathy with the popular spirit, either politically or as a form of
amusement, but became the expression of the ideas, sentiment and culture
of the aristocratic governing class. It was by Q. Ennius (239-169) of
Rudiae in Messapia, that a new direction was given to Latin literature.
Deriving from his birthplace the culture, literary and philosophical, of
Magna Graecia, and having gained the friendship of the greatest of the
Romans living in that great age, he was of all the early writers most
fitted to be the medium of conciliation between the serious genius of
ancient Greece and the serious genius of Rome. Alone among the older
writers he was endowed with the gifts of a poetical imagination and
animated with enthusiasm for a great ideal.
First among his special services to Latin literature was the fresh
impulse which he gave to tragedy. He turned the eyes of his
contemporaries from the commonplace social humours of later Greek life
to the contemplation of the heroic age. But he did not thereby
denationalize the Roman drama. He animated the heroes of early Greece
with the martial spirit of Roman soldiers and the ideal magnanimity and
sagacity of Roman senators, and imparted weight and dignity to the
language and verse in which their sentiments and thoughts were
expressed. Although Rome wanted creative force to add a great series of
tragic dramas to the literature of the world, yet the spirit of
elevation and moral authority breathed into tragedy by Ennius passed
into the ethical and didactic writings and the oratory of a later time.
Another work was the _Saturae_, written in various metres, but chiefly
in the trochaic tetrameter. He thus became the inventor of a new form of
literature; and, if in his hands the _satura_ was rude and indeterminate
in its scope, it became a vehicle by which to address a reading public
on matters of the day, or on the materials of his wide reading, in a
style not far removed from the language of common life. His greatest
work, which made the Romans regard him as the father of their
literature, was his epic poem, in eighteen books, the _Annales_, in
which the record of the whole career of Rome was unrolled with
idealizing enthusiasm and realistic detail. The idea which inspired
Ennius was ultimately realized in both the national epic of Virgil and
the national history of Livy. And the metrical vehicle which he
conceived as the only one adequate to his great theme was a rude
experiment, which was ultimately developed into the stately Virgilian
hexameter. Even as a grammarian he performed an important service to the
literary language of Rome, by fixing its prosody and arresting the
tendency to decay in its final syllables. Although of his writings only
fragments remain, these fragments are enough, along with what we know of
him from ancient testimony, to justify us in regarding him as the most
important among the makers of Latin literature before the age of Cicero.
Cato.
There is still one other name belonging partly to this, partly to the
next generation, to be added to those of the men of original force of
mind and character who created Latin literature, that of M. Porcius Cato
the Censor (234-149), the younger contemporary of Ennius, whom he
brought to Rome. More than Naevius and Plautus he represented the pure
native element in that literature, the mind and character of Latium, the
plebeian pugnacity, which was one of the great forces in the Roman
state. His lack of imagination and his narrow patriotism made him the
natural leader of the reaction against the new Hellenic culture. He
strove to make literature ancillary to politics and to objects of
practical utility, and thus started prose literature on the chief lines
that it afterwards followed. Through his industry and vigorous
understanding he gave a great impulse to the creation of Roman oratory,
history and systematic didactic writing. He was one of the first to
publish his speeches and thus to bring them into the domain of
literature. Cicero, who speaks of 150 of these speeches as extant in his
day, praises them for their acuteness, their wit, their conciseness. He
speaks with emphasis of the impressiveness of Cato's eulogy and the
satiric bitterness of his invective.
Cato was the first historical writer of Rome to use his native tongue.
His _Origines_, the work of his old age, was written with that
thoroughly Roman conception of history which regarded actions and events
solely as they affected the continuous and progressive life of a state.
Cato felt that the record of Roman glory could not be isolated from the
story of the other Italian communities, which, after fighting against
Rome for their own independence, shared with her the task of conquering
the world. To the wider national sympathies which stimulated the
researches of the old censor into the legendary history of the Italian
towns we owe some of the most truly national parts of Virgil's _Aeneid_.
Terence.
Lucilius.
In Naevius, Plautus, Ennius and Cato are represented the contending
forces which strove for ascendancy in determining what was to be the
character of the new literature. The work, begun by them, was carried on
by younger contemporaries and successors; by Statius Caecilius (c.
220-168), an Insubrian Gaul, in comedy; in tragedy by M. Pacuvius (c.
220-132), the nephew of Ennius, called by Cicero the greatest of Roman
tragedians; and, in the following generation, by L. Accius (c. 170-86),
who was more usually placed in this position. The impulse given to
oratory by Cato, Ser. Sulpicius Galba and others, and along with it the
development of prose composition, went on with increased momentum till
the age of Cicero. But the interval between the death of Ennius (169)
and the beginning of Cicero's career, while one of progressive advance
in the appreciation of literary form and style, was much less
distinguished by original force than the time immediately before and
after the end of the second Punic war. The one complete survival of the
generation after the death of Ennius, the comedy of P. Terentius Afer or
Terence (c. 185-159), exemplifies the gain in literary accomplishment
and the loss in literary freedom. Terence has nothing Roman or Italian
except his pure and idiomatic Latinity. His Athenian elegance affords
the strongest contrast to the Italian rudeness of Cato's _De Re
Rustica_. By looking at them together we understand how much the comedy
of Terence was able to do to refine and humanize the manners of Rome,
but at the same time what a solvent it was of the discipline and ideas
of the old republic. What makes Terence an important witness of the
culture of his time is that he wrote from the centre of the Scipionic
circle, in which what was most humane and liberal in Roman statesmanship
was combined with the appreciation of what was most vital in the Greek
thought and literature of the time. The comedies of Terence may
therefore be held to give some indication of the tastes of Scipio,
Laelius and their friends in their youth. The influence of Panaetius and
Polybius was more adapted to their maturity, when they led the state in
war, statesmanship and oratory, and when the humaner teaching of
Stoicism began to enlarge the sympathies of Roman jurists. But in the
last years during which this circle kept together a new spirit appeared
in Roman politics and a new power in Roman literature,--the
revolutionary spirit evoked by the Gracchi in opposition to the
long-continued ascendancy of the senate, and the new power of Roman
satire, which was exercised impartially and unsparingly against both the
excesses of the revolutionary spirit and the arrogance and incompetence
of the extreme party among the nobles. Roman satire, though in form a
legitimate development of the indigenous dramatic _satura_ through the
written _satura_ of Ennius and Pacuvius, is really a birth of this time,
and its author was the youngest of those admitted into the intimacy of
the Scipionic circle, C. Lucilius of Suessa Aurunca (c. 180-103). Among
the writers before the age of Cicero he alone deserves to be named with
Naevius, Plautus Ennius and Cato as a great originative force in
literature. For about thirty years the most important event in Roman
literature was the production of the satires of Lucilius, in which the
politics, morals, society and letters of the time were criticized with
the utmost freedom and pungency, and his own personality was brought
immediately and familiarly before his contemporaries. The years that
intervened between his death and the beginning of the Ciceronian age are
singularly barren in works of original value. But in one direction there
was some novelty. The tragic writers had occasionally taken their
subjects from Roman life (_fabulae praetextae_), and in comedy we find
the corresponding _togatae_ of Lucius Afranius and others, in which
comedy, while assuming a Roman dress, did not assume the virtue of a
Roman matron.
General results from 130 to 80.
The general results of the last fifty years of the first period (130 to
80) may be thus summed up. In poetry we have the satires of Lucilius,
the tragedies of Accius and of a few successors among the Roman
aristocracy, who thus exemplified the affinity of the Roman stage to
Roman oratory; various annalistic poems intended to serve as
continuations of the great poem of Ennius; minor poems of an
epigrammatic and erotic character, unimportant anticipations of the
Alexandrian tendency operative in the following period; works of
criticism in trochaic tetrameters by Porcius Licinus and others, forming
part of the critical and grammatical movement which almost from the
first accompanied the creative movement in Latin literature, and which
may be regarded as rude precursors of the didactic epistles that Horace
devoted to literary criticism.
Oratory.
The only extant prose work which may be assigned to the end of this
period is the treatise on rhetoric known by the title _Ad Herennium_ (c.
84) a work indicative of the attention bestowed on prose style and
rhetorical studies during the last century of the republic, and which
may be regarded as a precursor of the oratorical treatises of Cicero and
of the work of Quintilian. But the great literary product of this period
was oratory, developed indeed with the aid of these rhetorical studies,
but itself the immediate outcome of the imperial interests, the legal
conflicts, and the political passions of that time of agitation. The
speakers and writers of a later age looked back on Scipio and Laelius,
the Gracchi and their contemporaries, L. Crassus and M. Antonius, as
masters of their art.
History.
In history, regarded as a great branch of prose literature, it is not
probable that much was accomplished, although, with the advance of
oratory and grammatical studies, there must have been not only greater
fluency of composition but the beginning of a richer and more ornate
style. Yet Cicero denies to Rome the existence, before his own time, of
any adequate historical literature. Nevertheless it was by the work of a
number of Roman chroniclers during this period that the materials of
early Roman history were systematized, and the record of the state, as
it was finally given to the world in the artistic work of Livy, was
extracted from the early annals, state documents and private memorials,
combined into a coherent unity, and supplemented by invention and
reflection. Amongst these chroniclers may be mentioned L. Calpurnius
Piso Frugi (consul 133, censor 108), C. Sempronius Tuditanus (consul
129), Cn. Gellius, C. Fannius (consul 122), L. Coelius Antipater, who
wrote a narrative of the second Punic war about 120, and Sempronius
Asellio, who wrote a history of his own times, have a better claim to be
considered historians. There were also special works on antiquities and
contemporary memoirs, and autobiographies such as those of M. Aemilius
Scaurus, the elder, Q. Lutatius Catulus (consul 102 B.C.), and P.
Rutilius Rufus, which formed the sources of future historians. (See
further ANNALES; and ROME: _History_, _Ancient_, § "Authorities.")
Summary of the period.
Although the artistic product of the first period of Latin literature
which has reached us in a complete shape is limited to the comedies of
Plautus and Terence, the influence of the lost literature in determining
the spirit, form and style of the eras of more perfect accomplishment
which followed is unmistakable. While humour and vivacity characterize
the earlier, and urbanity of tone the later development of comedy, the
tendency of serious literature had been in the main practical, ethical,
commemorative and satirical. The higher poetical imagination had
appeared only in Ennius, and had been called forth in him by sympathy
with the grandeur of the national life and the great personal qualities
of its representative men. Some of the chief motives of the later
poetry, e.g. the pleasures and sorrows of private life, had as yet found
scarcely any expression in Latin literature. The fittest metrical
vehicle for epic, didactic, and satiric poetry had been discovered, but
its movement was as yet rude and inharmonious. The idiom of ordinary
life and social intercourse and the more fervid and elevated diction of
oratorical prose had made great progress, but the language of
imagination and poetical feeling was, if vivid and impressive in
isolated expressions, still incapable of being wrought into consecutive
passages of artistic composition. The influences of Greek literature to
which Latin literature owed its birth had not as yet spread beyond Rome
and Latium. The Sabellian races of central and eastern Italy and the
Italo-Celtic and Venetian races of the north, in whom the poetic
susceptibility of Italy was most manifest two generations later, were
not, until after the Social war, sufficiently in sympathy with Rome, and
were probably not as yet sufficiently educated to induce them to
contribute their share to the national literature. Hence the end of the
Social war, and of the Civil war, which arose out of it, is most clearly
a determining factor in Roman literature, and may most appropriately be
taken as marking the end of one period and the beginning of another.
_Second Period: from 80 to 42 B.C._
The last age of the republic coincides with the first half of the Golden
age of Roman literature. It is generally known as the Ciceronian age
from the name of its greatest literary representative, whose activity as
a speaker and writer was unremitting during nearly the whole period. It
is the age of purest excellence in prose, and of a new birth of poetry,
characterized rather by great original force and artistic promise than
by perfect accomplishment. The five chief representatives of this age
who still hold their rank among the great classical writers are Cicero,
Caesar and Sallust in prose, Lucretius and Catullus in verse. The works
of other prose writers, Varro and Cornelius Nepos, have been partially
preserved; but these writers have no claim to rank with those already
mentioned as creators and masters of literary style. Although literature
had not as yet become a trade or profession, an educated reading public
already existed, and books and intellectual intercourse filled a large
part of the leisure of men actively engaged in affairs. Even oratory was
intended quite as much for readers as for the audiences to which it was
immediately addressed; and some of the greatest speeches which have come
down from that great age of orators were never delivered at all, but
were published as manifestoes after the event with the view of
influencing educated opinion, and as works of art with the view of
giving pleasure to educated taste.
Cicero.
Thus the speeches of M. Tullius Cicero (106-43) belong to the domain of
literature quite as much as to that of forensic or political oratory.
And, although Demosthenes is a master of style unrivalled even by
Cicero, the literary interest of most of Cicero's speeches is stronger
than that of the great mass of Greek oratory. It is urged with justice
that the greater part of Cicero's _Defence of Archias_ was irrelevant to
the issue and would not have been listened to by a Greek court of
justice or a modern jury. But it was fortunate for the interests of
literature that a court of educated Romans could be influenced by the
considerations there submitted to them. In this way a question of the
most temporary interest, concerning an individual of no particular
eminence or importance, has produced one of the most impressive
vindications of literature ever spoken or written. Oratory at Rome
assumed a new type from being cultivated as an art which endeavoured to
produce persuasion not so much by intellectual conviction, as by appeal
to general human sympathies. In oratory, as in every other intellectual
province, the Greeks had a truer sense of the limits and conditions of
their art. But command over form is only one element in the making of an
orator or poet. The largeness and dignity of the matter with which he
has to deal are at least as important. The Roman oratory of the law
courts had to deal not with petty questions of disputed property, of
fraud, or violence, but with great imperial questions, with matters
affecting the well-being of large provinces and the honour and safety of
the republic; and no man ever lived who, in these respects, was better
fitted than Cicero to be the representative of the type of oratory
demanded by the condition of the later republic. To his great artistic
accomplishment, perfected by practice and elaborate study, to the power
of his patriotic, his moral, and personal sympathies, and his passionate
emotional nature, must be added his vivid imagination and the rich and
copious stream of his language, in which he had no rival among Roman
writers or speakers. It has been said that Roman poetry has produced
few, if any, great types of character. But the Verres, Catiline, Antony
of Cicero are living and permanent types. The story told in the _Pro
Cluentio_ may be true or false, but the picture of provincial crime
which it presents is vividly dramatic. Had we only known Cicero in his
speeches we should have ranked him with Demosthenes as one who had
realized the highest literary ideal. We should think of him also as the
creator and master of Latin style--and, moreover, not only as a great
orator but as a just and appreciative critic of oratory. But to his
services to Roman oratory we have to add his services not indeed to
philosophy but to the literature of philosophy. Though not a philosopher
he is an admirable interpreter of those branches of philosophy which are
fitted for practical application, and he presents us with the results of
Greek reflection vivified by his own human sympathies and his large
experience of men. In giving a model of the style in which human
interest can best be imparted to abstract discussions, he used his great
oratorical gift and art to persuade the world to accept the most hopeful
opinions on human destiny and the principles of conduct most conducive
to elevation and integrity of character.
The _Letters_ of Cicero are thoroughly natural--_colloquia absentium
amicorum_, to use his own phrase. Cicero's letters to Atticus, and to
the friends with whom he was completely at his ease, are the most
sincere and immediate expression of the thought and feeling of the
moment. They let us into the secret of his most serious thoughts and
cares, and they give a natural outlet to his vivacity of observation,
his wit and humour, his kindliness of nature. It shows how flexible an
instrument Latin prose had become in his hand, when it could do justice
at once to the ample and vehement volume of his oratory, to the calmer
and more rhythmical movement of his philosophical meditation, and to the
natural interchange of thought and feeling in the everyday intercourse
of life.
Caesar.
Among the many rival orators of the age the most eminent were Quintus
Hortensius Ortalus and C. Julius Caesar. The former was the leading
representative of the Asiatic or florid style of oratory, and, like
other members of the aristocracy, such as C. Memmius and L. Manlius
Torquatus, and like Q. Catulus in the preceding generation, was a kind
of dilettante poet and a precursor of the poetry of pleasure, which
attained such prominence in the elegiac poets of the Augustan age. Of C.
Julius Caesar (102-44) as an orator we can judge only by his reputation
and by the testimony of his great rival and adversary Cicero; but we are
able to appreciate the special praise of perfect taste in the use of
language attributed to him.[1] In his _Commentaries_, by laying aside
the ornaments of oratory, he created the most admirable style of prose
narrative, the style which presents interesting events in their sequence
of time and dependence on the will of the actor, rapidly and vividly,
with scarcely any colouring of personal or moral feeling, any oratorical
passion, any pictorial illustration. While he shows the persuasive art
of an orator by presenting the subjugation of Gaul and his own action in
the Civil War in the light most favourable to his claim to rule the
Roman world, he is entirely free from the Roman fashion of
self-laudation or disparagement of an adversary. The character of the
man reveals itself especially in a perfect simplicity of style, the
result of the clearest intelligence and the strongest sense of personal
dignity. He avoids not only every unusual but every superfluous word;
and, although no writing can be more free from rhetorical colouring, yet
there may from time to time be detected a glow of sympathy, like the
glow of generous passion in Thucydides, the more effective from the
reserve with which it betrays itself whenever he is called on to record
any act of personal heroism or of devotion to military duty.
Sallust.
In the simplicity of his style, the directness of his narrative, the
entire absence of any didactic tendency, Caesar presents a marked
contrast to another prose writer of that age--the historian C.
Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (c. 87-36). Like Varro, he survived Cicero
by some years, but the tone and spirit in which his works are written
assign him to the republican era. He was the first of the purely
artistic historians, as distinct from the annalists and the writers of
personal memoirs. He imitated the Greek historians in taking particular
actions--the _Jugurthan War_ and the _Catilinarian Conspiracy_--as the
subjects of artistic treatment. He wrote also a continuous work,
_Historiae_, treating of the events of the twelve years following the
death of Sulla, of which only fragments are preserved. His two extant
works are more valuable as artistic studies of the rival parties in the
state and of personal character than as trustworthy narratives of facts.
His style aims at effectiveness by pregnant expression, sententiousness,
archaism. He produces the impression of caring more for the manner of
saying a thing than for its truth. Yet he has great value as a painter
of historical portraits, some of them those of his contemporaries, and
as an author who had been a political partisan and had taken some part
in making history before undertaking to write it; and he gives us, from
the popular side, the views of a contemporary on the politics of the
time. Of the other historians, or rather annalists, who belong to this
period, such as Q. Claudius Quadrigarius, Q. Valerius Antias, and C.
Licinius Macer, the father of Calvus, we have only fragments remaining.
Varro.
The period was also remarkable for the production of works which we
should class as technical or scientific rather than literary. The
activity of one of these writers was so great that he is entitled to a
separate mention. This was M. Terentius Varro, the most learned not only
of the Romans but of the Greeks, as he has been called. The list of
Varro's writings includes over seventy treatises and more than six
hundred books dealing with topics of every conceivable kind. His
_Menippeae Saturae_, miscellanies in prose and verse, of which
unfortunately only fragments are left, was a work of singular literary
interest.
Lucretius.
Since the _Annals_ of Ennius no great and original poem had appeared.
The powerful poetical force which for half a century continued to be the
strongest force in literature, and which created masterpieces of art and
genius, first revealed itself in the latter part of the Ciceronian age.
The conditions which enabled the poetic genius of Italy to come to
maturity in the person of T. Lucretius Carus (96-55) were entire
seclusion from public life and absorption in the ideal pleasures of
contemplation and artistic production. This isolation from the familiar
ways of his contemporaries, while it was, according to tradition and the
internal evidence of his poem, destructive to his spirit's health,
resulted in a work of genius, unique in character, which still stands
forth as the greatest philosophical poem in any language. In the form of
his poem he followed a Greek original; and the stuff out of which the
texture of his philosophical argument is framed was derived from Greek
science; but all that is of deep human and poetical meaning in the poem
is his own. While we recognize in the _De Rerum Natura_ some of the most
powerful poetry in any language and feel that few poets have penetrated
with such passionate sincerity and courage into the secret of nature and
some of the deeper truths of human life, we must acknowledge that, as
compared with the great didactic poem of Virgil, it is crude and
unformed in artistic design, and often rough and unequal in artistic
execution. Yet, apart altogether from its independent value, by his
speculative power and enthusiasm, by his revelation of the life and
spectacle of nature, by the fresh creativeness of his diction and the
elevated movement of his rhythm, Lucretius exercised a more powerful
influence than any other on the art of his more perfect successors.
Catullus.
While the imaginative and emotional side of Roman poetry was so
powerfully represented by Lucretius, attention was directed to its
artistic side by a younger generation, who moulded themselves in a great
degree on Alexandrian models. Such were Valerius Cato also a
distinguished literary critic, and C. Licinius Calvus, an eminent
orator. Of this small group of poets one only has survived, fortunately
the man of most genius among them, the bosom-friend of Calvus, C.
Valerius Catullus (84-54). He too was a new force in Roman literature.
He was a provincial by birth, although early brought into intimate
relations with members of the great Roman families. The subjects of his
best art are taken immediately from his own life--his loves, his
friendships, his travels, his animosities, personal and political. His
most original contribution to the substance of Roman literature was that
he first shaped into poetry the experience of his own heart, as it had
been shaped by Alcaeus and Sappho in the early days of Greek poetry. No
poet has surpassed him in the power of vitally reproducing the pleasure
and pain of the passing hour, not recalled by idealizing reflection as
in Horace, nor overlaid with mythological ornament as in Propertius, but
in all the keenness of immediate impression. He also introduced into
Roman literature that personal as distinct from political or social
satire which appears later in the _Epodes_ of Horace and the _Epigrams_
of Martial. He anticipated Ovid in recalling the stories of Greek
mythology to a second poetical life. His greatest contribution to poetic
art consisted in the perfection which he attained in the phalaecian, the
pure iambic, and the scazon metres, and in the ease and grace with which
he used the language of familiar intercourse, as distinct from that of
the creative imagination, of the _rostra_, and of the schools, to give
at once a lifelike and an artistic expression to his feelings. He has
the interest of being the last poet of the free republic. In his life
and in his art he was the precursor of those poets who used their genius
as the interpreter and minister of pleasure; but he rises above them in
the spirit of personal independence, in his affection for his friends,
in his keen enjoyment of natural and simple pleasures, and in his power
of giving vital expression to these feelings.
_Third Period: Augustan Age, 42 B.C. to A.D. 17._
Influence of imperial institutions.
The poetic impulse and culture communicated to Roman literature in the
last years of the republic passed on without any break of continuity
into the literature of the succeeding age. One or two of the circle of
Catullus survived into that age; but an entirely new spirit came over
the literature of the new period, and it is by new men, educated indeed
under the same literary influences, but living in an altered world and
belonging originally to a different order in the state, that the new
spirit was expressed. The literature of the later republic reflects the
sympathies and prejudices of an aristocratic class, sharing in the
conduct of national affairs and living on terms of equality with one
another; that of the Augustan age, first in its early serious
enthusiasm, and then in the licence and levity of its later development,
represents the hopes and aspirations with which the new monarchy was
ushered into the world, and the pursuit of pleasure and amusement, which
becomes the chief interest of a class cut off from the higher energies
of practical life, and moving in the refining and enervating atmosphere
of an imperial court. The great inspiring influence of the new
literature was the enthusiasm produced first by the hope and afterwards
by the fulfilment of the restoration of peace, order, national glory,
under the rule of Augustus. All that the age longed for seemed to be
embodied in a man who had both in his own person and by inheritance the
natural spell which sways the imagination of the world. The sentiment of
hero-worship was at all times strong in the Romans, and no one was ever
the object of more sincere as well as simulated hero-worship than
Augustus. It was not, however, by his equals in station that the first
feeling was likely to be entertained. The earliest to give expression to
it was Virgil; but the spell was soon acknowledged by the colder and
more worldly-wise Horace. The disgust aroused by the anti-national
policy of Antony, and the danger to the empire which was averted by the
result of the battle of Actium, combined with the confidence inspired by
the new ruler to reconcile the great families as well as the great body
of the people to the new order of things.
While the establishment of the empire produced a revival of national and
imperial feeling, it suppressed all independent political thought and
action. Hence the two great forms of prose literature which drew their
nourishment from the struggles of political life, oratory and
contemporary history, were arrested in their development. The main
course of literature was thus for a time diverted into poetry. That
poetry in its most elevated form aimed at being the organ of the new
empire and of realizing the national ideals of life and character under
its auspices; and in carrying out this aim it sought to recall the great
memories of the past. It became also the organ of the pleasures and
interests of private life, the chief motives of which were the love of
nature and the passion of love. It sought also to make the art and
poetry of Greece live a new artistic life. Satire, debarred from comment
on political action, turned to social and individual life, and combined
with the newly-developed taste for ethical analysis and reflection
introduced by Cicero. One great work had still to be done in prose--a
retrospect of the past history of the state from an idealizing and
romanticizing point of view. For that work the Augustan age, as the end
of one great cycle of events and the beginning of another, was eminently
suited, and a writer who, by his gifts of imagination and sympathy, was
perhaps better fitted than any other man of antiquity for the task, and
who through the whole of this period lived a life of literary leisure,
was found to do justice to the subject.
Although the age did not afford free scope and stimulus to individual
energy and enterprise, it furnished more material and social advantages
for the peaceful cultivation of letters. The new influence of patronage,
which in other times has chilled the genial current of literature,
become, in the person of Maecenas, the medium through which literature
and the imperial policy were brought into union. Poetry thus acquired
the tone of the world, kept in close connexion with the chief source of
national life, while it was cultivated to the highest pitch of artistic
perfection under the most favourable conditions of leisure and freedom
from the distractions and anxieties of life.
Virgil.
The earliest in the order of time of the poets who adorn this age--P.
Vergilius Maro or Virgil (70-19)--is also the greatest in genius, the
most richly cultivated, and the most perfect in art. He is the
idealizing poet of the hopes and aspirations and of the purer and
happier life of which the age seemed to contain the promise. He elevates
the present by associating it with the past and future of the world, and
sanctifies it by seeing in it the fulfilment of a divine purpose. Virgil
is the true representative poet of Rome and Italy, of national glory and
of the beauty of nature, the artist in whom all the efforts of the past
were made perfect, and the unapproachable standard of excellence to
future times. While more richly endowed with sensibility to all native
influences, he was more deeply imbued than any of his contemporaries
with the poetry, the thought and the learning of Greece. The earliest
efforts of his art (the _Eclogues_) reproduce the cadences, the diction
and the pastoral fancies of Theocritus; but even in these imitative
poems of his youth Virgil shows a perfect mastery of his materials. The
Latin hexameter, which in Ennius and Lucretius was the organ of the more
dignified and majestic emotions, became in his hands the most perfect
measure in which the softer and more luxurious sentiment of nature has
been expressed. The sentiment of Italian scenery and the love which the
Italian peasant has for the familiar sights and sounds of his home found
a voice which never can pass away.
In the _Georgics_ we are struck by the great advance in the originality
and self-dependence of the artist, in the mature perfection of his
workmanship, in the deepening and strengthening of all his sympathies
and convictions. His genius still works under forms prescribed by Greek
art, and under the disadvantage of having a practical and utilitarian
aim imposed on it. But he has ever in form so far surpassed his
originals that he alone has gained for the pure didactic poem a place
among the highest forms of serious poetry, while he has so transmuted
his material that, without violation of truth, he has made the whole
poem alive with poetic feeling. The homeliest details of the farmer's
work are transfigured through the poet's love of nature; through his
religious feeling and his pious sympathy with the sanctities of human
affection; through his patriotic sympathy with the national greatness;
and through the rich allusiveness of his art to everything in poetry and
legend which can illustrate and glorify his theme.
In the _Eclogues_ and _Georgics_ Virgil is the idealizing poet of the
old simple and hardy life of Italy, as the imagination could conceive of
it in an altered world. In the _Aeneid_ he is the idealizing poet of
national glory, as manifested in the person of Augustus. The epic of
national life, vividly conceived but rudely executed by Ennius, was
perfected in the years that followed the decisive victory at Actium. To
do justice to his idea Virgil enters into rivalry with a greater poet
than those whom he had equalled or surpassed in his previous works. And,
though he cannot unroll before us the page of heroic action with the
power and majesty of Homer, yet by the sympathy with which he realizes
the idea of Rome, and by the power with which he has used the details of
tradition, of local scenes, of religious usage, to embody it, he has
built up in the form of an epic poem the most enduring and the most
artistically constructed monument of national grandeur.
Horace.
The second great poet of the time--Q. Horatius Flaccus or Horace (68-8)
is both the realist and the idealist of his age. If we want to know the
actual lives, manners and ways of thinking of the Romans of the
generation succeeding the overthrow of the republic it is in the
_Satires_ and partially in the _Epistles_ of Horace that we shall find
them. If we ask what that time provided to stir the fancy and move the
mood of imaginative reflection, it is in the lyrical poems of Horace
that we shall find the most varied and trustworthy answer. His literary
activity extends over about thirty years and naturally divides itself
into three periods, each marked by a distinct character. The
first--extending from about 40 to 29--is that of the _Epodes_ and
_Satires_. In the former he imitates the Greek poet Archilochus, but
takes his subjects from the men, women and incidents of the day.
Personality is the essence of his _Epodes_; in the _Satires_ it is used
merely as illustrative of general tendencies. In the _Satires_ we find
realistic pictures of social life, and the conduct and opinions of the
world submitted to the standard of good feeling and common sense. The
style of the _Epodes_ is pointed and epigrammatic, that of the _Satires_
natural and familiar. The hexameter no longer, as in Lucilius, moves
awkwardly as if in fetters, but, like the language of Terence, of
Catullus in his lighter pieces, of Cicero in his letters to Atticus,
adapts itself to the everyday intercourse of life. The next period is
the meridian of his genius, the time of his greatest lyrical
inspiration, which he himself associates with the peace and leisure
secured to him by his Sabine farm. The life of pleasure which he had
lived in his youth comes back to him, not as it was in its actual
distractions and disappointments, but in the idealizing light of
meditative retrospect. He had not only become reconciled to the new
order of things, but was moved by his intimate friendship with Maecenas
to aid in raising the world to sympathy with the imperial rule through
the medium of his lyrical inspiration, as Virgil had through the glory
of his epic art. With the completion of the three books of _Odes_ he
cast aside for a time the office of the _vates_, and resumed that of the
critical spectator of human life, but in the spirit of a moralist rather
than a satirist. He feels the increasing languor of the time as well as
the languor of advancing years, and seeks to encourage younger men to
take up the rôle of lyrical poetry, while he devotes himself to the
contemplation of the true art of living. Self-culture rather than the
fulfilment of public or social duty, as in the moral teaching of Cicero,
is the aim of his teaching; and in this we recognize the influence of
the empire in throwing the individual back on himself. As Cicero tones
down his oratory in his moral treatises, so Horace tones down the
fervour of his lyrical utterances in his _Epistles_, and thus produces a
style combining the ease of the best epistolary style with the grace and
concentration of poetry--the style, as it has been called, of "idealized
common sense," that of the _urbanus_ and cultivated man of the world who
is also in his hours of inspiration a genuine poet. In the last ten
years of his life Horace resumed his lyrical function for a time, under
pressure of the imperial command, and produced some of the most
exquisite and mature products of his art. But his chief activity is
devoted to criticism. He first vindicates the claims of his own age to
literary pre-eminence, and then seeks to stimulate the younger writers
of the day to what he regarded as the manlier forms of poetry, and
especially to the tragic drama, which seemed for a short time to give
promise of an artistic revival.
But the poetry of the latter half of the Augustan age destined to
survive did not follow the lines either of lyrical or of dramatic art
marked out by Horace. The latest form of poetry adopted from Greece and
destined to gain and permanently to hold the ear of the world was the
_elegy_. From the time of Mimnermus this form seems to have presented
itself as the most natural vehicle for the poetry of pleasure in an age
of luxury, refinement and incipient decay. Its facile flow and rhythm
seem to adapt it to the expression and illustration of personal feeling.
It goes to the mind of the reader through a medium of sentiment rather
than of continuous thought or imaginative illustration. The greatest
masters of this kind of poetry are the elegiac poets of the Augustan
age--Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid.
Tibullus
Of the ill-fated C. Cornelius Gallus, their predecessor, we have but a
single pentameter remaining. Of the three Tibullus (c. 54-19) is the
most refined and tender. As the poet of love he gives utterance to the
pensive melancholy rather than to the pleasures associated with it. In
his sympathy with the life and beliefs of the country people he shows an
affinity both to the idyllic spirit and to the piety of Virgil. There is
something, too, in his fastidious refinement and in his shrinking from
the rough contact of life that reminds us of the English poet Gray.
Propertius.
A poet of more strength and more powerful imagination, but of less
refinement in his life and less exquisite taste in his art, is Sextus
Propertius (c. 50-c. 15). His youth was a more stormy one than that of
Tibullus, and was passed, not like his, among the "healthy woods" of his
country estate, but amid all the licence of the capital. His passion for
Cynthia, the theme of his most finished poetry, is second only in
interest to that of Catullus for Lesbia; and Cynthia in her fascination
and caprices seems a more real and intelligible personage than the
idealized object first of the idolatry and afterwards of the malediction
of Catullus. Propertius is a less accomplished artist and a less equably
pleasing writer than either Tibullus or Ovid, but he shows more power of
dealing gravely with a great or tragic situation than either of them,
and his diction and rhythm give frequent proof of a concentrated force
of conception and a corresponding movement of imaginative feeling which
remind us of Lucretius.
Ovid.
The most facile and brilliant of the elegiac poets and the least serious
in tone and spirit is P. Ovidius Naso or Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18). As an
amatory poet he is the poet of pleasure and intrigue rather than of
tender sentiment or absorbing passion. Though he treated his subject in
relation to himself with more levity and irony than real feeling, yet by
his sparkling wit and fancy he created a literature of sentiment and
adventure adapted to amuse the idle and luxurious society of which the
elder Julia was the centre. His power of continuous narrative is best
seen in the _Metamorphoses_, written in hexameters to which he has
imparted a rapidity and precision of movement more suited to romantic
and picturesque narrative than the weighty self-restrained verse of
Virgil. In his _Fasti_ he treats a subject of national interest; it is
not, however, through the strength of Roman sentiment but through the
power of vividly conceiving and narrating stories of strong human
interest that the poem lives. In his latest works--the _Tristia_ and _Ex
Ponto_--he imparts the interest of personal confessions to the record of
a unique experience. Latin poetry is more rich in the expression of
personal feeling than of dramatic realism. In Ovid we have both. We know
him in the intense liveliness of his feeling and the human weakness of
his nature more intimately than any other writer of antiquity, except
perhaps Cicero. As Virgil marks the point of maturest excellence in
poetic diction and rhythm, Ovid marks that of the greatest facility.
Livy.
The Augustan age was one of those great eras in the world like the era
succeeding the Persian War in Greece, the Elizabethan age in England,
and the beginning of the 19th century in Europe, in which what seems a
new spring of national and individual life calls out an idealizing
retrospect of the past. As the present seems full of new life, the past
seems rich in glory and the future in hope. The past of Rome had always
a peculiar fascination for Roman writers. Virgil in a supreme degree,
and Horace, Propertius and Ovid in a less degree, had expressed in their
poetry the romance of the past. But it was in the great historical work
of T. Livius or Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) that the record of the national
life received its most systematic exposition. Its execution was the
work of a life prolonged through the languor and dissolution following
so soon upon the promise of the new era, during which time the past
became glorified by contrast with the disheartening aspect of the
present. The value of the work consists not in any power of critical
investigation or weighing of historical evidence but in the intense
sympathy of the writer with the national ideal, and the vivid
imagination with which under the influence of this sympathy he gives
life to the events and personages, the wars and political struggles, of
times remote from his own. He makes us feel more than any one the
majesty of the Roman state, of its great magistracies, and of the august
council by which its policy was guided. And, while he makes the words
_senatus populusque Romanus_ full of significance for all times, no one
realizes with more enthusiasm all that is implied in the words _imperium
Romanum_, and the great military qualities of head and heart by which
that empire was acquired and maintained. The vast scale on which the
work was conceived and the thoroughness of artistic execution with which
the details are finished are characteristically Roman. The prose style
of Rome, as a vehicle for the continuous narration of events coloured by
a rich and picturesque imagination and instinct with dignified emotion,
attained its perfection in Livy.
_Fourth Period: The Silver Age, from A.D. 17 to about 130_.
Characteristics of post-Augustan age.
For more than a century after the death of Augustus Roman literature
continues to flow in the old channels. Though drawing from the
provinces, Rome remains the centre of the literary movement. The
characteristics of the great writers are essentially national, not
provincial nor cosmopolitan. In prose the old forms--oratory, history,
the epistle, treatises or dialogues on ethical and literary
questions--continue to be cultivated. Scientific and practical subjects,
such as natural history, architecture, medicine, agriculture, are
treated in more elaborate literary style. The old Roman _satura_ is
developed into something like the modern prose novel. In the various
provinces of poetry, while there is little novelty or inspiration, there
is abundance of industry and ambitious effort. The national love of
works of large compass shows itself in the production of long epic
poems, both of the historic and of the imitative Alexandrian type. The
imitative and rhetorical tastes of Rome showed themselves in the
composition of exotic tragedies, as remote in spirit and character from
Greek as from Roman life, of which the only extant specimens are those
attributed to the younger Seneca. The composition of didactic, lyrical
and elegiac poetry also was the accomplishment and pastime of an
educated dilettante class, the only extant specimens of any interest
being some of the _Silvae_ of Statius. The only voice with which the
poet of this age can express himself with force and sincerity is that of
satire and satiric epigram. We find now only imitative echoes of the old
music created by Virgil and others, as in Statius, or powerful
declamation, as in Lucan and Juvenal. There is a deterioration in the
diction as well as in the music of poetry. The elaborate literary
culture of the Augustan age has done something to impair the native
force of the Latin idiom. The language of literature, in the most
elaborate kind of prose as well as poetry, loses all ring of popular
speech. The old oratorical tastes and aptitudes find their outlet in
public recitations and the practice of declamation. Forced and distorted
expression, exaggerated emphasis, point and antithesis, an affected
prettiness, are studied with the view of gaining the applause of
audiences who thronged the lecture and recitation rooms in search of
temporary excitement. Education is more widely diffused, but is less
thorough, less leisurely in its method, derived less than before from
the purer sources of culture. The precocious immaturity of Lucan's
career affords a marked contrast to the long preparation of Virgil and
Horace for their high office. Although there are some works of this
so-called Silver Age of considerable and one at least of supreme
interest, from the insight they afford into the experience of a century
of organized despotism and its effect on the spiritual life of the
ancient world, it cannot be doubted that the steady literary decline
which characterized the last centuries of paganism was beginning before
the death of Ovid and Livy.
The influences which had inspired republican and Augustan literature
were the artistic impulse derived from a familiarity with the great
works of Greek genius, becoming more intimate with every new generation,
the spell of Rome over the imagination of the kindred Italian races, the
charm of Italy, and the vivid sensibility of the Italian temperament.
These influences were certainly much less operative in the first century
of the empire. The imitative impulse, which had much of the character of
a creative impulse, and had resulted in the appropriation of the forms
of poetry suited to the Roman and Italian character and of the metres
suited to the genius of the Latin language, no longer stimulated to
artistic effort. The great sources of Greek poetry were no longer
regarded, as they were by Lucretius and Virgil, as sacred, untasted
springs, to be approached in a spirit of enthusiasm tempered with
reverence. We have the testimony of two men of shrewd common sense and
masculine understanding--Martial and Juvenal--to the stale and lifeless
character of the art of the Silver Age, which sought to reproduce in the
form of epics, tragedies and elegies the bright fancies of the Greek
mythology.
The idea of Rome, owing to the antagonism between the policy of the
government and the sympathies of the class by which literature was
favoured and cultivated, could no longer be an inspiring motive, as it
had been in the literature of the republic and of the Augustan age. The
spirit of Rome appears only as animating the protest of Lucan, the
satire of Persius and Juvenal, the sombre picture which Tacitus paints
of the annals of the empire. Oratory is no longer an independent voice
appealing to sentiments of Roman dignity, but the weapon of the
"informers" (_delatores_), wielded for their own advancement and the
destruction of that class which, even in their degeneracy, retained most
sympathy with the national traditions. Roman history was no longer a
record of national glory, stimulating the patriotism and flattering the
pride of all Roman citizens, but a personal eulogy or a personal
invective, according as servility to a present or hatred of a recent
ruler was the motive which animated it.
The charm of Italian scenes still remained the same, but the fresh and
inspiring feeling cf nature gave place to the mere sensuous
gratification derived from the luxurious and artificial beauty of the
country villa. The idealizing poetry of passion, which found a genuine
voice in Catullus and the elegiac poets, could not prolong itself
through the exhausting licence of successive generations. The vigorous
vitality which gives interest to the personality of Catullus, Propertius
and Ovid no longer characterizes their successors. The pathos of natural
affection is occasionally recognized in Statius and more rarely in
Martial, but it has not the depth of tenderness found in Lucretius and
Virgil. The wealth and luxury of successive generations, the monotonous
routine of life, the separation of the educated class from the higher
work of the world, have produced their enervating and paralysing effect
on the mainsprings of poetic and imaginative feeling.
New literary elements.
New elements, however, appear in the literature of this period. As the
result of the severance from the active interests of life, a new
interest is awakened in the inner life of the individual. The immorality
of Roman society not only affords abundant material to the satirist, but
deepens the consciousness of moral evil in purer and more thoughtful
minds. To these causes we attribute the pathological observation of
Seneca and Tacitus, the new sense of purity in Persius called out by
contrast with the impurity around him, the glowing if somewhat
sensational exaggeration of Juvenal, the vivid characterization of
Martial. The literature of no time presents so powerfully the contrast
between moral good and evil. In this respect it is truly representative
of the life of the age. Another new element is the influence of a new
race. In the two preceding periods the rapid diffusion of literary
culture following the Social War and the first Civil War was seen to
awaken into new life the elements of original genius in Italy and
Cisalpine Gaul. In the first century of the empire a similar result was
produced by the diffusion of that culture in the Latinized districts of
Spain. The fervid temperament of a fresh and vigorous race, which
received the Latin discipline just as Latium had two or three centuries
previously received the Greek discipline, revealed itself in the
writings of the Senecas, Lucan, Quintilian, Martial and others, who in
their own time added literary distinction to the Spanish towns from
which they came. The new extraneous element introduced into Roman
literature draws into greater prominence the characteristics of the last
great representatives of the genuine Roman and Italian spirit--the
historian Tacitus and the satirist Juvenal.
On the whole this century shows, in form, language and substance, the
signs of literary decay. But it is still capable of producing men of
original force; it still maintains the traditions of a happier time; it
is still alive to the value of literary culture, and endeavours by
minute attention to style to produce new effects. Though it was not one
of the great eras in the annals of literature, yet the century which
produced Martial, Juvenal and Tacitus cannot be pronounced barren in
literary originality, nor that which produced Seneca and Quintilian
devoid of culture and literary taste.
This fourth period is itself subdivided into three divisions: (1) from
the accession of Tiberius to the death of Nero, 68--the most important
part of it being the Neronian age, 54 to 68; (2) the Flavian era, from
the death of Nero to the death of Domitian, 96; (3) the reigns of Nerva
and Trajan and part of the reign of Hadrian.
Period from Tiberius to Nero.
1. For a generation after the death of Augustus no new original literary
force appeared. The later poetry of the Augustan age had ended in
trifling dilettantism, for the continuance of which the atmosphere of
the court was no longer favourable. The class by which literature was
encouraged had become both enervated and terrorized. The most remarkable
poetical product of the time is the long-neglected astrological poem of
Manilius which was written at the beginning of Tiberius's reign. Its
vigour and originality have had scanty justice done to them owing to the
difficulty of the subject-matter and the style, and the corruptions
which still disfigure its text. Very different has been the fate of the
_Fables_ of Phaedrus. This slight work of a Macedonian freedman,
destitute of national significance and representative in its morality
only of the spirit of cosmopolitan individualism, owes its vogue to its
easy Latinity and popular subject-matter. Of the prose writers C.
Velleius Paterculus, the historian, and Valerius Maximus, the collector
of anecdotes, are the most important. A. Cornelius Celsus composed a
series of technical handbooks, one of which, upon medicine, has
survived. Its purity of style and the fact that it was long a standard
work entitle it to a mention here. The traditional culture was still,
however, maintained, and the age was rich in grammarians and
rhetoricians. The new profession of the _delator_ must have given a
stimulus to oratory. A high ideal of culture, literary as well as
practical, was realized in Germanicus, which seems to have been
transmitted to his daughter Agrippina, whose patronage of Seneca had
important results in the next generation. The reign of Claudius was a
time in which antiquarian learning, grammatical studies, and
jurisprudence were cultivated, but no important additions were made to
literature. A fresh impulse was given to letters on the accession of
Nero, and this was partly due to the theatrical and artistic tastes of
the young emperor. Four writers of the Neronian age still possess
considerable interest,--L. Annaeus Seneca, M. Annaeus Lucanus, A.
Persius Flaccus and Petronius Arbiter. The first three represent the
spirit of their age by exhibiting the power of the Stoic philosophy as a
moral, political and religious force; the last is the most cynical
exponent of the depravity of the time. Seneca (c. 5 B.C.-A.D. 65) is
less than Persius a pure Stoic, and more of a moralist and pathological
observer of man's inner life. He makes the commonplaces of a
cosmopolitan philosophy interesting by his abundant illustration drawn
from the private and social life of his contemporaries. He has knowledge
of the world, the suppleness of a courtier, Spanish vivacity, and the
_ingenium amoenum_ attributed to him by Tacitus, the fruit of which is
sometimes seen in the "honeyed phrases" mentioned by Petronius--pure
aspirations combined with inconsistency of purpose--the inconsistency of
one who tries to make the best of two worlds, the ideal inner life and
the successful real life in the atmosphere of a most corrupt court. The
_Pharsalia_ of Lucan (39-65), with Cato as its hero, is essentially a
Stoic manifesto of the opposition. It is written with the force and
fervour of extreme youth and with the literary ambition of a race as yet
new to the discipline of intellectual culture, and is characterized by
rhetorical rather than poetical imagination. The six short _Satires_ of
Persius (34-62) are the purest product of Stoicism--a Stoicism that had
found in a contemporary, Thrasea, a more rational and practical hero
than Cato. But no important writer of antiquity has less literary charm
than Persius. In avoiding the literary conceits and fopperies which he
satirizes he has recourse to the most unnatural contortions of
expression. Of hardly greater length are the seven eclogues of T.
Calpurnius Siculus, written at the beginning of the reign of Nero, which
are not without grace and facility of diction. Of the works of the time
that which from a human point of view is perhaps the most detestable in
ancient literature has the most genuine literary quality, the fragment
of a prose novel--the _Satyricon_--of Petronius (d. 66). It is most
sincere in its representation, least artificial in diction, most
penetrating in its satire, most just in its criticism of art and style.
Age of Domitian.
2. A greater sobriety of tone was introduced both into life and
literature with the accession of Vespasian. The time was, however,
characterized rather by good sense and industry than by original genius.
Under Vespasian C. Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the elder (compiler of the
_Natural History_, an encyclopaedic treatise, 23-79), is the most
important prose writer, and C. Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus, author
of the _Argonautica_ (d. c. 90), the most important among the writers of
poetry. The reign of Domitian, although it silenced the more independent
spirits of the time, Tacitus and Juvenal, witnessed more important
contributions to Roman literature than any age since the
Augustan,--among them the _Institutes_ of Quintilian, the _Punic War_ of
Silius Italicus, the epics and the _Silvae_ of Statius, and the
_Epigrams_ of Martial. M. Fabius Quintilianus, or Quintilian (c. 35-95),
is brought forward by Juvenal as a unique instance of a thoroughly
successful man of letters, of one not belonging by birth to the rich or
official class, who had risen to wealth and honours through literature.
He was well adapted to his time by his good sense and sobriety of
judgment. His criticism is just and true rather than subtle or
ingenious, and has thus stood the test of the judgment of after-times.
The poem of Ti. Catius Silius Italicus (25-101) is a proof of the
industry and literary ambition of members of the rich official class. Of
the epic poets of the Silver Age P. Papinius Statius (c. 45-96) shows
the greatest technical skill and the richest pictorial fancy in the
execution of detail; but his epics have no true inspiring motive, and,
although the recitation of the _Thebaid_ could attract and charm an
audience in the days of Juvenal, it really belongs to the class of poems
so unsparingly condemned both by him and Martial. In the _Silvae_,
though many of them have little root in the deeper feelings of human
nature, we find occasionally more than in any poetry after the Augustan
age something of the purer charm and pathos of life. But it is not in
the _Silvae_, nor in the epics and tragedies of the time, nor in the
cultivated criticism of Quintilian that the age of Domitian lives for
us. It is in the _Epigrams_ of M. Valerius Martialis or Martial (c.
41-104) that we have a true image of the average sensual frivolous life
of Rome at the end of the 1st century, seen through a medium of wit and
humour, but undistorted by the exaggeration which moral indignation and
the love of effect add to the representation of Juvenal. Martial
represents his age in his _Epigrams_, as Horace does his in his
_Satires_ and _Odes_, with more variety and incisive force in his
sketches, though with much less poetic charm and serious meaning. We
know the daily life, the familiar personages, the outward aspect of Rome
in the age of Domitian better than at any other period of Roman
history, and this knowledge we owe to Martial.
Period of Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian.
3. But it was under Nerva and Trajan that the greatest and most truly
representative works of the empire were written. The _Annals_ and
_Histories_ of Cornelius Tacitus (54-119), with the supplementary _Life
of Agricola_ and the _Germania_, and the _Satires_ of D. Iunius
Iuvenalis or Juvenal (c. 47-130), sum up for posterity the moral
experience of the Roman world from the accession of Tiberius to the
death of Domitian. The generous scorn and pathos of the historian acting
on extraordinary gifts of imaginative insight and characterization, and
the fierce indignation of the satirist finding its vent in exaggerating
realism, doubtless to some extent warped their impressions; nevertheless
their works are the last voices expressive of the freedom and manly
virtue of the ancient world. In them alone among the writers of the
empire the spirit of the Roman republic seems to revive. The _Letters_
of C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus or Pliny the Younger (61-c. 115),
though they do not contradict the representation of Tacitus and Juvenal
regarded as an exposure of the political degradation and moral
corruption of prominent individuals and classes, do much to modify the
pervadingly tragic and sombre character of their representation.
With the death of Juvenal, the most important part of whose activity
falls in the reign of Trajan, Latin literature as an original and
national expression of the experience, character, and sentiment of the
Roman state and empire, and as one of the great literatures of the
world, may be considered closed.
_Later Writers._
Claudian.
What remains to describe is little but death and decay. Poetry died
first; the paucity of writings in verse is matched by their
insignificance. For two centuries after Juvenal there are no names but
those of Q. Serenus Sammonicus, with his pharmacopoeia in verse (c.
225), and M. Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus, who wrote a few feeble
eclogues and (283) a dull piece on the training of dogs for the chase.
Towards the middle of the 4th century we have Decimus Magnus Ausonius, a
professor of Bordeaux and afterwards consul (379), whose style is as
little like that of classical poetry as is his prosody. His _Mosella_, a
detailed description of the river Moselle, is the least unattractive of
his works. A little better is his contemporary, Rufius Festus Avienus,
who made some free translations of astronomical and geographical poems
in Greek. A generation later, in what might be called the expiring
effort of Latin poetry, appeared two writers of much greater merit. The
first is Claudius Claudianus (c. 400), a native of Alexandria and the
court poet of the emperor Honorius and his minister Stilicho. Claudian
may be properly styled the last of the poets of Rome. He breathes the
old national spirit, and his mastery of classical idiom and
versification is for his age extraordinary. Something of the same may be
seen in Rutilius Namatianus, a Gaul by birth, who wrote in 416 a
description of his voyage from the capital to his native land, which
contains the most glowing eulogy of Rome ever penned by an ancient hand.
Of the Christian "poets" only Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (c. 348-410)
need be mentioned. He was well read in the ancient literature; but the
task of embodying the Christian spirit in the classical form was one far
beyond his powers.
Suetonius.
Apuleius.
The vitality of the prose literature was not much greater though its
complete extinction was from the nature of the case impossible. The most
important writer in the age succeeding Juvenal was the biographer C.
Suetonius Tranquillus (c. 75-160), whose work is more valuable for its
matter than its manner. His style is simple and direct, but has hardly
any other merit. A little later the rise of M. Cornelius Fronto (c.
100-175), a native of Cirta, marks the beginning of an African
influence. Fronto, a distinguished orator and intimate friend of the
emperor M. Aurelius, broke away from the traditional Latin of the Silver
and Golden ages, and took as his models the pre-classical authors. The
reaction was short-lived; but the same affectation of antiquity is seen
in the writings of Apuleius, also an African, who lived a little later
than Fronto and was a man of much greater natural parts. In his
_Metamorphoses_, which were based upon a Greek original, he takes the
wonderful story of the adventures of Lucius of Madaura, and interweaves
the famous legend of Cupid and Psyche. His bizarre and mystical style
has a strange fascination for the reader; but there is nothing Roman or
Italian about it. Two epitomists of previous histories may be mentioned:
Justinus (of uncertain date) who abridged the history of Pompeius
Trogus, an Augustan writer; and P. Annius Florus, who wrote in the reign
of Hadrian a rhetorical sketch based upon Livy. The _Historia Augusta_,
which includes the lives of the emperors from Hadrian to Numerianus
(117-284), is the work of six writers, four of whom wrote under
Diocletian and two under Constantine. It is a collection of personal
memoirs of little historical importance, and marked by puerility and
poverty of style. Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330-400) had a higher
conception of the historian's function. His narrative of the years
353-378 (all that now remains) is honest and straightforward, but his
diction is awkward and obscure. The last pagan prose writer who need be
mentioned is Q. Aurelius Symmachus (c. 350-410), the author of some
speeches and a collection of letters. All the art of his ornate and
courtly periods cannot disguise the fact that there was nothing now for
paganism to say.
Christian writers.
It is in Christian writers alone that we find the vigour of life. The
earliest work of Christian apologetics is the _Octavius_ or Minucius
Felix, a contemporary of Fronto. It is written in pure Latin and is
strongly tinged by classical influences. Quite different is the work of
"the fierce Tertullian," Q. Septimius Florens Tertullianus (c. 150-230),
a native of Carthage, the most vigorous of the Latin champions of the
new faith. His style shows the African revolt of which we have already
spoken, and in its medley of archaisms, Graecisms and Hebraisms reveals
the strength of the disintegrating forces at work upon the Latin
language. A more commanding figure is that of Aurelius Augustinus or St
Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo, who for comprehensiveness and
dialectical power stands out in the same way as Hieronymus or St Jerome
(c. 331 or 340-420), a native of Stridon in Dalmatia, does for
many-sided learning and scholarship.
Grammarians.
The decline of literature proper was attended by an increased output of
grammatical and critical studies. From the time of L. Aelius Stilo
Praeconinus, who was the teacher of Varro and Cicero, much interest had
been taken in literary and linguistic problems at Rome. Varro under the
republic, and M. Verrius Flaccus in the Augustan age, had busied
themselves with lexicography and etymology. The grammarian M. Valerius
Probus (c. A.D. 60) was the first critical editor of Latin texts. In the
next century we have Velius Longus's treatise _De Orthographia_, and
then a much more important work, the _Noctes Atticae_ of Aulus Gellius,
and (c. 200) a treatise in verse by Terentianus, an African, upon Latin
pronunciation, prosody and metre. Somewhat later are the commentators on
Terence and Horace, Helenius Acro and Pomponius Porphyrio. The tradition
was continued in the 4th century by Nonius Marcellus and C. Marius
Victorinus, both Africans; Aelius Donatus, the grammarian and
commentator on Terence and Virgil, Flavius Sosipater Charisius and
Diomedes, and Servius, the author of a valuable commentary on Virgil.
Ambrosius Macrobius Theodosius (c. 400) wrote a treatise on Cicero's
_Somnium Scipionis_ and seven books of miscellanies (_Saturnalia_); and
Martianus Capella (c. 430), a native of Africa, published a compendium
of the seven liberal arts, written in a mixture of prose and verse, with
some literary pretensions. The last grammarian who need be named is the
most widely known of all, the celebrated Priscianus, who published his
text-book at Constantinople probably in the middle of the 5th century.
Jurists.
In jurisprudence, which may be regarded as one of the outlying regions
of literature, Roman genius had had some of its greatest triumphs, and,
if we take account of the "codes," was active to the end. The most
distinguished of the early jurists (whose works are lost) were Q.
Mucius Scaevola, who died in 82 B.C., and following him Ser. Sulpicius
Rufus, who died in 43 B.C. In the Augustan age M. Antistius Labeo and C.
Ateius Capito headed two opposing schools in jurisprudence, Labeo being
an advocate of method and reform, and Capito being a conservative and
empiricist. The strife, which reflects the controversy between the
"analogists" and the "anomalists" in philology, continued long after
their death. Salvius Julianus was entrusted by Hadrian with the task of
reducing into shape the immense mass of law which had grown up in the
edicts of successive praetors--thus taking the first step towards a
code. Sex. Pomponius, a contemporary, wrote an important legal manual of
which fragments are preserved. The most celebrated handbook, however, is
the _Institutiones_ of Gaius, who lived under Antonius Pius--a model of
what such treatises should be. The most eminent of all the Roman jurists
was Aemilius Papinianus, the intimate friend of Septimius Severus; of
his works only fragments remain. Other considerable writers were the
prolific Domitius Ulpianus (c. 215) and Julius Paulus, his contemporary.
The last juristical writer of note was Herennius Modestinus (c. 240).
But though the line of great lawyers had ceased, the effects of their
work remained and are clearly visible long after in the "codes"--the
code of Theodosius (438) and the still more famous code of Justinian
(529 and 533), with which is associated the name of Tribonianus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The most full and satisfactory modern account of Latin
literature is M. Schanz's _Geschichte der römischen Litteratur._ The
best in English is the translation by C. C. Warr of W. S. Teuffel and
L. Schwabe's _History of Roman Literature_. J. W. Mackail's short
_History of Latin Literature_ is full of excellent literary and
aesthetic criticisms on the writers. C. Lamarre's _Histoire de la
littérature latine_ (1901, with specimens) only deals with the writers
of the republic. W. Y. Sellar's _Roman Poets of the Republic and Poets
of the Augustan Age_, and R. Y. Tyrrell's _Lectures on Latin Poetry_,
will also be found of service. A concise account of the various Latin
writers and their works, together with bibliographies, is given in J.
E. B. Mayor's _Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature_ (1879), which
is based on a German work by E. Hübner. See also the separate
bibliographies to the articles on individual writers.
(W. Y. S.; J. P. P.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] _Latine loqui elegantissime_.
LATINUS, in Roman legend, king of the aborigines in Latium, and
eponymous hero of the Latin race. In Hesiod (_Theogony_, 1013) he is the
son of Odysseus and Circe, and ruler of the Tyrsenians; in Virgil, the
son of Faunus and the nymph Marica, a national genealogy being
substituted for the Hesiodic, which probably originated from a Greek
source. Latinus was a shadowy personality, invented to explain the
origin of Rome and its relations with Latium, and only obtained
importance in later times through his legendary connexion with Aeneas
and the foundation of Rome. According to Virgil (_Aeneid_, vii.-xii.),
Aeneas, on landing at the mouth of the Tiber, was welcomed by Latinus,
the peaceful ruler whose seat of government was Laurentum, and
ultimately married his daughter Lavinia.
Other accounts of Latinus, differing considerably in detail, are to be
found in the fragments of Cato's _Origines_ (in Servius's commentary
on Virgil) and in Dionysius of Halicarnassus; see further authorities
in the article by J. A. Hild, in Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire
des antiquités_.
LATITUDE (Lat. _latitudo_, _latus_, broad), a word meaning breadth or
width, hence, figuratively, freedom from restriction, but more generally
used in the geographical and astronomical sense here treated. The
latitude of a point on the earth's surface is its angular distance from
the equator, measured on the curved surface of the earth. The direct
measure of this distance being impracticable, it has to be determined by
astronomical observations. As thus determined it is the angle between
the direction of the plumb-line at the place and the plane of the
equator. This is identical with the angle between the horizontal planes
at the place and at the equator, and also with the elevation of the
celestial pole above the horizon (see ASTRONOMY). Latitude thus
determined by the plumb-line is termed _astronomical_. The _geocentric
latitude_ of a place is the angle which the line from the earth's centre
to the place makes with the plane of the equator. _Geographical
latitude_, which is used in mapping, is based on the supposition that
the earth is an elliptic spheroid of known compression, and is the
angle which the normal to this spheroid makes with the equator. It
differs from the astronomical latitude only in being corrected for local
deviation of the plumb-line.
The latitude of a celestial object is the angle which the line drawn
from some fixed point of reference to the object makes with the plane of
the ecliptic.
_Variability of Terrestrial Latitudes._--The latitude of a point on the
earth's surface, as above defined, is measured from the equator. The
latter is defined by the condition that its plane makes a right angle
with the earth's axis of rotation. It follows that if the points in
which this axis intersects the earth's surface, _i.e_. the poles of the
earth, change their positions on the earth's surface, the position of
the equator will also change, and therefore the latitudes of places will
change also. About the end of the 19th century research showed that
there actually was a very minute but measurable periodic change of this
kind. The north and south poles, instead of being fixed points on the
earth's surface, wander round within a circle about 50 ft. in diameter.
The result is a variability of terrestrial latitudes generally.
[Illustration]
To show the cause of this motion, let BQ represent a section of an
oblate spheroid through its shortest axis, PP. We may consider this
spheroid to be that of the earth, the ellipticity being greatly
exaggerated. If set in rotation around its axis of figure PP, it will
continue to rotate around that axis for an indefinite time. But if,
instead of rotating around PP, it rotates around some other axis, RR,
making a small angle, POR, with the axis of figure PP; then it has
been known since the time of Euler that the axis of rotation RR, if
referred to the spheroid regarded as fixed, will gradually rotate
round the axis of figure PP in a period defined in the following
way:--If we put C = the moment of momentum of the spheroid around the
axis of figure, and A = the corresponding moment around an axis
passing through the equator EQ, then, calling one day the period of
rotation of the spheroid, the axis RR will make a revolution around PP
in a number of days represented by the fraction C/(C - A). In the case
of the earth, this ratio is 1/0.0032813 or 305. It follows that the
period in question is 305 days.
Up to 1890 the most careful observations and researches failed to
establish the periodicity of such a rotation, though there was strong
evidence of a variation of latitude. Then S. C. Chandler, from an
elaborate discussion of a great number of observations, showed that
there was really a variation of the latitude of the points of
observation; but, instead of the period being 305 days, it was about 428
days. At first sight this period seemed to be inconsistent with
dynamical theory. But a defect was soon found in the latter, the
correction of which reconciled the divergence. In deriving a period of
305 days the earth is regarded as an absolutely rigid body, and no
account is taken either of its elasticity or of the mobility of the
ocean. A study of the figure will show that the centrifugal force round
the axis RR will act on the equatorial protuberance of the rotating
earth so as to make it tend in the direction of the arrows. A slight
deformation of the earth will thus result; and the axis of figure of the
distorted spheroid will no longer be PP, but a line P´P´ between PP and
RR. As the latter moves round, P´P´ will continually follow it through
the incessant change of figure produced by the change in the direction
of the centrifugal force. Now the rate of motion of RR is determined by
the actual figure at the moment. It is therefore less than the motion in
an absolutely rigid spheroid in the proportion RP´ : RP. It is found
that, even though the earth were no more elastic than steel, its
yielding combined with the mobility of the ocean would make this ratio
about 2 : 3, resulting in an increase of the period by one-half, making
it about 457 days. Thus this small flexibility is even greater than
that necessary to the reconciliation of observation with theory, and the
earth is shown to be more rigid than steel--a conclusion long since
announced by Kelvin for other reasons.
Chandler afterwards made an important addition to the subject by showing
that the motion was represented by the superposition of two harmonic
terms, the first having a period of about 430 days, the other of one
year. The result of this superposition is a seven-year period, which
makes 6 periods of the 428-day term (428^d × 6 = 2568^d = 7 years,
nearly), and 7 periods of the annual term. Near one phase of this
combined period the two component motions nearly annul each other, so
that the variation is then small, while at the opposite phase, 3 to 4
years later, the two motions are in the same direction and the range of
variation is at its maximum. The coefficient of the 428-day term seems
to be between 0.12´´ and 0.16´´; that of the annual term between 0.06´´
and 0.11´´. Recent observations give smaller values of both than those
made between 1890 and 1900, and there is no reason to suppose either to
be constant.
The present state of the theory may be summed up as follows:--
1. The fourteen-month term is an immediate result of the fact that the
axes of rotation and figure of the earth do not strictly coincide, but
make with each other a small angle of which the mean value is about
0.15". If the earth remained invariable, without any motion of matter on
its surface, the result of this non-coincidence would be the revolution
of the one pole round the other in a circle of radius 0.15", or about 15
ft., in a period of about 429 days. This revolution is called the
_Eulerian motion_, after the mathematician who discovered it. But owing
to meteorological causes the motion in question is subject to annual
changes. These changes arise from two causes--the one statical, the
other dynamical.
2. The statical causes are deposits of snow or ice slowly changing the
position of the pole of figure of the earth. For example, a deposit of
snow in Siberia would bring the equator of figure of the earth a little
nearer to Siberia and throw the pole a little way from it, while a
deposit on the American continent would have the opposite effect. Owing
to the approximate symmetry of the American and Asiatic continents it
does not seem likely that the inequality of snowfall would produce an
appreciable effect.
3. The dynamical causes are atmospheric and oceanic currents. Were these
currents invariable their only effect would be that the Eulerian motion
would not take place exactly round the mean pole of figure, but round a
point slightly separated from it. But, as a matter of fact, they are
subject to an annual variation. Hence the motion of the pole of rotation
is also subject to a similar variation. The annual term in the latitude
is thus accounted for.
Besides Chandler, Albrecht of Berlin has investigated the motion of the
pole P. The methods of the two astronomers are in some points different.
Chandler has constructed empirical formulae representing the motion,
with the results already given, while Albrecht has determined the motion
of the pole from observation simply, without trying to represent it
either by a formula or by theory. It is noteworthy that the difference
between Albrecht's numerical results and Chandler's formulae is
generally less than 0.05´´.
When the fluctuation in the position of the pole was fully confirmed,
its importance in astronomy and geodesy led the International Geodetic
Association to establish a series of stations round the globe, as nearly
as possible on the same parallel of latitude, for the purpose of
observing the fluctuation with a greater degree of precision than could
be attained by the miscellaneous observations before available. The same
stars were to be observed from month to month at each station with
zenith-telescopes of similar approved construction. This secures a
double observation of each component of the polar motion, from which
most of the systematic errors are eliminated. The principal stations
are: Carloforte, Italy; Mizusawa, Japan; Gaithersburg, Maryland; and
Ukiah, California, all nearly on the same parallel of latitude, 39° 8´.
The fluctuations derived from this international work during the last
seven years deviate but slightly from Chandler's formulae though they
show a markedly smaller value of the annual term. In consequence, the
change in the amplitude of the fluctuation through the seven-year period
is not so well marked as before 1900.
Chandler's investigations are found in a series of papers published in
the _Astronomical Journal_, vols. xi. to xv. and xviii. Newcomb's
explanation of the lengthening of the Eulerian period is found in the
_Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_ for March 1892.
Later volumes of the _Astronomical Journal_ contain discussions of the
causes which may produce the annual fluctuation. An elaborate
mathematical discussion of the theory is by Vito Volterra: "Sulla
teoria dei movimenti del Polo terrestre" in the _Astronomische
Nachrichten_, vol. 138; also, more fully in his memoir "Sur la théorie
des variations des latitudes," _Acta Mathematica_, vol. xxii. The
results of the international observations are discussed from time to
time by Albrecht in the publications of the International Geodetic
Association, and in the _Astronomische Nachrichten_ (see also EARTH,
FIGURE OF). (S. N.)
LATIUM,[1] in ancient geography, the name given to the portion of
central Italy which was bounded on the N.W. by Etruria, on the S.W. by
the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the S.E. by Campania, on the E. by Samnium and on
the N.E. by the mountainous district inhabited by the Sabini, Aequi and
Marsi. The name was, however, applied very differently at different
times. Latium originally means the land of the Latini, and in this
sense, which alone is in use historically, it was a tract of limited
extent; but after the overthrow of the Latin confederacy, when the
neighbouring tribes of the Rutuli, Hernici, Volsci and Aurunci, as well
as the Latini properly so called, were reduced to the condition of
subjects and citizens of Rome, the name of Latium was extended to
comprise them all. It thus denoted the whole country from the Tiber to
the mouth of the Savo, and just included the Mons Massicus, though the
boundary was not very precisely fixed (see below). The change thus
introduced, though already manifest in the composition of the Latin
league (see below) was not formally established till the reign of
Augustus, who formed of this larger Latium and Campania taken together
the first region of Italy; but it is already recognized by Strabo (v. 3.
2. p. 228), as well as by Pliny, who terms the additional territory thus
incorporated _Latium Adjectum_, while he designates the original Latium,
extending from the Tiber to Circeii, as _Latium Antiquum_.
1. LATIUM ANTIQUUM consisted principally of an extensive plain, now
known as the Campagna di Roma, bounded towards the interior by the
Apennines, which rise very abruptly from the plains to a height of
between 4000 and 5000 ft. Several of the Latin cities, including Tibur
and Praeneste, were situated on the terrace-like underfalls of these
mountains,[2] while Cora, Norba and Setia were placed in like manner on
the slopes of the Volscian mountains (Monti Lepini), a rugged and lofty
limestone range, which runs parallel to the main mass of the Apennines,
being separated from them, however, by the valley of the Trerus (Sacco),
and forms a continuous barrier from there to Terracina. No volcanic
eruptions are known to have taken place in these mountains within the
historic period, though Livy sometimes speaks of it "raining stones in
the Alban hills" (i. 31, xxxv. 9--on the latter occasion it even did so
on the Aventine). It is asserted, too, that some of the earliest tombs
of the necropolis of Alba Longa (q.v.) were found beneath a stratum of
peperino. Earthquakes (not of a violent character within recent
centuries, though the ruin of the Colosseum is probably to be ascribed
to this cause) are not unknown even at the present day in Rome and in
the Alban Hills, and a seismograph has been established at Rocca di
Papa. The surface is by no means a uniform plain, but is a broad
undulating tract, furrowed throughout by numerous depressions, with
precipitous banks, serving as water-courses, though rarely traversed by
any considerable stream. As the general level of the plain rises
gradually, though almost imperceptibly, to the foot of the Apennines,
these channels by degrees assume the character of ravines of a
formidable description.
Geology.
Four main periods may be distinguished in the geological history of
Rome and the surrounding district. The hills on the right bank of the
Tiber culminating in Monte Mario (455 ft.) belong to the first of
these, being of the Pliocene formation; they consist of a lower
bluish-grey clay and an upper group of yellow sands and gravels. This
clay since Roman times has supplied the material for brick-making, and
the valleys which now separate the different summits (Janiculum,
Vatican, Monte Mario) are in considerable measure artificial. On the
left bank this clay has been reached at a lower level, at the foot of
the Pincian Hill, while in the Campagna it has been found to extend
below the later volcanic formations. The latter may be divided into
two groups, corresponding to the second and third periods. In the
second period volcanic activity occurred at the bottom of the Pliocene
sea, and the tufa, which extends over the whole Campagna to a
thickness of 300 ft. or more, was formed. At the same time, hot
springs, containing abundant carbonate of lime in solution, produced
deposits of travertine at various points. In the third, after the
Campagna, by a great general uplift, had become a land surface,
volcanic energy found an outlet in comparatively few large craters,
which emitted streams of hard lava as well as fragmentary materials,
the latter forming sperone (_lapis Gabinus_) and peperino (_lapis
Albanus_), while upon one of the former, which runs from the Alban
Hills to within 2 m. of Rome, the Via Appia was carried. The two main
areas near Rome are formed by the group of craters on the north
(Bracciano, Bolsena, &c.) and the Alban Hills on the south, the latter
consisting of one great crater with a base about 12 m. in diameter, in
the centre of which a smaller crater was later on built up (the basin
is now known as the Campo di Annibale) with several lateral vents (the
Lake of Albano, the Lake of Nemi, &c.). The Alban Mount (Monte Cavo)
is almost the highest point on the rim of the inner crater, while
Mount Algidus and Tusculum are on the outer ring wall of the larger
(earlier) crater.
The fourth period is that in which the various subaërial agencies of
abrasion, and especially the streams which drain the mountain chain of
the Apennines, have produced the present features of the Campagna, a
plain furrowed by gullies and ravines. The communities which inhabited
the detached hills and projecting ridges which later on formed the
city of Rome were in a specially favourable position. These hills
(especially the Palatine, the site of the original settlement) with
their naturally steep sides, partly surrounded at the base by marshes
and situated not far from the confluence of the Anio with the Tiber,
possessed natural advantages not shared by the other primitive
settlements of the district; and their proximity to one another
rendered it easy to bring them into a larger whole. The volcanic
materials available in Rome and its neighbourhood were especially
useful in building. The tufa, sperone and peperino were easy to
quarry, and could be employed by those who possessed comparatively
elementary tools, while travertine, which came into use later, was an
excellent building stone, and the lava (_selce_) served for paving
stones and as material for concrete. The strength of the renowned
Roman concrete is largely due to the use of pozzolana (see PUTEOLI),
which also is found in plenty in the Campagna.
Between the volcanic tract of the Campagna and the sea there is a
broad strip of sandy plain, evidently formed merely by the
accumulation of sand from the sea, and constituting a barren tract,
still covered almost entirely with wood as it was in ancient times,
except for the almost uninterrupted line of villas along the ancient
coast-line, which is now marked by a line of sand-hills, some ½ m. or
more inland (see LAVINIUM, TIBER). This long belt of sandy shore
extends without a break for a distance of above 30 m. from the mouth
of the Tiber to the promontory of Antium (Porto d'Anzio); a low rocky
headland, projecting out into the sea, and forming the only
considerable angle in this line of coast. Thence again a low sandy
shore of similar character, but with extensive shore lagoons which
served in Roman times and serve still for fish-breeding, extends for
about 24 m. to the foot of the Monte Circeo (_Circeius Mons_, q.v.).
The region of the Pomptine Marshes (q.v.) occupies almost the whole
tract between the sandy belt on the seashore and the Volscian
mountains, extending from the southern foot of the Alban Hills below
Velletri to the sea near Terracina.
Drainage.
The district sloping down from Velletri to the dead level of the
Pontine (Pomptine) Marshes has not, like the western and northern
slopes of the Alban Hills, drainage towards the Tiber. The subsoil too
is differently formed: the surface consists of very absorbent
materials, then comes a stratum of less permeable tufa or peperino
(sometimes clay is present), and below that again more permeable
materials. In ancient, and probably pre-Roman, times this district was
drained by an elaborate system of _cuniculi_, small drainage tunnels,
about 5 ft. high and 2 ft. wide, which ran, not at the bottom of the
valleys, where there were sometimes streams already, and where, in any
case, erosion would have broken through their roofs, but along their
slopes, through the less permeable tufa, their object being to drain
the hills on each side of the valleys. They had probably much to do
with the relative healthiness of this district in early times. Some of
them have been observed to be earlier in date than the Via Appia (312
B.C.). They were studied in detail by R. de la Blanchère. When they
fell into desuetude, malaria gained the upper hand, the lack of
drainage providing breeding-places for the malarial mosquito. Remains
of similar drainage channels exist in many parts of the Campagna
Romana and of southern Etruria at points where the natural drainage
was not sufficient, and especially in cultivated or inhabited hills
(though it was not necessary here, as in the neighbourhood of
Velletri, to create a drainage system, as streams and rivers were
already present as natural collectors) and streams very frequently
pass through them at the present day. The drainage channels which were
dug for the various crater lakes in the neighbourhood of Rome are also
interesting in this regard. That of the Alban Lake is the most famous;
but all the other crater lakes are similarly provided. As the drainage
by _cuniculi_ removed the moisture in the subsoil, so the drainage of
the lakes by _emissaria_, outlet channels at a low level, prevented
the permeable strata below the tufa from becoming impregnated with
moisture which they would otherwise have derived from the lakes of the
Alban Hills. The slopes below Velletri, on the other hand, derive much
of their moisture from the space between the inner and outer ring of
the Alban volcano, which it was impossible to drain: and this in turn
receives much moisture from the basin of the extinct inner crater.[3]
Pre-historic remains.
Numerous isolated palaeolithic objects of the Mousterian type have
been found in the neighbourhood of Rome in the quaternary gravels of
the Tiber and Anio; but no certain traces of the neolithic period have
come to light, as the many flint implements found sporadically round
Rome probably belong to the period which succeeded neolithic (called
by Italian archaeologists the eneolithic period) inasmuch as both
stone and metal (not, however, bronze, but copper) were in use.[4] At
Sgurgola, in the valley of the Sacco, a skeleton was found in a
rock-cut tomb of this period which still bears traces of painting with
cinnabar. A similar rock-cut tomb was found at Mandela, in the Anio
valley. Both are outside the limits of the Campagna in the narrower
sense; but similar tombs were found (though less accurately observed)
in travertine quarries between Rome and Tivoli. Objects of the Bronze
age too have only been found sporadically. The earliest cemeteries and
hut foundations of the Alban Hills belong to the Iron age, and
cemeteries and objects of a similar character have been found in Rome
itself and in southern Etruria, especially the characteristic
hut-urns. The objects found in these cemeteries show close affinity
with those found in the terremare of Emilia, these last being of
earlier date, and hence Pigorini and Helbig consider that the Latini
were close descendants of the inhabitants of the terremare. On the
other hand, the ossuaries of the Villanova type, while they occur as
far south as Veii and Caere, have never so far been found on the left
bank of the Tiber, in Latium proper (see L. Pigorini in _Rendiconti
dei Lincei_, ser. v. vol. xvi., 1907, p. 676, and xviii., 1909). We
thus have at the beginning of the Iron age two distinct currents of
civilization in central Italy, the Latin and that of Villanova. As to
the dates to which these are to be attributed, there is not as yet
complete accord, _e.g_. some archaeologists assign to the 11th, others
(and with far better reasons) to the 8th century B.C., the earliest
tombs of the Alban necropolis and the coeval tombs of the necropolis
recently discovered in the Forum at Rome. In this last necropolis
cremation seems slightly to precede inhumation in date.
For the prehistoric period see _Bullettino di paleontologia Italiana,
passim_, B. Modestov, _Introduction à l'histoire romaine_ (Paris,
1907), and T. E. Peet, _The Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy_ (Oxford,
1909).
Latin League.
It is uncertain to what extent reliance can be placed upon the
traditional accounts of the gradual spread of the supremacy of Rome in
Latium, and the question cannot be discussed here.[5] The list of the
thirty communities belonging to the Latin league, given by Dionysius of
Halicarnassus (v. 61), is, however, of great importance. It is
considered by Th. Mommsen (_Roman History_, i. 448) that it dates from
about the year 370 B.C., to which period belong the closing of the
confederacy, no fresh communities being afterwards admitted to it, and
the consequent fixing of the boundaries of Latium. The list is as
follows: Ardeates, Aricini, Bovillani,[6] Bubentani, Cabani, Carventani,
Circeiates, Coriolani, Corbintes, Corni (probably Corani), Fortinei (?),
Gabini, Laurentini, Lavinates, Labicani, Lanuvini, Nomentani, Norbani,
Praenestini, Pedani, Querquetulani, Satricani, Scaptini, Setini,
Tellenii, Tiburtini, Tolerini, Tusculani, Veliterni.
These communities may be briefly described according to their
geographical arrangement. Laurentum and Lavinium, names so conspicuous
in the legendary history of Aeneas, were situated in the sandy strip
near the sea-coast--the former only 8 m. S.E. of Ostia, which was from
the first merely the port of Rome, and never figured as an independent
city. Farther S.E. again lay Ardea, the ancient capital of the Rutuli,
and some distance beyond that Antium, situated on the sea-coast, which
does not occur in the list of Dionysius, and is, in the early annals
of Rome, called a Volscian town--even their chief city. On the
southern underfalls of the Alban mountains, commanding the plain at
the foot, stood Lanuvium and Velitrae; Aricia rose on a neighbouring
hill, and Corioli was probably situated on the lower slopes. The
village of the Cabani (probably identical with the Cabenses) is
possibly to be sought on the site of the modern Rocca di Papa, N. of
Monte Cavo. The more important city of Tusculum occupied one of the
northern summits of the same group; while opposite to it, in a
commanding situation on a lofty offshoot of the Apennines, rose
Praeneste, now Palestrina. Bola and Pedum were probably in the same
neighbourhood, Labici on an outlying summit (Monte Compatri) of the
Alban Hills below Tusculum, and Corbio (probably at Rocca Priora) on a
rocky summit east of the same city. Tibur (Tivoli) occupied a height
commanding the outlet of the river Anio. Corniculum, farther west,
stood on the summit of one of three conical hills that rise abruptly
out of the plain at the distance of a few miles from Monte Gennaro,
the nearest of the Apennines, and which were thence known as the
Montes Corniculani. Nomentum was a few miles farther north, between
the Apennines and the Tiber, and close to the Sabine frontier. The
boundary between the two nations was indeed in this part very
fluctuating. Nearly in the centre of the plain of the Campagna stood
Gabii; Bovillae was also in the plain, but close to the Appian Way,
where it begins to ascend the Alban Hills. Several other
cities--Tellenae, Scaptia and Querquetulum--mentioned in the list of
Dionysius were probably situated in the Campagna, but the site cannot
be determined. Satricum, on the other hand, was certainly south of the
Alban Hills, between Velitrae and Antium; while Cora, Norba and Setia
(all of which retain their ancient names with little modification)
crowned the rocky heights which form advanced posts from the Volscian
mountains towards the Pontine Marshes. Carventum possibly occupied the
site of Rocca Massima N. of Cori, and Tolerium was very likely at
Valmontone in the valley of the Sacco (anc. Trerus or Tolerus). The
cities of the Bubentani and Fortinei are quite unknown.
A considerable number of the Latin cities had before 370 B.C. either
been utterly destroyed or reduced to subjection by Rome, and had thus
lost their independent existence. Such were Antemnae and Caenina, both
of them situated within a few miles of Rome to the N., the conquest of
which was ascribed to Romulus; Fidenae, about 5 m. N. of the city, and
close to the Tiber; and Crustumerium, in the hilly tract farther north
towards the Sabine frontier. Suessa Pometia also, on the borders of the
Pontine Marshes, to which it was said to have given name, was a city of
importance, the destruction of which was ascribed to Tarquinius
Superbus. In any case it had disappeared before 370 B.C., as it does not
occur in the list of the Latin league attributable to that date. It is
probably to be sought between Velletri and Cisterna. But by far the most
important of these extinct cities was Alba, on the lake to which it gave
its name, which was, according to universally received tradition, the
parent of Rome, as well as of numerous other cities within the limits of
Latium, including Gabii, Fidenae, Collatia, Nomentum and other
well-known towns. Whether or not this tradition deserves to rank as
historical, it appears certain that at a still earlier period there
existed a confederacy of thirty towns, of which Alba was the supreme
head. A list of those who were wont to participate in the sacrifices on
the Alban Mount is given us by Pliny (_N.H._ iii. 5. 69) under the name
of _populi albenses_, which includes only six or at most eight of those
found in the list of Dionysius;[7] and these for the most part among the
more obscure and least known of the names given by him. Many of the rest
are unknown; while the more powerful cities of Aricia, Lanuvium and
Tusculum, though situated immediately on the Alban Hills, are not
included, and appear to have maintained a wholly independent position.
This earlier league was doubtless broken up by the fall of Alba; it was
probably the increasing power of the Volsci and Aequi that led to the
formation of the later league, including all the more powerful cities of
Latium, as well as to the alliance concluded by them with the Romans in
the consulship of Spurius Cassius (493 B.C.). Other cities of the Latin
league had already (according to the traditional dates) received Latin
colonies--Velitrae (494 B.C.), Norba (492), Ardea (442), Labici (418),
Circei (393), Satricum (385), Setia (382).
The cities of the Latin league continued to hold general meetings or
assemblies from time to time at the grove of the Aqua Ferentina, a
sanctuary at the foot of the Alban Hills, perhaps in a valley below
Marino, while they had also a common place of worship on the summit of
the Alban Mount (Monte Cavo), where stood the celebrated temple of
Jupiter Latiaris. The participation in the annual sacrifices at this
sanctuary was regarded as typical of a Latin city (hence the name
"prisci Latini" given to the participating peoples); and they continued
to be celebrated long after the Latins had lost their independence and
been incorporated in the Roman state.[8]
Roman supremacy.
We are on firmer ground in dealing with the spread of the supremacy of
Rome in Latium when we take account of the foundation of new colonies
and of the formation of new tribes, processes which as a rule go
together. The information that we have as to the districts in which the
sixteen earliest clans (_tribus rusticae_)[9] were settled shows us
that, except along the Tiber, Rome's dominion extended hardly more than
5 m. beyond the city gates (Mommsen, _History of Rome_, i. 58). Thus,
towards the N. and E. we find the towns of Antemnae, Fidenae, Caenina
and Gabii;[10] on the S.E., towards Alba, the boundary of Roman
territory was at the Fossae Cluiliae, 5 m. from Rome, where Coriolanus
encamped (Livy ii. 39), and, on the S., towards Laurentum at the 6th
mile, where sacrifice to Terminus was made (Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 681): the
Ambarvalia too were celebrated even in Strabo's day (v. 3. 3. p. 230) at
a place called [Greek: Phêstoi] between the 5th and 6th mile. The
identification (cf. Hülsen in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopädie_, vi.
2223) of this locality with the grove of the Arval brothers at the 5th
mile of the Via Portuensis, to the W. of Rome, and of the Ambarvalia
with the festival celebrated by this brotherhood in May of each year, is
now generally accepted. But Roman sway must either from the first, or
very soon, have extended to Ostia, the port of Rome at the mouth of the
Tiber: and it was as the emporium of Latium that Rome acquired her first
importance.[11]
The primitive tribes.
The boundary of the _Ager Romanus antiquus_ towards the north-west is
similarly fixed by the festival of the Robigalia at the 5th milestone of
the Via Clodia. Within this area fall the districts inhabited by the
earliest tribes, so far as these are known to us. The _tribus Romilia_
was settled on the right bank of the Tiber near the sanctuary of the
Arvales, the _Galeria_ perhaps a little farther west on the lower course
of the stream now known as Galera, and the _Fabia_ perhaps on the
Cremera towards Veii. We know that the _pagus Lemonius_ was on the Via
Latina, and that the _tribus Pupinia_ dwelt between Tusculum and the
city, while the territory of the _Papiria_ possibly lay nearer Tusculum,
as it was to this tribe that the Roman citizens in Tusculum belonged in
later days. It is possible that the _Camilia_ was situated in the
direction of Tibur, inasmuch as this town was afterwards enrolled in
this tribe. The _tribus Claudia_, probably the last of the 16 older
_tribus rusticae_, was according to tradition founded in 504 B.C. Its
territory lay beyond the Anio, between Fidenae and Ficulea (Liv. ii. 16;
Dion. Hal. v. 40). The locality of the _pagi_ round which the other
tribes were grouped is not known to us.
Road system.
With the earliest extensions of the Roman territory coincided the
first beginnings of the Roman road system. The road to Ostia may have
existed from the first: but after the Latin communities on the lower
Anio had fallen under the dominion of Rome, we may well believe that
the first portion of the Via Salaria, leading to Antemnae, Fidenae
(the fall of which is placed by tradition in 428 B.C.) and
Crustumerium, came into existence. The formation (according to the
traditional dating in 495 or 471 B.C.) of the _tribus Clustumina_ (the
only one of the earlier twenty-one tribes which bears a local name) is
both a consequence of an extension of territory and of the
establishment of the assembly of the plebs by tribes, for which an
inequality of the total number of divisions was desirable (Mommsen,
_History of Rome_, i. 360). The correlative of the Via Salaria was the
Via Campana, so called because it led past the grove of the Arvales
along the right bank of the Tiber to the Campus Salinarum
Romanarum,[12] the salt marshes, from which the Via Salaria took its
name, inasmuch as it was the route by which Sabine traders came from
the interior to fetch the salt. To this period would also belong the
Via Ficulensis, leading to Ficulea, and afterwards prolonged to
Nomentum, and the Via Collatina, which led to Collatia. Gabii became
Roman in fairly early times, though at what period is uncertain, and
with its subjugation must have originated the Via Gabina, afterwards
prolonged to Praeneste. The Via Latina too must be of very early
origin; and tradition places the foundation of the Latin colony at
Signia (to which it led) as early as 495 B.C. Not long after the
capture of Fidenae, the main outpost of Veii, the chief city itself
fell (396 B.C.) and a road (still traceable) was probably made
thither. There was also probably a road to Caere in early times,
inasmuch as we hear of the flight of the Vestals thither in 389 B.C.
The origin of the rest of the roads is no doubt to be connected with
the gradual establishment of the Latin league. We find that while the
later (long distance) roads bear as a rule the name of their
constructor, all the short distance roads on the left bank of the
Tiber bear the names of towns which belonged to the league--Nomentum,
Tibur, Praeneste, Labici, Ardea, Laurentum--while Ficulea and Collatia
do not appear. The Via Pedana, leading to Pedum, is known to us only
from an inscription (_Bull. Soc. Antiquaires de France_, 1905, p. 177)
discovered in Tunisia in 1905, and may be of much later origin; it was
a branch of the Via Praenestina.
There must too have been a road, along the line of the later Via
Appia, to Bovillae, Aricia, Lanuvium and Velitrae, going thence to
Cora, Norba and Setia along the foot of the Volscian Mountains; while
nameless roads, which can still be traced, led direct from Rome to
Satricum and to Lavinium.
We can trace the advance of the Roman supremacy with greater ease after
387 B.C., inasmuch as from this year (adopting the traditional dating
for what it is worth) until 299 B.C. every accession of territory is
marked by the foundation of a group of new tribes; the limit of 35 in
all was reached in the latter year. In 387, after the departure of the
Gauls, southern Etruria was conquered, and four new tribes were formed:
_Arnensis_ (probably derived from Aro, mod. Arrone--though the ancient
name does not occur in literature--the stream which forms the outlet to
the lake of Bracciano, anc. _Lacus Sabatinus_),[13] _Sabatina_ (called
after this lake), _Stellatina_ (named from the Campus Stellatinus, near
Capena; cf. Festus p. 343 Müll.) and _Tromentina_ (which, Festus tells
us, was so called from the Campus Tromentus, the situation of which we
do not know). Four years later were founded the Latin colonies of
Sutrium and Nepet. In 358 B.C. Roman preponderance in the Pomptine
territory was shown by the formation of the _tribus Pomptina_ and
_Publilia_, while in 338 and 329 respectively Antium and Tarracina
became colonies of Roman citizens, the former having been founded as a
Latin colony in 494 B.C.
After the dissolution of the Latin league which followed upon the defeat
of the united forces of the Samnites and of those Latin and Volscian
cities which had revolted against Rome, two new tribes, _Maecia and
Scaptia_,[14] were created in 332 B.C. in connexion with the
distribution of the newly acquired lands (Mommsen, _History_, i. 462). A
further advance in the same direction ending in the capture of Privernum
in 329 B.C. is marked by the establishment in 318 B.C. of the _tribus
Oufentina_ (from the river Ufens which runs below Setia, mod. _Sezze_,
and Privernum, mod. _Piperno_, and the _tribus Falerna_ (in the Ager
Falernus), while the foundation of the colonies of Cales (334) and
Fregellae (328) secured the newly won south Volscian and Campanian
territories and led no doubt to a prolongation of the Via Latina. The
moment had now come for the pushing forward of another line of
communication, which had no doubt reached Tarracina in 329 B.C. but was
now definitely constructed (_munita_) as a permanent military highway as
far as Capua in 312 B.C. by Appius Claudius, after whom it was named. To
him no doubt is due the direct line of road through the Pontine Marshes
from Velitrae to Terracina. Its construction may fairly be taken to mark
the period at which the roads of which we have spoken, hitherto probably
mere tracks, began to be transformed into real highways. In the same
year (312) the colony of Interamna Lirenas was founded, while Luceria,
Suessa (Aurunca) and Saticula had been established a year or two
previously. Sora followed nine years later. In 299 B.C. further
successes led to the establishment of two new tribes--the _Teretina_ in
the upper valley of the Trerus (Sacco) and the _Aniensis_, in the upper
valley of the Anio--while to about the same time we must attribute the
construction of two new military roads, both secured by fortresses. The
southern road, the Via Valeria led to Carsioli and Alba Fucens (founded
as Latin colonies respectively in 298 and 303 B.C.), and the northern
(afterwards the Via Flaminia[15]) to Narnia (founded as a Latin colony
in 299 B.C.). There is little doubt that the formation of the _tribus
Quirina_ (deriving its name possibly from the town of Cures) and the
_tribus Velina_ (from the river Velinus, which forms the well-known
waterfalls near Terni) is to be connected with the construction of the
latter high road, though its date is not certainly known. The further
history of Roman supremacy in Italy will be found in the article ROME:
_History_. We notice, however, that the continual warfare in which the
Roman state was engaged led to the decadence of the free population of
Latium, and that the extension of the empire of Rome was fatal to the
prosperity of the territory which immediately surrounded the city.[16]
Causes of depopulation.
What had previously, it seems, been a well-peopled region, with peasant
proprietors, kept healthy by careful drainage, became in the 4th and 3rd
centuries B.C. a district consisting in large measure of huge estates
(_latifundia_) owned by the Roman aristocracy, cultivated by gangs of
slaves. This led to the disappearance of the agricultural population, to
a decline in public safety, and to the spread of malaria in many parts;
indeed, it is quite possible that it was not introduced into Latium
before the 4th century B.C. The evil increased in the later period of
the Republic, and many of the old towns of Latium sank into a very
decayed condition; with this the continual competition of the provinces
as sources of food-supply no doubt had a good deal to do. Cicero speaks
of Gabii, Labici and Bovillae as places that had fallen into abject
poverty, while Horace refers to Gabii and Fidenae as mere "deserted
villages," and Strabo as "once fortified towns, but now villages,
belonging to private individuals." Many of the smaller places mentioned
in the list of Dionysius, or the early wars of the Romans, had
altogether ceased to exist, but the statement of Pliny that fifty-three
communities (_populi_) had thus perished within the boundaries of Old
Latium is perhaps exaggerated. By the end of the Republic a good many
parts of Latium were infected, and Rome itself was highly malarious in
the warm months (see W. H. S. Jones in _Annals of Archaeology and
Anthropology_, ii. 97, Liverpool, 1909). The emperors Claudius, Nerva
and Trajan turned their attention to the district, and under their
example and exhortation the Roman aristocracy erected numerous villas
within its boundaries, and used them at least for summer residences.
During the 2nd century the Campagna seems to have entered on a new era
of prosperity. The system of roads radiating in all directions from Rome
(see ITALY: _History_, § B) belonged to a much earlier period; but they
were connected by a network of crossroads (now mostly abandoned, while
the main lines are still almost all in use) leading to the very numerous
villas with which the Campagna was strewn (even in districts which till
recently were devastated by malaria), and which seem in large measure to
belong to this period. Some of these are of enormous extent, _e.g._ the
villa of the Quintilii on the Via Appia, that known as Setta Bassi on
the Via Latina, and that of Hadrian near Tibur, the largest of all.
When the land tax was introduced into Italy in 292, the first region of
Augustus obtained the name of _provincia Campania_. Later on the name
Latium entirely disappeared, and the name Campania extended as far as
Veii and the Via Aurelia, whence the medieval and modern name Campagna
di Roma. The donation made by Constantine to various churches of Rome of
numerous estates belonging to the _patrimonium Caesaris_ in the
neighbourhood of Rome was of great historical importance, as being the
origin of the territorial dominion of the papacy. His example was
followed by others, so that the church property in the Campagna soon
became considerable; and, owing to the immunities and privileges which
it enjoyed, a certain revival of prosperity ensued. The invasions of the
barbarian hordes did great harm, but the formation of centres
(_domuscultae_) in the 8th and 9th centuries was a fact of great
importance: the inhabitants, indeed, formed the medieval militia of the
papacy. Smaller centres (the _colonia_--often formed in the remains of
an ancient villa--the _curtis_ or _curia_, the _castrum_, the _casale_)
grew up later. We may note that, owing to the growth of the temporal
power of the popes, there was never a _dux Romae_ dependent on the
exarchate of Ravenna, similar to those established by Narses in the
other districts of Italy.
Under the commune.
Modern conditions
The papal influence was also retained by means of the suburban
bishoprics, which took their rise as early as the 4th and 5th centuries.
The rise of the democratic commune of Rome[17] about 1143 and of the
various trade corporations which we already find in the early 11th
century led to struggles with the papacy; the commune of Rome made
various attempts to exercise supremacy in the Campagna and levied
various taxes from the 12th century until the 15th. The commune also
tried to restrict the power of the barons, who, in the 13th century
especially, though we find them feudatories of the holy see from the
10th century onwards, threatened to become masters of the whole
territory, which is still dotted over with the baronial castles and
lofty solitary towers of the rival families of Rome--Orsini, Colonna,
Savelli, Conti, Caetani--who ruthlessly destroyed the remains of earlier
edifices to obtain materials for their own, and whose castles, often
placed upon the high roads, thus following a strategic line to a
stronghold in the country, did not contribute to the undisturbed
security of traffic upon them, but rather led to their abandonment. On a
list of the inhabited centres of the Campagna of the 14th century with
the amount of salt (which was a monopoly of the commune of Rome)
consumed by each, Tomassetti bases an estimate of the population: this
was about equal to that of our own times, but differently distributed,
some of the smaller centres having disappeared at the expense of the
towns. Several of the popes, as Sixtus IV. and Julius III., made
unsuccessful attempts to improve the condition of the Campagna, the
former making a serious attempt to revive agriculture as against
pasture, while in the latter part of the 16th century a line of
watch-towers was erected along the coast. In the Renaissance, it is
true, falls the erection of many fine villas in the neighbourhood of
Rome--not only in the hills round the Campagna, but even in certain
places in the lower ground, e.g. those of Julius II. at La Magliana and
of Cardinal Trivulzio at Salone,--and these continued to be frequented
until the end of the 18th century, when the French Revolution dealt a
fatal blow to the prosperity of the Roman nobility. The 17th and 18th
centuries, however, mark the worst period of depopulation in the more
malarious parts of the Campagna, which seems to have begun in the 15th
century, though we hear of malaria throughout the middle ages. The most
healthy portions of the territory are in the north and east, embracing
the slopes of the Apennines which are watered by the Teverone and Sacco;
and the most pestilential is the stretch between the Monti Lepini and
the sea. The Pontine Marshes (_q.v_.) included in the latter division,
were drained, according to the plan of Bolognini, by Pius VI., who
restored the ancient Via Appia to traffic; but though they have returned
to pasture and cultivation, their insalubrity is still notorious. The
soil in many parts is very fertile and springs are plentiful and
abundant: the water is in some cases sulphureous or ferruginous. In
summer, indeed, the vast expanse is little better than an arid steppe;
but in the winter it furnishes abundant pasture to flocks of sheep from
the Apennines and herds of silver-grey oxen and shaggy black horses, and
sheep passing in the summer to the mountain pastures. A certain amount
of horse-breeding is done, and the government has, as elsewhere in
Italy, a certain number of stallions. Efforts have been made since 1882
to cure the waterlogged condition of the marshy grounds. The methods
employed have been three--(i.) the cutting of drainage channels and
clearing the marshes by pumping, the method principally employed; (ii.)
the system of warping, i.e. directing a river so that it may deposit its
sedimentary matter in the lower-lying parts, thus levelling them up and
consolidating them, and then leading the water away again by drainage;
(iii.) the planting of firs and eucalyptus trees, e.g. at Tre Fontane
and elsewhere. These efforts have not been without success, though it
cannot be affirmed that the malarial Campagna is anything like healthy
yet. The regulation of the rivers, more especially of the Tiber, is
probably the most efficient method for coping with the problem. Since
1884 the Italian Government have been systematically enclosing, pumping
dry and generally draining the marshes of the Agro Romano, that is, the
tracts around Ostia; the Isola Sacra, at the mouth of the Tiber; and
Maccarese. Of the whole of the Campagna less than one-tenth comes
annually under the plough. In its picturesque desolation, contrasting so
strongly with its prosperity in Roman times, immediately surrounding a
city of over half a million inhabitants, and with lofty mountains in
view from all parts of it, it is one of the most interesting districts
in the world, and has a peculiar and indefinable charm. The modern
province of Rome (forming the _compartimento_ of Lazio) includes also
considerable mountain districts, extending as far N.W. as the Lake of
Bolsena, and being divided on the N.E. from Umbria by the Tiber, while
on the E. it includes a considerable part of the Sabine mountains and
Apennines. The ancient district of the Hernicans, of which Alatri is
regarded as the centre, is known as the Ciociaria, from a kind of
sandals (_cioce_) worn by the peasants. On the S.E. too a considerable
proportion of the group of the Lepini belongs to the province. The land
is for the most part let by the proprietors to _mercanti di Campagna_,
who employ a subordinate class of factors (_fattori_) to manage their
affairs on the spot.
Malaria.
The recent discovery that the malaria which has hitherto rendered parts
of the Campagna almost uninhabitable during the summer is propagated by
the mosquito (_Anopheles claviger_) marks a new epoch; the most diverse
theories as to its origin had hitherto been propounded, but it is now
possible to combat it on a definite plan, by draining the marshes,
protecting the houses by fine mosquito-proof wire netting (for
_Anopheles_ is not active by day), improving the water supply, &c.,
while for those who have fever, quinine (now sold cheaply by the state)
is a great specific. A great improvement is already apparent; and a law
carried in 1903 for the _Bonifica dell' Agro Romano_ compels the
proprietors within a radius of some 6 m. of Rome to cultivate their
lands in a more productive way than has often hitherto been the case,
exemption from taxes for ten years and loans at 2-1/2% from the
government being granted to those who carry on improvements, and those
who refuse being expropriated compulsorily. The government further
resolved to open roads and schools and provide twelve additional
doctors. Much is done in contending against malaria by the Italian Red
Cross Society. In 1900 31% of the inhabitants of the Agro Romano had
been fever-stricken; since then the figure has rapidly decreased (5.1%
in 1905).
Produce.
The wheat crop in 1906 in the Agro Romano was 8,108,500 bushels, the
Indian corn 3,314,000 bushels, the wine 12,100,000 gallons and the olive
oil 1,980,000 gallons,--these last two from the hill districts. The wine
production had declined by one-half from the previous year, exportation
having fallen off in the whole country. 1907, however, was a year of
great overproduction all over Italy. The wine of the Alban hills is
famous in modern as in ancient times, but will not as a rule bear
exportation. The forests of the Alban hills and near the coast produce
much charcoal and light timber, while the Sabine and Volscian hills have
been largely deforested and are now bare limestone rocks. Much of the
labour in the winter and spring is furnished by peasants who come down
from the Volscian and Hernican mountains, and from Abruzzi, and occupy
sometimes caves, but more often the straw or wicker huts which are so
characteristic a feature of the Campagna. The fixed population of the
Campagna in the narrower sense (as distinct from the hills) is less than
1000. Emigration to America, especially from the Volscian and Hernican
towns, is now considerable.
2. LATIUM NOVUM OR ADJECTUM, as it is termed by Pliny, comprised the
territories occupied in earlier times by the Volsci and Hernici. It
was for the most part a rugged and mountainous country, extending at
the back of Latium proper, from the frontier of the Sabines to the
sea-coast between Terracina and Sinuessa. But it was not separated
from the adjacent territories by any natural frontier or physical
boundaries, and it is only by the enumeration of the towns in Pliny
according to the division of Italy by Augustus that we can determine
its limits. It included the Hernican cities of Anagnia, Ferentinum,
Alatrium and Verulae--a group of mountain strongholds on the north
side of the valley of the Trerus (Sacco); together with the Volscian
cities on the south of the same valley, and in that of the Liris, the
whole of which, with the exception of its extreme upper end, was
included in the Volscian territory. Here were situated Signia,
Frusino, Fabrateria, Fregellae, Sora, Arpinum, Atina, Aquinum, Casinum
and Interamna; Anxur (Terracina) was the only seaport that properly
belonged to the Volscians, the coast from thence to the mouth of the
Liris being included in the territory of the Aurunci, or Ausones as
they were termed by Greek writers, who possessed the maritime towns of
Fundi, Formiae, Caieta and Minturnae, together with Suessa in the
interior, which had replaced their more ancient capital of Aurunca.
Sinuessa, on the sea-coast between the Liris (Garigliano) and the
Vulturnus, at the foot of the Monte Massico, was the last town in
Latium according to the official use of the term and was sometimes
assigned to Campania, while Suessa was more assigned to Latium. On the
other hand, as Nissen points out (_Italische Landeskunde_, ii. 554),
the Pons Campanus, by which the Via Appia crossed the Savo some 9 m.
S.E. of Sinuessa, indicates by its name the position of the old
Campanian frontier. In the interior the boundary fell between Casinum
and Teanum Sidicinum, at about the 100th milestone of the Via
Latina--a fact which led later to the jurisdiction of the Roman courts
being extended on every side to the 100th mile from the city, and to
this being the limit beyond which banishment from Rome was considered
to begin.
Though the Apennines comprised within the boundaries of Latium do not
rise to a height approaching that of the loftiest summits of the
central range, they attain to a considerable altitude, and form steep
and rugged mountain masses from 4000 to 5000 ft. high. They are
traversed by three principal valleys: (1) that of the Anio, now called
Teverone, which descends from above Subiaco to Tivoli, where it enters
the plain of the Campagna; (2) that of the Trerus (Sacco), which has
its source below Palestrina (Praeneste), and flows through a
comparatively broad valley that separates the main mass of the
Apennines from the Volscian mountains or Monti Lepini, till it joins
the Liris below Ceprano; (3) that of the Liris (Garigliano), which
enters the confines of New Latium about 20 m. from its source, flows
past the town of Sora, and has a very tortuous course from thence to
the sea at Minturnae; its lower valley is for the most part of
considerable width, and forms a fertile tract of considerable extent,
bordered on both sides by hills covered with vines, olives and fruit
trees, and thickly studded with towns and villages.
It may be observed that, long after the Latins had ceased to exist as
a separate people we meet in Roman writers with the phrase of _nomen
Latinum_, used not in an ethnical but a purely political sense, to
designate the inhabitants of all those cities on which the Romans had
conferred "Latin rights" (_jus Latinum_)--an inferior form of the
Roman franchise, which had been granted in the first instance to
certain cities of the Latins, when they became subjects of Rome, and
was afterwards bestowed upon many other cities of Italy, especially
the so-called Latin colonies. At a later period the same privileges
were extended to places in other countries also--as for instance to
most of the cities in Sicily and Spain. All persons enjoying these
rights were termed in legal phraseology _Latini_ or _Latinae
conditionis_.
AUTHORITIES.--For the topography of Latium, and the local history of
its more important cities, the reader may consult Sir W. Gell's
_Topography of Rome and its Vicinity_ (2nd ed., 1 vol., London, 1846);
A. Nibby, _Analisi storico-topografico-antiquaria della carta dei
dintorni di Roma_ (3 vols., 2nd ed., 1848); J. Westphal, _Die römische
Kampagne_ (Berlin, 1829); A. Bormann, _Alt-lateinische Chorographie
und Städte-Geschichte_ (Halle, 1852); M. Zoeller, _Latium und Rom_
(Leipzig, 1878); R. Burn's _Rome and the Campagna_ (London, 1871); H.
Dessau, _Corp. Inscr. Lat._ v. xiv. (Berlin, 1887) (Latium); Th.
Mommsen, _Corp. Inscr. Lat._ vol. x. pp. 498-675 (Berlin, 1883); G.
Tomassetti, "Della Campagna Romana nel medio evo," published in the
_Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria_ (Rome, 1874-1907),
and separately (a work dealing with the medieval history and
topography of the Campagna in great detail, containing also valuable
notices of the classical period); by the same author, _La Campagna
romana_ (Rome, 1910 foll.); R. A. Lanciani, "I Comentari di Frontino
intorno agli acquedotti," _Memorie dei Lincei_ (Rome, 1880), serie
iii. vol. v. p. 215 sqq. (and separately), also many articles, and
_Wanderings in the Roman Campagna_ (London, 1909); E. Abbate, _Guida
della provincia di Roma_ (Rome, 1894, 2 vols.); H. Nissen, _Italische
Landeskunde_, ii. (Berlin, 1902), 557 sqq.; T. Ashby, "The Classical
Topography of the Roman Campagna," in _Papers of the British School at
Rome_, i. iii.-v. (London, 1902 foll.). (T. As.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Latium_, from the same root as _latus_, side; _later_, brick;
[Greek: platys], flat; Sans. _prath_: not connected with _latus_,
wide.
[2] In the time of Augustus the boundary of Latium extended as far E.
as Treba (Trevi), 12 m. S.E. of Sublaqueum (Subiaco).
[3] See R. de la Blanchère in Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des
antiquités_, s.vv. _Cuniculus, Emissarium_, and the same author's
_Chapitre d'histoire pontine_ (Paris, 1889).
[4] See G. A. Colini in _Bullettino di paletnologia Italiana_, xxxi.
(1905).
[5] The most important results will be found stated at the outset of
the articles ROME: _History_ (the chief being that the Plebeians of
Rome probably consisted of Latins and the Patricians of Sabines),
LIGURIA, SICULI and ARICIA. For the Etruscan dominion in the Latin
plain see ETRURIA. Special mention may here be made of one or two
points of importance. The legends represent the Latins of the
historical period as a fusion of different races, Ligures, Veneti and
Siculi among them; the story of the alliance of the Trojan settler
Aeneas with the daughter of Latinus, king of the aborigines, and the
consequent enmity of the Rutulian prince Turnus, well known to
readers of Virgil, is thoroughly typical of the reflection of these
distant ethnical phenomena in the surviving traditions. In view of
the historical significance of the NO- ethnicon (see SABINI) it is
important to observe that the original form of the ethnic adjective
no doubt appears in the title of _Juppiter Latiaris_ (not _Latinus_);
and that Virgil's description of the descent of the noble Drances at
Latinus's court (Aen. xi. 340)--_genus huic materna superbum
Nobilitas dabat, incertum de patre ferebat_--indicates a very
different system of family ties from the famous _patria potestas_ and
agnation of the Patrician and Sabine clans. (R. S. C.)
[6] The MSS. read [Greek: boillanôn] or [Greek: boilanôn]: the Latin
translation has Bolanorum. It is difficult to say which is to be
preferred. The list gives only twenty-nine names, and Mommsen
proposes to insert Signini.
[7] Albani, Aesolani (probably E. of Tibur), Accienses, Abolani,
Bubetani, Bolani, Cusuetani (Carventani?), Coriolani, Fidenates,
Foreti (Fortinei?), Hortenses (near Corbio), Latinienses (near Rome
itself), Longani, Manates, Macrales, Munienses (Castrimoenienses?),
Numinienses, Olliculani, Octulani, Pedani, Poletaurini,
Querquetulani, Sicani, Sisolenses, Tolerienses, Tutienses (not, one
would think, connected with the small stream called Tutia at the 6th
mile of the Via Salaria; Liv. xxvi. 11), Vimitellari, Velienses,
Venetulani, Vitellenses (not far from Corbio).
[8] To an earlier stage of the Latin league, perhaps to about 430
B.C. (Mommsen, _op. cit._ 445 n. 2) belongs the dedication of the
grove of Diana by a dictator Latinus, in the name of the people of
Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Cora, Tibur, Suessa Pometia
and Ardea.
[9] Of the _gentes_ from which these tribes took their names, six
entirely disappeared in later days, while the other ten can be traced
as patrician--a proof that the patricians were not noble families in
origin (Mommsen, _Römische Forschungen_, i. 106). For the tribes see
W. Kubitschek, _De Romanarum tribuum origine_ (Vienna, 1882).
[10] We have various traces of the early antagonism to Gabii, e.g.
the opposition between _ager Romanus_ and _ager Gabinus_ in the
augural law.
[11] For the early extension of Roman territory towards the sea, cf.
Festus, p. 213, Müll., _s.v._ "Pectuscum:" _Pectuscum Palati dicta
est ea regio urbis, quam Romulus obversam posuit, ea parte, in qua
plurimum erat agri Romani ad mare versus et qua mollissime adibatur
Urbo, cum Etruscorum agrum a Romano Tiberis discluderet, ceterae
vicinae civitates colles aliquos haberent oppositos_.
[12] The ancient name is known from an inscription discovered in
1888.
[13] So Kubitschek in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopädie_, ii. 1204.
[14] Festus tells us (p. 136 Müll.) that the Maecia derived its name
"a quodam castro." Scaptia was the only member of the Latin league
that gave its name to a tribe.
[15] See FLAMINIA, VIA and VALERIA, VIA.
[16] L. Caetani indeed (_Nineteenth Century and After_, 1908)
attributes the economic decadence of the Roman Campagna to the
existence of free trade throughout the Roman empire.
[17] The commune of Rome as such seems to have been in existence in
999 at least.
LATONA (Lat. form of Gr. [Greek: Lêtô], Leto), daughter of Coeus and
Phoebe, mother of Apollo and Artemis. The chief seats of her legend are
Delos and Delphi, and the generally accepted tradition is a union of the
legends of these two places. Leto, pregnant by Zeus, seeks for a place
of refuge to be delivered. After long wandering she reaches the barren
isle of Delos, which, according to Pindar (Frag. 87, 88), was a
wandering rock borne about by the waves till it was fixed to the bottom
of the sea for the birth of Apollo and Artemis. In the oldest forms of
the legend Hera is not mentioned; but afterwards the wanderings of Leto
are ascribed to the jealousy of that goddess, enraged at her amour with
Zeus. The foundation of Delphi follows immediately on the birth of the
god; and on the sacred way between Tempe and Delphi the giant Tityus
offers violence to Leto, and is immediately slain by the arrows of
Apollo and Artemis (_Odyssey_, xi. 576-581; Apollodorus i. 4). Such are
the main facts of the Leto legend in its common literary form, which is
due especially to the two Homeric hymns to Apollo. But Leto is a real
goddess, not a mere mythological figure. The honour paid to her in
Delphi and Delos might be explained as part of the cult of her son
Apollo; but temples to her existed in Argos, in Mantineia and in Xanthus
in Lycia; her sacred grove was on the coast of Crete. In Lycia graves
are frequently placed under her protection, and she is also known as a
goddess of fertility and as [Greek: kourotrophos]. It is to be observed
that she appears far more conspicuously in the Apolline myths than in
those which grew round the great centres of Artemis worship, the reason
being that the idea of Apollo and Artemis as twins is one of later
growth on Greek soil. Lycia, one of the chief seats of the cult of
Apollo, where most frequent traces are found of the worship of Leto as
the great goddess, was probably the earlier home of her religion.
In Greek art Leto usually appears carrying her children in her arms,
pursued by the dragon sent by the jealous Hera, which is slain by the
infant Apollo; in vase paintings especially she is often represented
with Apollo and Artemis. The statue of Leto in the Letoön at Argos was
the work of Praxiteles.
LATOUCHE, HYACINTHE JOSEPH ALEXANDRE THABAUD DE [known as HENRI]
(1785-1851), French poet and novelist, was born at La Châtre (Indre) on
the 2nd of February 1785. Among his works may be distinguished his
comedies: _Projets de sagesse_ (1811), and, in collaboration with Émile
Deschamps, _Selmours de Florian_ (1818), which ran for a hundred nights;
also _La Reine d'Espagne_ (1831), which proved too indecent for the
public taste; a novel, _Fragoletta: Naples et Paris en 1799_ (1829),
which attained a success of notoriety; _La Vallée aux coups_ (1833), a
volume of prose essays and verse; and two volumes of poems, _Les Adieux_
(1843) and _Les Agrestes_ (1844). Latouche's chief claim to remembrance
is that he revealed to the world the genius of André Chénier, then only
known to a limited few. The remains of the poet's work had passed from
the hands of Daunou to Latouche, who had sufficient critical insight
instantly to recognize their value. In editing the first selection of
Chénier's poems (1819) he made some trifling emendations, but did not,
as Béranger afterwards asserted, make radical and unnecessary changes.
Latouche was guilty of more than one literary fraud. He caused a
licentious story of his own to be attributed to the duchesse de Duras,
the irreproachable author of _Ourika_. He made many enemies by malicious
attacks on his contemporaries. The _Constitutionnel_ was suppressed in
1817 by the government for an obscure political allusion in an article
by Latouche. He then undertook the management of the _Mercure du XIX^e
siècle_, and began a bitter warfare against the monarchy. After 1830 he
edited the _Figaro_, and spared neither the liberal politicians nor the
romanticists who triumphed under the monarchy of July. In his turn he
was violently attacked by Gustave Planche in the _Revue des deux mondes_
for November 1831. But it must be remembered to the credit of Latouche
that he did much to encourage George Sand at the beginning of her
career. The last twenty years of his life were spent in retirement at
Aulnay, where he died on the 9th of March 1851.
Sainte-Beuve, in the _Causeries du lundi_, vol. 3, gives a not too
sympathetic portrait of Latouche. See also George Sand in the _Siècle_
for the 18th, 19th and 20th of July 1851.
LA TOUR, MAURICE QUENTIN DE (1704-1788), French pastellist, was born at
St Quentin on the 5th of September 1704. After leaving Picardy for Paris
in 1727 he entered the studio of Spoède--an upright man, but a poor
master, rector of the academy of St Luke, who still continued, in the
teeth of the Royal Academy, the traditions of the old gild of the master
painters of Paris. This possibly contributed to the adoption by La Tour
of a line of work foreign to that imposed by an academical training; for
pastels, though occasionally used, were not a principal and distinct
branch of work until 1720, when Rosalba Carriera brought them into
fashion with the Parisian world. In 1737 La Tour exhibited the first of
that splendid series of a hundred and fifty portraits which formed the
glory of the Salon for the succeeding thirty-seven years. In 1746 he was
received into the academy; and in 1751, the following year to that in
which he received the title of painter to the king, he was promoted by
that body to the grade of councillor. His work had the rare merit of
satisfying at once both the taste of his fashionable models and the
judgment of his brother artists. His art, consummate of its kind,
achieved the task of flattering his sitters, whilst hiding that flattery
behind the just and striking likeness which, says Pierre Jean Mariette,
he hardly ever missed. His portraits of Rousseau, of Voltaire, of Louis
XV., of his queen, of the dauphin and dauphiness, are at once documents
and masterpieces unsurpassed except by his life-size portrait of Madame
de Pompadour, which, exhibited at the Salon of 1755, became the chief
ornament of the cabinet of pastels in the Louvre. The museum of St
Quentin also possesses a magnificent collection of works which at his
death were in his own hands. La Tour retired to St Quentin at the age of
80, and there he died on the 18th of February 1788. The riches amassed
during his long life were freely bestowed by him in great part before
his death; he founded prizes at the school of fine arts in Paris and for
the town of Amiens, and endowed St Quentin with a great number of useful
and charitable institutions. He never married, but lived on terms of
warm affection with his brother (who survived him, and left to the town
the drawings now in the museum); and his relations to Mlle Marie Fel
(1713-1789), the celebrated singer, were distinguished by a strength and
depth of feeling not common to the loves of the 18th century.
See, in addition to the general works on French art, C. Desmeze, _M.
Q. de La Tour, peintre du roi_ (1854); Champfleury, _Les Peintres de
Laon et de St Quentin_ (1855); and "La Tour" in the _Collection des
artistes célèbres_ (1886); E. and J. de Goncourt, _La Tour_ (1867);
Guiffrey and M. Tourneux, _Correspondance inédite de M. G. de la Tour_
(1885); Tourneux, _La Tour, biographie critique_ (1904); and _Patoux,
L'Oeuvre de M. Quentin de la Tour au musée de St Quentin_ (St Quentin,
1882).
LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE, THÉOPHILE MALO (1743-1800), French soldier, was born
at Carhaix in Brittany on the 23rd of December 1743, the son of an
advocate named Corret. His desire for a military career being strongly
marked, he was enabled, by the not uncommon device of producing a
certificate of nobility signed by his friends, first to be nominally
enlisted in the Maison du Roi, and soon afterwards to receive a
commission in the line, under the name of Corret de Kerbaufret. Four
years after joining, in 1771, he assumed by leave of the duke of
Bouillon the surname of La Tour d'Auvergne, being in fact descended from
an illegitimate half-brother of the great Turenne. Many years of routine
service with his regiment were broken only by his participation as a
volunteer in the duc de Crillon's Franco-Spanish expedition to Minorca
in 1781. This led to an offer of promotion into the Spanish army, but he
refused to change his allegiance. In 1784 he was promoted captain, and
in 1791 he received the cross of St Louis. In the early part of the
Revolution his patriotism was still more conspicuously displayed in his
resolute opposition to the proposals of many of his brother officers in
the Angoumois regiment to emigrate rather than to swear to the
constitution. In 1792 his lifelong interest in numismatics and questions
of language was shown by a work which he published on the Bretons. At
this time he was serving under Montesquiou in the Alps, and although
there was only outpost fighting he distinguished himself by his courage
and audacity, qualities which were displayed in more serious fighting in
the Pyrenees the next year. He declined well-earned promotion to
colonel, and, being broken in health and compelled, owing to the loss of
his teeth, to live on milk, he left the army in 1795. On his return by
sea to Brittany he was captured by the English and held prisoner for two
years. When released, he settled at Passy and published _Origines
gauloises_, but in 1797, on the appeal of an old friend whose son had
been taken as a conscript, he volunteered as the youth's substitute, and
served on the Rhine (1797) and in Switzerland (1798-1799) as a captain.
In recognition of his singular bravery and modesty Carnot obtained a
decree from the first consul naming La Tour d'Auvergne "first grenadier
of France" (27th of April 1800). This led him to volunteer again, and he
was killed in action at Oberhausen, near Donauwörth, on the 27th of June
1800.
La Tour d'Auvergne's almost legendary courage had captivated the
imagination of the French soldier, and his memory was not suffered to
die. It was customary for the French troops and their allies of the
Rhine Confederation under Napoleon to march at attention when passing
his burial-place on the battlefield. His heart was long carried by the
grenadier company of his regiment, the 46th; after being in the
possession of Garibaldi for many years, it was finally deposited in the
keeping of the city of Paris in 1883. But the most striking tribute to
his memory is paid to-day as it was by order of the first consul in
1800. "His name is to be kept on the pay list and roll of his company.
It will be called at all parades and a non-commissioned officer will
reply, _Mort au champ d'honneur_." This custom, with little variation,
is still observed in the 46th regiment on all occasions when the colour
is taken on parade.
LATREILLE, PIERRE ANDRÉ (1762-1833), French naturalist, was born in
humble circumstances at Brives-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze), on the 20th of
November 1762. In 1778 he entered the collège Lemoine at Paris, and on
his admission to priestly orders in 1786 he retired to Brives, where he
devoted all the leisure which the discharge of his professional duties
allowed to the study of entomology. In 1788 he returned to Paris and
found means of making himself known to the leading naturalists there.
His "Mémoire sur les mutilles découvertes en France," contributed to the
_Proceedings_ of the Society of Natural History in Paris, procured for
him admission to that body. At the Revolution he was compelled to quit
Paris, and as a priest of conservative sympathies suffered considerable
hardship, being imprisoned for some time at Bordeaux. His _Précis des
caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel_,
appeared at Brives in 1796. In 1798 he became a corresponding member of
the Institute, and at the same time was entrusted with the task of
arranging the entomological collection at the recently organized Muséum
d'Histoire Naturelle (Jardin des Plantes); in 1814 he succeeded G. A.
Olivier as member of the Académie des Sciences, and in 1821 he was made
a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. For some time he acted as professor
of zoology in the veterinary school at Alfort near Paris, and in 1830,
when the chair of zoology of invertebrates at the Muséum was divided
after the death of Lamarck, Latreille was appointed professor of zoology
of crustaceans, arachnids and insects, the chair of molluscs, worms and
zoophytes being assigned to H. M. D. de Blainville. "On me donne du pain
quand je n'ai plus de dents," said Latreille, who was then in his
sixty-eighth year. He died in Paris on the 6th of February 1833.
In addition to the works already mentioned, the numerous works of
Latreille include: _Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des
crustacés et insectes_ (14 vols., 1802-1805), forming part of C. N. S.
Sonnini's edition of Buffon; _Genera crustaceorum et insectorum,
secundum ordinem naturalem in familias disposita_ (4 vols.,
1806-1807); _Considérations générales sur l'ordre naturel des animaux
composant les classes des crustacés, des arachnides, et des insectes_
(1810); _Familles naturelles du règne animal, exposées succinctement
et dans un ordre analytique_ (1825); _Cours d'entomologie_ (of which
only the first volume appeared, 1831); the whole of the section
"Crustacés, Arachnides, Insectes," in G. Cuvier's _Règne animal_;
besides many papers in the _Annales du Muséum_, the _Encyclopédie
méthodique_, the _Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle_ and
elsewhere.
LA TRÉMOILLE, an old French family which derives its name from a village
(the modern La Trimouille) in the department of Vienne. The family has
been known since the middle of the 11th century, and since the 14th
century its members have been conspicuous in French history. Guy, sire
de la Trémoille, standard-bearer of France, was taken prisoner at the
battle of Nicopolis (1396), and Georges, the favourite of King Charles
VII., was captured at Agincourt (1415). Louis (2), called the _chevalier
sans reproche_, defeated and captured the duke of Orleans at the battle
of Saint Aubin-du-Cormier (1488), distinguished himself in the wars in
Italy, and was killed at Pavia (1525). In 1521 François (2) acquired a
claim on the kingdom of Naples by his marriage with Anne de Laval,
daughter of Charlotte of Aragon. Louis (3) became duke of Thouars in
1563, and his son Claude turned Protestant, was created a peer of France
in 1595, and married a daughter of William the Silent in 1598. To this
family belonged the lines of the counts of Joigny, the marquises of
Royan and counts of Olonne, and the marquises and dukes of Noirmoutier.
LATROBE, CHARLES JOSEPH (1801-1875), Australian governor, was born in
London on the 20th of March 1801. The Latrobes were of Huguenot
extraction, and belonged to the Moravian community, of which the father
and grandfather of C. J. Latrobe were ministers. His father, Christian
Ignatius Latrobe (1758-1836), a musician of some note, did good service
in the direction of popularizing classical music in England by his
_Selection of Sacred Music from the Works of the most Eminent Composers
of Germany and Italy_ (6 vols., 1806-1825). C. J. Latrobe was an
excellent mountaineer, and made some important ascents in Switzerland in
1824-1826. In 1832 he went to America with Count Albert Pourtales, and
in 1834 crossed the prairies from New Orleans to Mexico with Washington
Irving. In 1837 he was invested with a government commission in the West
Indies, and two years later was made superintendent of the Port Philip
district of New South Wales. When Port Philip was erected into a
separate colony as Victoria in 1851, Latrobe became lieutenant-governor.
The discovery of gold in that year attracted enormous numbers of
immigrants annually. Latrobe discharged the difficult duties of
government at this critical period with tact and success. He retired in
1854, became C.B. in 1858 and died in London on the 2nd of December
1875. Beside some volumes of travel he published a volume of poems, _The
Solace of Song_ (1837).
See _Brief Notices of the Latrobe Family_ (1864), a privately printed
translation of an article revised by members of the family in the
Moravian _Brüderbote_ (November 1864).
LATTEN (from O. Fr. _laton_, mod. Fr. _laiton_, possibly connected with
Span. _lata_, Ital. _latta_, a lath), a mixed metal like brass, composed
of copper and zinc, generally made in thin sheets, and used especially
for monumental brasses and effigies. A fine example is in the screen of
Henry VII.'s tomb in Westminster Abbey. There are three forms of latten,
"black latten," unpolished and rolled, "shaven latten," of extreme
thinness, and "roll latten," of the thickness either of black or shaven
latten, but with both sides polished.
LATTICE LEAF PLANT, in botany, the common name for _Ouvirandra
fenestralis_, an aquatic monocotyledonous plant belonging to the small
natural order Aponogetonaceae and a native of Madagascar. It has a
singular appearance from the structure of the leaves, which are oblong
in shape, from 6 to 18 in. long and from 2 to 4 in. broad; they spread
horizontally beneath the surface of the water, and are reduced to little
more than a lattice-like network of veins. The tuberculate roots are
edible. The plant is grown in cultivation as a stove-aquatic.
LATUDE, JEAN HENRI, often called DANRY or MASERS DE LATUDE (1725-1805),
prisoner of the Bastille, was born at Montagnac in Gascony on the 23rd
of March 1725. He received a military education and went to Paris in
1748 to study mathematics. He led a dissipated life and endeavoured to
curry favour with the marquise de Pompadour by secretly sending her a
box of poison and then informing her of the supposed plot against her
life. The ruse was discovered, and Mme de Pompadour, not appreciating
the humour of the situation, had Latude put in the Bastille on the 1st
of May 1749. He was later transferred to Vincennes, whence he escaped in
1750. Retaken and reimprisoned in the Bastille, he made a second brief
escape in 1756. He was transferred to Vincennes in 1764, and the next
year made a third escape and was a third time recaptured. He was put in
a madhouse by Malesherbes in 1775, and discharged in 1777 on condition
that he should retire to his native town. He remained in Paris and was
again imprisoned. A certain Mme Legros became interested in him through
chance reading of one of his memoirs, and, by a vigorous agitation in
his behalf, secured his definite release in 1784. He exploited his long
captivity with considerable ability, posing as a brave officer, a son of
the marquis de la Tude, and a victim of Pompadour's intrigues. He was
extolled and pensioned during the Revolution, and in 1793 the convention
compelled the heirs of Mme de Pompadour to pay him 60,000 francs
damages. He died in obscurity at Paris on the 1st of January 1805.
The principal work of Latude is the account of his imprisonment,
written in collaboration with an advocate named Thiéry, and entitled
_Le Despotisme dévoilé, ou Mémoires de Henri Masers de la Tude, détenu
pendant trente-cinq ans dans les diverses prisons d'état_ (Amsterdam,
1787, ed. Paris, 1889). An Eng. trans. of a portion was published in
1787. The work is full of lies and misrepresentations, but had great
vogue at the time of the French Revolution. Latude also wrote essays
on all sorts of subjects.
See J. F. Barrière, _Mémoires de Linguet et de Latude_ (1884); G.
Bertin, _Notice_ in edition of the _Mémoires_ (1889); F.
Funck-Brentano, "Latude," in the _Revue des deux mondes_ (1st October
1889).
LATUKA, a tribe of negroid stock inhabiting the mountainous country E.
of Gondokoro on the upper Nile. They have received a tinge of Hamitic
blood from the Galla people, and have high foreheads, large eyes,
straight noses and thick but not pouting lips. They are believed by Sir
H. H. Johnston to be the original and purest type of the great Masai
people, and are assimilated to the Nilotic negro races in customs. Like
their neighbours the Bari and Shilluk tribes, they despise clothing,
though the important chiefs have adopted Arab attire. Their country is
fertile, and they cultivate tobacco, durra and other crops. Their
villages are numerous, and some are of considerable size. Tarangole, for
instance, on the Khor Kohs, has upwards of three thousand huts, and
sheds for many thousands of cattle. The Latuka are industrious and
especially noted for skill as smiths. Emin Pasha stated that the lion
was so little dreaded by the Latuka that on one being caught in a
leopard trap they hastily set it free.
LAUBAN, a town of Germany in the Prussian province of Silesia, is
situated in a picturesque valley, at the junction of the lines of
railway from Görlitz and Sorau, 16 m. E. of the former. Pop. (1905)
14,624. Lauban has a Roman Catholic and two Evangelical churches, a town
hall, dating from 1541, a conventual house of the order of St Magdalene,
dating from the 14th century, a municipal library and museum, two
hospitals, an orphanage and several schools. Its industrial
establishments comprise tobacco, yarn, thread, linen and woollen cloth
manufactories, bleaching and dyeing works, breweries and oil and flour
mills.
Lauban was founded in the 10th and fortified in the 13th century; in
1427 and 1431 it was devastated by the Hussites, and in 1640 by the
Swedes. In 1761 it was the headquarters of Frederick the Great, and in
1813 it was the last Saxon town that made its submission to Prussia.
See Berkel, _Geschichte der Stadt Lauban_ (Lauban, 1896).
LAUBE, HEINRICH (1806-1884), German dramatist, novelist and
theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Silesia on the 18th of
September 1806. He studied theology at Halle and Breslau (1826-1829),
and settled in Leipzig in 1832. Here he at once came into prominence
with his political essays, collected under the title _Das neue
Jahrhundert_, in two parts--_Polen_ (1833) and _Politische Briefe_
(1833)--and with the novel _Das junge Europa_, in three parts--_Die
Poeten_, _Die Krieger_, _Die Bürger_--(1833-1837). These writings, in
which, after the fashion of Heinrich Heine and Ludwig Börne, he severely
criticized the political régime in Germany, together with the part he
played in the literary movement known as _Das junge Deutschland_, led to
his being subjected to police surveillance and his works confiscated. On
his return, in 1834, from a journey to Italy, undertaken in the company
of Karl Gutzkow, Laube was expelled from Saxony and imprisoned for nine
months in Berlin. In 1836 he married the widow of Professor Hänel of
Leipzig; almost immediately afterwards he suffered a year's imprisonment
for his revolutionary sympathies. In 1839 he again settled in Leipzig
and began a literary activity as a playwright. Chief among his earlier
productions are the tragedies _Monaldeschi_ (1845) and _Struensee_
(1847); the comedies _Rokoko, oder die alten Herren_ (1846); _Gottsched
und Gellert_ (1847); and _Die Karlsschüler_ (1847), of which the
youthful Schiller is the hero. In 1848 Laube was elected to the national
assembly at Frankfort-on-Main for the district of Elbogen, but resigned
in the spring of 1849, when he was appointed artistic director of the
Hofburg theatre in Vienna. This office he held until 1867, and in this
period fall his finest dramatic productions, notably the tragedies _Graf
Essex_ (1856) and _Montrose_ (1859), and his historical romance _Der
deutsche Krieg_ (1865-1866, 9 vols.), which graphically pictures a
period in the Thirty Years' War. In 1869 he became director of the
Leipzig Stadttheater, but returned to Vienna in 1870, where in 1872 he
was placed at the head of the new Stadttheater; with the exception of a
short interval he managed this theatre with brilliant success until his
retirement from public life in 1880. He has left a valuable record of
his work in Vienna and Leipzig in the three volumes _Das Burgtheater_
(1868), _Das norddeutsche Theater_ (1872) and _Das Wiener Stadttheater_
(1875). His pen was still active after his retirement, and in the five
years preceding his death, which took place at Vienna on the 1st of
August 1884, he wrote the romances and novels _Die Böhminger_ (1880),
_Louison_ (1881), _Der Schatten-Wilhelm_ (1883), and published an
interesting volume of reminiscences, _Erinnerungen, 1841-1881_ (1882).
Laube's dramas are not remarkable for originality or for poetical
beauty; their real and great merit lies in their stage-craft. As a
theatre-manager he has had no equal in Germany, and his services in this
capacity have assured him a more lasting name in German literary history
than his writings.
His _Gesammelte Schriften_ (excluding his dramas) were published in 16
vols. (1879-1882); his _Dramatische Werke_, in 13 vols. (1845-1875); a
popular edition of the latter in 12 vols. (1880-1892). An edition of
Laube's _Ausgewählte Werke_ in 10 vols. appeared in 1906 with an
introduction by H. H. Houben. See also J. Proelss, _Das junge
Deutschland_ (1892); and H. Bulthaupt, _Dramaturgie des Schauspiels_
(vol. iii., 6th ed., 1901).
L'AUBESPINE, a French family which sprang from Claude de l'Aubespine, a
lawyer of Orleans and bailiff of the abbey of St Euverte in the
beginning of the 16th century, and rapidly acquired distinction in
offices connected with the law. Sebastien de l'Aubespine (d. 1582),
abbot of Bassefontaine, bishop of Vannes and afterwards of Limoges,
fulfilled important diplomatic missions in Germany, Hungary, England,
the Low Countries and Switzerland under Francis I. and his successors.
Claude (c. 1500-1567), baron of Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, Sebastien's
brother, was a secretary of finance; he had charge of negotiations with
England in 1555 and 1559, and was several times commissioned to treat
with the Huguenots in the king's name. His son Guillaume was a
councillor of state and ambassador to England. Charles de l'Aubespine
(1580-1653) was ambassador to Germany, the Low Countries, Venice and
England, besides twice holding the office of keeper of the seals of
France, from 1630 to 1633, and from 1650 to 1651. The family fell into
poor circumstances and became extinct in the 19th century. (M. P.*)
LAUCHSTÄDT, a town of Germany in the province of Prussian Saxony, on the
Laucha, 6 m. N.W. of Merseburg by the railway to Schafstädt. Pop. (1905)
2034. It contains an Evangelical church, a theatre, a hydropathic
establishment and several educational institutions, among which is an
agricultural school affiliated to the university of Halle. Its
industries include malting, vinegar-making and brewing. Lauchstädt was a
popular watering-place in the 18th century, the dukes of Saxe-Merseburg
often making it their summer residence. From 1789 to 1811 the Weimar
court theatrical company gave performances here of the plays of Schiller
and Goethe, an attraction which greatly contributed to the well-being of
the town.
See Maak, _Das Goethetheater in Lauchstädt_ (Lauchstädt, 1905); and
Nasemann, _Bad Lauchstädt_ (Halle, 1885).
LAUD, WILLIAM (1573-1645), English archbishop, only son of William Laud,
a clothier, was born at Reading on the 7th of October 1573. He was
educated at Reading free school, matriculated at St John's college,
Oxford, in 1589, gained a scholarship in 1590, a fellowship in 1593, and
graduated B.A. in 1594, proceeding to D.D. in 1608. In 1601 he took
orders, in 1603 becoming chaplain to Charles Blount, earl of Devonshire.
Laud early took up a position of antagonism to the Calvinistic party in
the church, and in 1604 was reproved by the authorities for maintaining
in his thesis for the degree of B.D. "that there could be no true church
without bishops," and again in 1606 for advocating "popish" opinions in
a sermon at St Mary's. If high-church doctrines, however, met with
opposition at Oxford, they were relished elsewhere, and Laud obtained
rapid advancement. In 1607 he was made vicar of Stanford in
Northamptonshire, and in 1608 he became chaplain to Bishop Neile, who in
1610 presented him to the living of Cuxton, when he resigned his
fellowship. In 1611, in spite of the influence of Archbishop Abbot and
Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, Laud was made president of St John's, and in
1614 obtained in addition the prebend of Buckden, in 1615 the
archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and in 1616 the deanery of Gloucester. Here
he repaired the fabric and changed the position of the communion table,
a matter which aroused great religious controversy, from the centre of
the choir to the east end, by a characteristic tactless exercise of
power offending the bishop, who henceforth refused to enter the
cathedral. In 1617 he went with the king to Scotland, and aroused
hostility by wearing the surplice. In 1621 he became bishop of St
David's, when he resigned the presidentship of St John's.
In April 1622 Laud, by the king's orders, took part in a controversy
with Percy, a Jesuit, known as Fisher, the aim of which was to prevent
the conversion of the countess of Buckingham, the favourite's mother, to
Romanism, and his opinions expressed on that occasion show considerable
breadth and comprehension. While refusing to acknowledge the Roman
Church as _the_ true church, he allowed it to be _a_ true church and a
branch of the Catholic body, at the same time emphasizing the perils of
knowingly associating with error; and with regard to the English Church
he denied that the acceptance of all its articles was necessary. The
foundation of belief was the Bible, not any one branch of the Catholic
church arrogating to itself infallibility, and when dispute on matters
of faith arose, "a lawful and free council, determining according to
Scripture, is the best judge on earth." A close and somewhat strange
intimacy, considering the difference in the characters and ideals of the
two men, between Laud and Buckingham now began, and proved the chief
instrument of Laud's advancement. The opportunity came with the old
king's death in 1625, for James, with all his pedantry, was too wise and
cautious to embark in Laud's rash undertakings, and had already shown a
prudent moderation, after setting up bishops in Scotland, in going no
further in opposition to the religious feelings of the people. On the
accession of Charles, Laud's ambitious activities were allowed free
scope. A list of the clergy was immediately prepared by him for the
king, in which each name was labelled with an O or a P, distinguishing
the Orthodox to be promoted from the Puritans to be suppressed. Laud
defended Richard Montague, who had aroused the wrath of the parliament
by his pamphlet against Calvinism. His influence soon extended into the
domain of the state. He supported the king's prerogative throughout the
conflict with the parliament, preached in favour of it before Charles's
second parliament in 1626, and assisted in Buckingham's defence. In 1626
he was nominated bishop of Bath and Wells, and in July 1628 bishop of
London. On the 12th of April 1629 he was made chancellor of Oxford
University.
In the patronage of learning and in the exercise of authority over the
morals and education of youth Laud was in his proper sphere, many
valuable reforms at Oxford being due to his activity, including the
codification of the statutes, the statute by which public examinations
were rendered obligatory for university degrees, and the ordinance for
the election of proctors, the revival of the college system, of moral
and religious discipline and order, and of academic dress. He founded or
endowed various professorships, including those of Hebrew and Arabic,
and the office of public orator, encouraged English and foreign
scholars, such as Voss, Selden and Jeremy Taylor, founded the university
printing press, procuring in 1633 the royal patent for Oxford, and
obtained for the Bodleian library over 1300 MSS., adding a new wing to
the building to contain his gifts. His rule at Oxford was marked by a
great increase in the number of students. In his own college he erected
the new buildings, and was its second founder. Of his chancellorship he
himself wrote a history, and the Laudian tradition long remained the
great standard of order and good government in the university. Elsewhere
he showed his liberality and his zeal for reform. He was an active
visitor of Eton and Winchester, and endowed the grammar school at
Reading, where he was himself educated. In London he procured funds for
the restoration of the dilapidated cathedral of St Paul's.
He was far less great as a ruler in the state, showing as a judge a
tyrannical spirit both in the star chamber and high-commission court,
threatening Felton, the assassin of Buckingham, with the rack, and
showing special activity in procuring a cruel sentence in the former
court against Alexander Leighton in June 1630 and against Henry
Sherfield in 1634. His power was greatly increased after his return from
Scotland, whither he had accompanied the king, by his promotion to the
archbishopric of Canterbury in August 1633. "As for the state indeed,"
he wrote to Wentworth on this occasion, "I am for _Thorough_." In 1636
the privy council decided in his favour his claim of jurisdiction as
visitor over both universities. Soon afterwards he was placed on the
commission of the treasury and on the committee of the privy council for
foreign affairs. He was all-powerful both in church and state. He
proceeded to impose by authority the religious ceremonies and usages to
which he attached so much importance. His vicar-general, Sir Nathaniel
Brent, went through the dioceses of his province, noting every
dilapidation and every irregularity. The pulpit was no longer to be the
chief feature in the church, but the communion table. The Puritan
lecturers were suppressed. He showed great hostility to the Puritan
sabbath and supported the reissue of the _Book of Sports_, especially
odious to that party, and severely reprimanded Chief Justice Richardson
for his interference with the Somerset wakes. He insisted on the use of
the prayer-book among the English soldiers in the service of Holland,
and forced strict conformity on the church of the merchant adventurers
at Delft, endeavouring even to reach the colonists in New England. He
tried to compel the Dutch and French refugees in England to unite with
the Church of England, advising double taxation and other forms of
persecution. In 1634 the justices of the peace were ordered to enter
houses to search for persons holding conventicles and bring them before
the commissioners. He took pleasure in displaying his power over the
great, and in punishing them in the spiritual courts for moral offences.
In 1637 he took part in the sentence of the star chamber on Prynne,
Bastwick and Burton, and in the same year in the prosecution of Bishop
Williams. He urged Strafford in Ireland to carry out the same reforms
and severities.
He was now to extend his ecclesiastical system to Scotland, where during
his visits the appearance of the churches had greatly displeased him.
The new prayer-book and canons were drawn up by the Scottish bishops
with his assistance and enforced in the country, and, though not
officially connected with the work, he was rightly regarded as its real
author. The attack not only on the national religion, but on the
national independence of Scotland, proved to be the point at which the
system, already strained, broke and collapsed. Laud continued to support
Strafford's and the king's arbitrary measures to the last, and spoke in
favour of the vigorous continuation of the war on Strafford's side in
the memorable meeting of the committee of eight on the 5th of May 1640,
and for the employment of any means for carrying it on. "Tried all
ways," so ran the notes of his speech, "and refused all ways. By the law
of God and man you should have subsistence and lawful to take it."
Though at first opposed to the sitting of convocation, after the
dissolution of parliament, as an independent body, on account of the
opposition it would arouse, he yet caused to be passed in it the new
canons which both enforced his ecclesiastical system and assisted the
king's divine right, resistance to his power entailing "damnation."
Laud's infatuated policy could go no further, and the _etcetera_ oath,
according to which whole classes of men were to be forced to swear
perpetual allegiance to the "government of this church by archbishops,
bishops, deans and archdeacons, &c.," was long remembered and derided.
His power now quickly abandoned him. He was attacked and reviled as the
chief author of the troubles on all sides. In October he was ordered by
Charles to suspend the _etcetera_ oath. The same month, when the high
commission court was sacked by the mob, he was unable to persuade the
star chamber to punish the offenders. On the 18th of December he was
impeached by the Long Parliament, and on the 1st of March imprisoned in
the tower. On the 12th of May, at Strafford's request, the archbishop
appeared at the window of his cell to give him his blessing on his way
to execution, and fainted as he passed by. For some time he was left
unnoticed in confinement. On the 31st of May 1643, however, Prynne
received orders from the parliament to search his papers, and published
a mutilated edition of his diary. The articles of impeachment were sent
up to the Lords in October, the trial beginning on the 12th of March
1644, but the attempt to bring his conduct under a charge of high
treason proving hopeless, an attainder was substituted and sent up to
the Lords on the 22nd of November. In these proceedings there was no
semblance of respect for law or justice, the Lords yielding (4th of
January 1645) to the menaces of the Commons, who arrogated to themselves
the right to declare any crimes they pleased high treason. Laud now
tendered the king's pardon, which had been granted to him in April 1643.
This was rejected, and it was with some difficulty that his petition to
be executed with the axe, instead of undergoing the ordinary brutal
punishment for high treason, was granted. He suffered death on the 10th
of January on Tower Hill, asserting his innocence of any offence known
to the law, repudiating the charge of "popery," and declaring that he
had always lived in the Protestant Church of England. He was buried in
the chancel of All Hallows, Barking, whence his body was removed on the
24th of July 1663 to the chapel of St John's College, Oxford.
Laud never married. He is described by Fuller as "low of stature, little
in bulk, cheerful in countenance (wherein gravity and quickness were all
compounded), of a sharp and piercing eye, clear judgment and (abating
the influence of age) firm memory." His personality, on account of the
sharp religious antagonisms with which his name is inevitably
associated, has rarely been judged with impartiality. His severities
were the result of a narrow mind and not of a vindictive spirit, and
their number has certainly been exaggerated. His career was
distinguished by uprightness, by piety, by a devotion to duty, by
courage and consistency. In particular it is clear that the charge of
partiality for Rome is unfounded. At the same time the circumstances of
the period, the fact that various schemes of union with Rome were
abroad, that the missions of Panzani and later of Conn were gathering
into the Church of Rome numbers of members of the Church of England who,
like Laud himself, were dissatisfied with the Puritan bias which then
characterized it, the incident mentioned by Laud himself of his being
twice offered the cardinalate, the movement carried on at the court in
favour of Romanism, and the fact that Laud's changes in ritual, however
clearly defined and restricted in his own intention, all tended towards
Roman practice, fully warranted the suspicions and fears of his
contemporaries. Laud's complete neglect of the national sentiment, in
his belief that the exercise of mere power was sufficient to suppress
it, is a principal proof of his total lack of true statesmanship. The
hostility to "innovations in religion," it is generally allowed, was a
far stronger incentive to the rebellion against the arbitrary power of
the crown, than even the violation of constitutional liberties; and to
Laud, therefore, more than to Strafford, to Buckingham, or even perhaps
to Charles himself, is especially due the responsibility for the
catastrophe. He held fast to the great idea of the catholicity of the
English Church, to that conception of it which regards it as a branch of
the whole Christian church, and emphasizes its historical continuity and
identity from the time of the apostles, but here again his policy was at
fault; for his despotic administration not only excited and exaggerated
the tendencies to separatism and independentism which finally prevailed,
but excluded large bodies of faithful churchmen from communion with
their church and from their country. The emigration to Massachusetts in
1629, which continued in a stream till 1640, was not composed of
separatists but of episcopalians. Thus what Laud grasped with one hand
he destroyed with the other.
Passing to the more indirect influence of Laud on his times, we can
observe a narrowness of mind and aim which separates him from a man of
such high imagination and idealism as Strafford, however closely
identified their policies may have been for the moment. The chief
feature of Laud's administration is attention to countless details, to
the most trivial of which he attached excessive importance, and which
are uninspired by any great underlying principle. His view was always
essentially material. The one element in the church which to him was all
essential was its visibility. This was the source of his intense dislike
of the Puritan and Nonconformist conception of the church, which
afforded no tangible or definite form. Hence the necessity for outward
conformity, and the importance attached to ritual and ceremony, unity in
which must be established at all costs, in contrast to dogma and
doctrine, in which he showed himself lenient and large-minded, winning
over Hales by friendly discussion, and encouraging the publication of
Chillingworth's _Religion of Protestants_. He was not a bigot, but a
martinet. The external form was with him the essential feature of
religion, preceding the spiritual conception, and in Laud's opinion
being the real foundation of it. In his last words on the scaffold he
alludes to the dangers and slanders he had endured labouring to keep an
uniformity in the external service of God; and Bacon's conception of a
spiritual union founded on variety and liberty was one completely beyond
his comprehension.
This narrow materialism was the true cause of his fatal influence both
in church and state. In his own character it produced the somewhat
blunted moral sense which led to the few incidents in his career which
need moral defence, his performance of the marriage ceremony between his
first patron Lord Devonshire and the latter's mistress, the divorced
wife of Lord Rich, an act completely at variance with his principles;
his strange intimacy with Buckingham; his love of power and place.
Indistinguishable from his personal ambition was his passion for the
aggrandisement of the church and its predominance in the state. He was
greatly delighted at the foolish appointment of Bishop Juxon as lord
treasurer in 1636. "No churchman had it," he cries exultingly, "since
Henry VII.'s time, ... and now if the church will not hold up themselves
under God, I can do no more." Spiritual influence, in Laud's opinion,
was not enough for the church. The church as the guide of the nation in
duty and godliness, even extending its activity into state affairs as a
mediator and a moderator, was not sufficient. Its power must be material
and visible, embodied in great places of secular administration and
enthroned in high offices of state. Thus the church, descending into the
political arena, became identified with the doctrines of one political
party in the state--doctrines odious to the majority of the nation--and
at the same time became associated with acts of violence and injustice,
losing at once its influence and its reputation. Equally disastrous to
the state was the identification of the king's administration with one
party in the church, and that with the party in an immense minority not
only in the nation but even among the clergy themselves.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--All Laud's works are to be found in the _Library of
Anglo-Catholic Theology_ (7 vols.), including his sermons (of no great
merit), letters, history of the chancellorship, history of his
troubles and trial, and his remarkable diary, the MSS. of the last two
works being the property of St John's College. Various modern opinions
of Laud's career can be studied in T. Longueville's _Life of Laud, by
a Romish Recusant_ (1894); _Congregational Union Jubilee Lectures_,
vol. i. (1882); J. B. Mozley's _Essay on Laud; Archbishop Laud_, by A.
C. Benson (1887); _Wm. Laud_, by W. H. Hutton (1895); _Archbishop Laud
Commemoration_, ed. by W. F. Collins (lectures, bibliography,
catalogue of exhibits, 1895); Hook's _Lives of the Archbishops of
Canterbury_; and H. Bell, _Archbishop Laud and Priestly Government_
(1907). (P. C. Y.)
LAUD (Lat. _laus_), a term meaning praise, now rarely found in this
sense except in poetry or hymns. Lauds is the name for the second of the
offices of the canonical hours in the Roman breviary, so called from the
three _laudes_ or psalms of praise, cxlviii.-cl. which form part of the
service (see BREVIARY and HOURS, CANONICAL).
LAUDANUM, originally the name given by Paracelsus to a famous medical
preparation of his own composed of gold, pearls, &c. (_Opera_, 1658, i.
492/2), but containing opium as its chief ingredient. The term is now
only used for the alcoholic tincture of opium (_q.v._). The name was
either invented by Paracelsus from Lat. _laudare_ to praise, or was a
corrupted form of "ladanum" (Gr. [Greek: lêdanon], from Pers. _ladan_),
a resinous juice or gum obtained from various kinds of the _Cistus_
shrub, formerly used medicinally in external applications and as a
stomachic, but now only in perfumery and in making fumigating pastilles,
&c.
LAUDER, SIR THOMAS DICK, Bart. (1784-1848), Scottish author, only son of
Sir Andrew Lauder, 6th baronet, was born at Edinburgh in 1784. He
succeeded to the baronetcy in 1820. His first contribution to
_Blackwood's Magazine_ in 1817, entitled "Simon Roy, Gardener at
Dunphail," was by some ascribed to Sir Walter Scott. His paper (1818) on
"The Parallel Roads of Glenroy," printed in vol. ix. of the
_Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, first drew attention
to the phenomenon in question. In 1825 and 1827 he published two
romances, _Lochandhu_ and the _Wolf of Badenoch_. He became a frequent
contributor to _Blackwood_ and also to _Tait's Magazine_, and in 1830 he
published _An Account of the Great Floods of August 1829 in the Province
of Moray and adjoining Districts_. Subsequent works were _Highland
Rambles, with Long Tales to Shorten the Way_ (2 vols. 8vo, 1837),
_Legendary Tales of the Highlands_ (3 vols, 12mo, 1841), _Tour round the
Coasts of Scotland_ (1842) and _Memorial of the Royal Progress in
Scotland_ (1843). Vol. i. of a _Miscellany of Natural History_,
published in 1833, was also partly prepared by Lauder. He was a Liberal,
and took an active interest in politics; he held the office of secretary
to the Board of Scottish Manufactures. He died on the 29th of May 1848.
An unfinished series of papers, written for _Tait's Magazine_ shortly
before his death, was published under the title _Scottish Rivers_, with
a preface by John Brown, M.D., in 1874.
LAUDER, WILLIAM (d. 1771), Scottish literary forger, was born in the
latter part of the 17th century, and was educated at Edinburgh
university, where he graduated in 1695. He applied unsuccessfully for
the post of professor of humanity there, in succession to Adam Watt,
whose assistant he had been for a time, and also for the keepership of
the university library. He was a good scholar, and in 1739, published
_Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae_, a collection of poems by various
writers, mostly paraphrased from the Bible. In 1742 Lauder came to
London. In 1747 he wrote an article for the _Gentleman's Magazine_ to
prove that Milton's _Paradise Lost_ was largely a plagiarism from the
_Adamus Exul_ (1601) of Hugo Grotius, the _Sarcotis_ (1654) of J. Masen
(Masenius, 1606-1681), and the _Poemata Sacra_ (1633) of Andrew Ramsay
(1574-1659). Lauder expounded his case in a series of articles, and in a
book (1753) increased the list of plundered authors to nearly a hundred.
But his success was short-lived. Several scholars, who had independently
studied the alleged sources of Milton's inspiration, proved conclusively
that Lauder had not only garbled most of his quotations, but had even
inserted amongst them extracts from a Latin rendering of _Paradise
Lost_. This led to his exposure, and he was obliged to write a complete
confession at the dictation of his former friend Samuel Johnson. After
several vain endeavours to clear his character he emigrated to
Barbadoes, where he died in 1771.
LAUDER, a royal and police burgh of Berwickshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901)
719. It is situated on the Leader, 29 m. S.E. of Edinburgh by the North
British railway's branch line from Fountainhall, of which it is the
terminus. The burgh is said to date from the reign of William the Lion
(1165-1214); its charter was granted in 1502. In 1482 James III. with
his court and army rested here on the way to raise the siege of Berwick.
While the nobles were in the church considering grievances, Robert
Cochrane, recently created earl of Mar, one of the king's favourites,
whose "removal" was at the very moment under discussion, demanded
admittance. Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, opened the door and seized
Mar, who was forthwith dragged to Lauder Bridge and there, along with
six other obnoxious favourites, hanged in sight of his royal master. It
was in connexion with this exploit that Angus acquired the nickname of
"Bell-the-cat." The public buildings include a town-hall and a library.
The parish church was built in 1673 by the earl of Lauderdale, in
exchange for the older edifice, the site of which was required for the
enlargement of Thirlestane castle, which, originally a fortress, was
then remodelled for a residence. The town is a favourite with anglers.
LAUDERDALE, JOHN MAITLAND, DUKE OF (1616-1682), eldest surviving son of
John Maitland, 2nd Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (d. 1645), who was
created earl of Lauderdale in 1624, and of Lady Isabel Seton, daughter
of Alexander, earl of Dunfermline, and great-grandson of Sir Richard
Maitland (q.v.), the poet, a member of an ancient family of
Berwickshire, was born on the 24th of May 1616, at Lethington. He began
public life as a zealous adherent of the Presbyterian cause, took the
covenant, sat as an elder in the assembly at St Andrews in July 1643,
and was sent to England as a commissioner for the covenant in August,
and to attend the Westminster assembly in November. In February 1644 he
was a member of the committee of both kingdoms, and on the 20th of
November was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the king
at Uxbridge, when he made efforts to persuade Charles to agree to the
establishment of Presbyterianism. In 1645 he advised Charles to reject
the proposals of the Independents, and in 1647 approved of the king's
surrender to the Scots. At this period Lauderdale veered round
completely to the king's cause, had several interviews with him, and
engaged in various projects for his restoration, offering the aid of the
Scots, on the condition of Charles's consent to the establishment of
Presbyterianism, and on the 26th of December he obtained from Charles at
Carisbrooke "the engagement" by which Presbyterianism was to be
established for three years, schismatics were to be suppressed, and the
acts of the Scottish parliament ratified, the king in addition promising
to admit the Scottish nobles into public employment in England and to
reside frequently in Scotland. Returning to Scotland, in the spring of
1648, Lauderdale joined the party of Hamilton in alliance with the
English royalists. Their defeat at Preston postponed the arrival of the
prince of Wales, but Lauderdale had an interview with the prince in the
Downs in August, and from this period obtained supreme influence over
the future king. He persuaded him later to accept the invitation to
Scotland from the Argyll faction, accompanied him thither in 1650 and in
the expedition into England, and was taken prisoner at Worcester in
1651, remaining in confinement till March 1660. He joined Charles in May
1660 at Breda, and, in spite of the opposition of Clarendon and Monk,
was appointed secretary of state. From this time onwards he kept his
hold upon the king, was lodged at Whitehall, was "never from the king's
ear nor council,"[1] and maintained his position against his numerous
adversaries by a crafty dexterity in dealing with men, a fearless
unscrupulousness, and a robust strength of will, which overcame all
opposition. Though a man of considerable learning and intellectual
attainment, his character was exceptionally and grossly licentious, and
his base and ignoble career was henceforward unrelieved by a single
redeeming feature. He abandoned Argyll to his fate, permitted, if he did
not assist in, the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland, and after
triumphing over all his opponents in Scotland drew into his own hands
the whole administration of that kingdom, and proceeded to impose upon
it the absolute supremacy of the crown in church and state, restoring
the nomination of the lords of the articles to the king and initiating
severe measures against the Covenanters. In 1669 he was able to boast
with truth that "the king is now master here in all causes and over all
persons."
His own power was now at its height, and his position as the favourite
of Charles, controlled by no considerations of patriotism or
statesmanship, and completely independent of the English parliament,
recalled the worst scandals and abuses of the Stuart administration
before the Civil War. He was a member of the cabal ministry, but took
little part in English affairs, and was not entrusted with the first
secret treaty of Dover, but gave personal support to Charles in his
degrading demands for pensions from Louis XIV. On the 2nd of May 1672 he
was created duke of Lauderdale and earl of March, and on the 3rd of June
knight of the garter. In 1673, on the resignation of James in
consequence of the Test Act, he was appointed a commissioner for the
admiralty. In October he visited Scotland to suppress the dissenters and
obtain money for the Dutch War, and the intrigues organized by
Shaftesbury against his power in his absence, and the attacks made upon
him in the House of Commons in January 1674 and April 1675, were alike
rendered futile by the steady support of Charles and James. On the 25th
of June 1674 he was created earl of Guilford and Baron Petersham in the
peerage of England. His ferocious measures having failed to suppress the
conventicles in Scotland, he summoned to his aid in 1677 a band of
Highlanders, who were sent into the western country. In consequence, a
large party of Scottish nobles came to London, made common cause with
the English country faction, and compelled Charles to order the
disbandment of the marauders. In May 1678 another demand by the Commons
for Lauderdale's removal was thrown out by court influence by one vote.
He maintained his triumphs almost to the end. In Scotland, which he
visited immediately after this victory in parliament, he overbore all
opposition to the king's demands for money. Another address for his
removal from the Commons in England was suppressed by the dissolution of
parliament on the 26th of May 1679, and a renewed attack upon him, by
the Scottish party and Shaftesbury's faction combined, also failed. On
the 22nd of June 1679 the last attempt of the unfortunate Covenanters
was suppressed at Bothwell Brig. In 1680, however, failing health
obliged Lauderdale to resign the place and power for which he had so
long successfully struggled. His vote given for the execution of Lord
Stafford on the 29th of November is said also to have incurred the
displeasure of James. In 1682 he was stripped of all his offices, and he
died in August. Lauderdale married (1) Lady Anne Home, daughter of the
1st earl of Home, by whom he had one daughter; and (2) Lady Elizabeth
Murray, daughter of the 1st earl of Dysart and widow of Sir Lionel
Tollemache. He left no male issue, consequently his dukedom and his
English titles became extinct, but he was succeeded in the earldom by
his brother Charles (see below).
See _Lauderdale Papers Add._ MSS. in Brit. Mus., 30 vols., a small
selection of which, entitled _The Lauderdale Papers_, were edited by
Osmond Airy for the Camden Society in 1884-1885; _Hamilton Papers_
published by the same society; "Lauderdale Correspondence with
Archbishop Sharp," _Scottish Hist. Soc. Publications_, vol. 15 (1893);
Burnet's _Lives of the Hamiltons_ and _History of his Own Time_; R.
Baillie's Letters; S. R. Gardiner's _Hist. of the Civil War and of the
Commonwealth_; Clarendon's _Hist. of the Rebellion_; and the
_Quarterly Review_, clvii. 407. Several speeches of Lauderdal are
extant. (P. C. Y.)
_Earls of Lauderdale._
Charles Maitland, 3rd earl of Lauderdale (d. 1691), became an ordinary
lord of session as Lord Halton in 1669, afterwards assisting his
brother, the duke, in the management of public business in Scotland.
His eldest son, Richard (1653-1695), became the 4th earl. As Lord
Maitland he was lord-justice-general from 1681 to 1684; he was an
adherent of James II. and after fighting at the battle of the Boyne he
was an exile in France until his death. This earl made a verse
translation of Virgil (published 1737). He left no sons, and his
brother John (c. 1655-1710) became the 5th earl. John, a supporter of
William III. and of the union of England and Scotland, was succeeded
by his son Charles (c. 1688-1744), who was the grandfather of James,
the 8th earl.
James Maitland, 8th earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), was a member of
parliament from 1780 until August 1789 when he succeeded his father in
the earldom. In the House of Commons he took an active part in debate,
and in the House of Lords, where he was a representative peer for
Scotland, he was prominent as an opponent of the policy of Pitt and
the English government with regard to France, a country he had visited
in 1792. In 1806 he was made a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron
Lauderdale of Thirlestane and for a short time he was keeper of the
great seal of Scotland. By this time the earl, who had helped to found
the Society of the Friends of the People in 1792, had somewhat
modified his political views; this process was continued, and after
acting as the leader of the Whigs in Scotland, Lauderdale became a
Tory and voted against the Reform Bill of 1832. He died on the 13th of
September 1839. He wrote an _Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of
Public Wealth_ (1804 and 1819), a work which has been translated into
French and Italian and which produced a controversy between the author
and Lord Brougham; _The Depreciation of the Paper-currency of Great
Britain Proved_ (1812); and other writings of a similar nature. He was
succeeded by his sons James (1784-1860) and Anthony (1785-1863) as 9th
and 10th earls. Anthony, a naval officer, died unmarried in March
1863, when his barony of the United Kingdom became extinct, but his
Scottish earldom devolved upon a cousin, Thomas Maitland (1803-1878),
a grandson of the 7th earl, who became 11th earl of Lauderdale.
Thomas, who was an admiral of the fleet, died without sons, and the
title passed to Charles Barclay-Maitland (1822-1884), a descendant of
the 6th earl. When Charles died unmarried, another of the 6th earl's
descendants, Frederick Henry Maitland (b. 1840), became 13th earl of
Lauderdale.
The earls of Lauderdale are hereditary standard bearers for Scotland.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] _Pepys's Diary_, 2nd of March 1664.
LAUENBURG, a duchy of Germany, formerly belonging with Holstein to
Denmark, but from 1865 to Prussia, and now included in the Prussian
province of Schleswig-Holstein. It lies on the right bank of the Elbe,
is bounded by the territories of Hamburg, Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Strelitz
and the province of Hanover, and comprises an area of 453 sq. m. The
surface is a slightly undulating plain. The soil, chiefly alluvial,
though in some places arenaceous, is generally fertile and well
cultivated, but a great portion is covered with forests, interspersed
with lakes. By means of the Stecknitz canal, the Elbe, the principal
river, is connected with the Trave. The chief agricultural products are
timber, fruit, grain, hemp, flax and vegetables. Cattle-breeding affords
employment for many of the inhabitants. The railroad from Hamburg to
Berlin traverses the country. The capital is Ratzeburg, and there are
two other towns, Mölln and Lauenburg.
The earliest inhabitants of Lauenburg were a Slav tribe, the Polabes,
who were gradually replaced by colonists from Saxony. About the middle
of the 12th century the country was subdued by the duke of Saxony, Henry
the Lion, who founded a bishopric at Ratzeburg, and after Henry's fall
in 1180 it formed part of the smaller duchy of Saxony, which was
governed by Duke Bernhard. In 1203 it was conquered by Waldemar II.,
king of Denmark, but in 1227 it reverted to Albert, a son of its former
duke. When Albert died in 1260 Saxony was divided. Lauenburg, or
Saxe-Lauenburg, as it is generally called, became a separate duchy ruled
by his son John, and had its own lines of dukes for over 400 years, one
of them, Magnus I. (d. 1543), being responsible for the introduction of
the reformed teaching into the land. The reigning family, however,
became extinct when Duke Julius Francis died in September 1689, and
there were at least eight claimants for his duchy, chief among them
being John George III., elector of Saxony, and George William, duke of
Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle, the ancestors of both these princes having
made treaties of mutual succession with former dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg.
Both entered the country, but George William proved himself the stronger
and occupied Ratzeburg; having paid a substantial sum of money to the
elector, he was recognized by the inhabitants as their duke. When he
died three years later Lauenburg passed to his nephew, George Louis,
elector of Hanover, afterwards king of Great Britain as George I., whose
rights were recognized by the emperor Charles VI. in 1728. In 1803 the
duchy was occupied by the French, and in 1810 it was incorporated with
France. It reverted to Hanover after the battle of Leipzig in 1813, and
in 1816 was ceded to Prussia, the greater part of it being at once
transferred by her to Denmark in exchange for Swedish Pomerania. In
1848, when Prussia made war on Denmark, Lauenburg was occupied at her
own request by some Hanoverian troops, and was then administered for
three years under the authority of the German confederation, being
restored to Denmark in 1851. Definitely incorporated with this country
in 1853, it experienced another change of fortune after the short war of
1864 between Denmark on the one side and Prussia and Austria on the
other, as by the peace of Vienna (30th of October 1864) it was ceded
with Schleswig and Holstein to the two German powers. By the convention
of Gastein (14th of August 1865) Austria surrendered her claim to
Prussia in return for the payment of nearly £300,000 and in September
1865 King William I. took formal possession of the duchy. Lauenburg
entered the North German confederation in 1866 and the new German empire
in 1870. It retained its constitution and its special privileges until
the 1st of July 1876, when it was incorporated with the kingdom of
Prussia. In 1890 Prince Bismarck received the title of duke of
Lauenburg.
See P. von Kobbe, _Geschichte und Landesbeschreibung des Herzogtums
Lauenburg_ (Altona, 1836-1837); Duve, _Mitteilungen zur Kunde der
Staatsgeschichte Lauenburgs_ (Ratzeburg, 1852-1857), and the _Archiv
des Vereins für die Geschichte des Herzogtums Lauenburg_ (Ratzeburg,
1884 seq.).
LAUFF, JOSEF (1855- ), German poet and dramatist, was born at Cologne
on the 16th of November 1855, the son of a jurist. He was educated at
Münster in Westphalia, and entering the army served as a lieutenant of
artillery at Thorn and subsequently at Cologne, where he attained the
rank of captain in 1890. In 1898 he was summoned by the German emperor,
William II., to Wiesbaden, being at the same time promoted to major's
rank, in order that he might devote his great dramatic talents to the
royal theatre. His literary career began with the epic poems _Jan van
Calker, ein Malerlied vom Niederrhein_ (1887, 3rd ed., 1892) and _Der
Helfensteiner, ein Sang aus dem Bauernkriege_ (3rd ed., 1896). These
were followed by _Die Overstolzin_ (5th ed., 1900), _Herodias_ (2nd ed.,
1898) and the _Geislerin_ (4th ed., 1902). He also wrote the novels _Die
Hexe_ (6th ed., 1900), _Regina coeli_ (a story of the fall of the Dutch
Republic) (7th ed., 1904), _Die Hauptmannsfrau_ (8th ed., 1903) and
_Marie Verwahnen_ (1903). But he is best known as a dramatist. Beginning
with the tragedy _Ignez de Castro_ (1894), he proceeded to dramatize the
great monarchs of his country, and, in a Hohenzollern tetralogy, issued
_Der Burggraf_ (1897, 6th ed. 1900) and _Der Eisenzahn_ (1900), to be
followed by _Der grosse Kurfürst_ (The Great Elector) and _Friedrich der
Grosse_ (Frederick the Great).
See A. Schroeter, _Josef Lauff, Ein litterarisches Zeitbild_ (1899),
and B. Sturm, _Josef Lauff_ (1903).
LAUGHTER, the visible and audible expression of mirth, pleasure or the
sense of the ridiculous by movements of the facial muscles and
inarticulate sounds (see COMEDY, PLAY and HUMOUR). The O. Eng.
_hleahtor_ is formed from _hleahhan_, to laugh, a common Teutonic word;
cf. Ger. _lachen_, Goth. _hlahjan_, Icel. _hlaeja_, &c. These are in
origin echoic or imitative words, to be referred to a Teut. base
_hlah_-, Indo-Eur. _kark_-, to make a noise; Skeat (_Etym. Dict._, 1898)
connects ultimately Gr. [Greek: klôssein], to cluck like a hen, [Greek:
krazein], to croak, &c. A gentle and inaudible form of laughter
expressed by a movement of the lips and by the eyes is a "smile." This
is a comparatively late word in English, and is due to Scandinavian
influence; cf. Swed. _smila_; it is ultimately connected with Lat.
_mirari_, to wonder, and probably with Gr. [Greek: meidos].
LAUMONT, FRANÇOIS PIERRE NICHOLAS GILLET DE (1747-1834), French
mineralogist, was born in Paris on the 28th of May 1747. He was educated
at a military school, and served in the army from 1772-1784, when he was
appointed inspector of mines. His attention in his leisure time was
wholly given to mineralogy, and he assisted in organizing the new École
des Mines in Paris. He was author of numerous mineralogical papers in
the _Journal_ and _Annales des Mines_. The mineral laumontite was named
after him by Haüy. He died in Paris on the 1st of June 1834.
LAUNCESTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Launceston
parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 35½ m. N.W. of Plymouth, on
branches of the Great Western and the London & South-Western railways.
Pop. (1901) 4053. It lies in a hilly district by and above the river
Kensey, an affluent of the Tamar, the houses standing picturesquely on
the southern slope of the narrow valley, with the keep of the ancient
castle crowning the summit. On the northern slope lies the parish of St
Stephen. The castle, the ruins of which are in part of Norman date, was
the seat of the earls of Cornwall, and was frequently besieged during
the civil wars of the 17th century. In 1656 George Fox the Quaker was
imprisoned in the north-east tower for disturbing the peace at St Ives
by distributing tracts. Fragments of the old town walls and the south
gateway, of the Decorated period, are standing. The church of St Mary
Magdalen, built of granite, and richly ornamented without, was erected
early in the 16th century, but possesses a detached tower dated 1380. A
fine Norman doorway, now appearing as the entrance to a hotel, is
preserved from an Augustinian priory founded in the reign of Henry I.
The parish church of St Stephen is Early English, and later, with a
Perpendicular tower. The trade of Launceston is chiefly agricultural,
but there are tanneries and iron foundries. The borough is under a
mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2189 acres.
A silver penny of Æthelred II. witnesses to the fact that the privilege
of coining money was exercised by Launceston (Dunheved, Lanscaveton,
Lanstone) more than half a century before the Norman conquest. At the
time of the Domesday survey the canons of St Stephen held Launceston,
and the count of Mortain held Dunheved. The number of families settled
on the former is not given, but attention is called to the market which
had been removed thence by the count to the neighbouring castle of
Dunheved, which had two mills, one villein and thirteen bordars. A spot
more favoured by nature could not have been chosen either for settlement
or for defence than the rich lands near the confluence of the Kensey and
Tamar, out of which there rises abruptly the gigantic mound upon which
the castle is built. It is not known when the canons settled here nor
whether the count's castle, then newly erected, replaced some earlier
fortification. Reginald, earl of Cornwall (1140-1175), granted to the
canons rights of jurisdiction in all their lands and exemption from suit
of court in the shire and hundred courts. Richard (1225-1272), king of
the Romans, constituted Dunheved a free borough, and granted to the
burgesses freedom from pontage, stallage and suillage, liberty to elect
their own reeves, exemption from all pleas outside the borough except
pleas of the crown, and a site for a gild-hall. The farm of the borough
was fixed at 100s. payable to the earl, 65s. to the prior and 100s. 10d.
to the lepers of St Leonard's. In 1205 the market which had been held on
Sunday was changed to Thursday. An inquisition held in 1383 discloses
two markets, a merchant gild, pillory and tumbrel. In 1555 Dunheved,
otherwise Launceston, received a charter of incorporation, the common
council to consist of a mayor, 8 aldermen and a recorder. By its
provisions the borough was governed until 1835. The parliamentary
franchise which had been conferred in 1294 was confined to the
corporation and a number of free burgesses. In 1832 Launceston was shorn
of one of its members, and in 1885 merged in the county. Separated from
it by a small bridge over the Kensey lies the hamlet of Newport which,
from 1547 until 1832, also returned two members. These were swept away
when the Reform Bill became law. Launceston was the assize town until
Earl Richard, having built a palace at Restormel, removed the assize to
Lostwithiel. In 1386 Launceston regained the privilege by royal charter.
From 1715 until 1837, eleven years only excepted, the assize was held
alternately here and at Bodmin. Since that time Bodmin has enjoyed the
distinction. Launceston has never had a staple industry. The manufacture
of serge was considerable early in the 19th century. Its market on
Saturdays is well attended, and an ancient fair on the Feast of St
Thomas is among those which survive.
See A. F. Robbins, _Launceston Past and Present_.
LAUNCESTON, the second city of Tasmania, in the county of Cornwall, on
the river Tamar, 40 m. from the N. coast of the island, and 133 m. by
rail N. by W. of Hobart. The city lies amid surroundings of great
natural beauty in a valley enclosed by lofty hills. Cora Linn, about 6
m. distant, a deep gorge of the North Esk river, the Punch Bowl and
Cataract Gorge, over which the South Esk falls in a magnificent cascade,
joining the North Esk to form the Tamar, are spots famed throughout the
Australian commonwealth for their romantic beauty. The city is the
commercial capital of northern Tasmania, the river Tamar being navigable
up to the town for vessels of 4000 tons. The larger ships lie in
midstream and discharge into lighters, while vessels of 2000 tons can
berth alongside the wharves on to which the railway runs. Launceston is
a well-planned, pleasant town, lighted by electricity, with numerous
parks and squares and many fine buildings. The post office, the custom
house, the post office savings bank and the Launceston bank form an
attractive group; the town hall is used exclusively for civic purposes,
public meetings and social functions being held in an elegant building
called the Albert hall. There are also a good art gallery, a theatre and
a number of fine churches, one of which, the Anglican church of St John,
dates from 1824. The city, which attained that rank in 1889, has two
attractive suburbs, Invermay and Trevallyn; it has a racecourse at
Mowbray 2 m. distant, and is the centre and port of an important
fruit-growing district. Pop. of the city proper (1901) 18,022, of the
city and suburbs 21,180.
LAUNCH. (1) A verb meaning originally to hurl, discharge a missile or
other object, also to rush or shoot out suddenly or rapidly. It is
particularly used of the setting afloat a vessel from the stocks on
which she has been built. The word is an adaptation of O. Fr. _lancher_,
_lancier_, to hurl, throw, Lat. _lanceare_, from _lancea_, a lance or
spear. (2) The name of a particular type of boat, usually applied to one
of the largest size of ships' boats, or to a large boat moved by
electricity, steam or other power. The word is an adaptation of the
Span. _lancha_, pinnace, which is usually connected with _lanchara_, the
Portuguese name, common in 16th and 17th century histories, for a
fast-moving small vessel. This word is of Malay origin and is derived
from _lanchar_, quick, speedy.
LAUNDRY, a place or establishment where soiled linen, &c., is washed.
The word is a contraction of an earlier form _lavendry_, from Lat.
_lavanda_, things to be washed, _lavare_, to wash. "Launder," a similar
contraction of _lavender_, was one (of either sex) who washes linen;
from its use as a verb came the form "launderer," employed as both
masculine and feminine in America, and the feminine form "laundress,"
which is also applied to a female caretaker of chambers in the Inns of
Court, London.
Laundry-work has become an important industry, organized on a scale
which requires elaborate mechanical plant very different from the simple
appliances that once sufficed for domestic needs. For the actual
cleansing of the articles, instead of being rubbed by the hand or
trodden by the foot of the washerwoman, or stirred and beaten with a
"dolly" in the wash-tub, they are very commonly treated in rotary
washing machines driven by power. These machines consist of an outer
casing containing an inner horizontal cylindrical cage, in which the
clothes are placed. By the rotation of this cage, which is reversed by
automatic gearing every few turns, they are rubbed and tumbled on each
other in the soap and water which is contained in the outer casing and
enters the inner cylinder through perforations. The outer casing is
provided with inlet valves for hot and cold water, and with discharge
valves; and often also arrangements are made for the admission of steam
under pressure, so that the contents can be boiled. Thus the operations
of washing, boiling, rinsing and blueing (this last being the addition
of a blue colouring matter to mask the yellow tint and thus give the
linen the appearance of whiteness) can be performed without removing the
articles from the machine. For drying, the old methods of wringing by
hand, or by machines in which the clothes were squeezed between rollers
of wood or india-rubber, have been largely superseded by
"hydro-extractors" or "centrifugals." In these the wet garments are
placed in a perforated cage or basket, supported on vertical bearings,
which is rotated at a high speed (1000 to 1500 times a minute) and in a
short time as much as 85% of the moisture may thus be removed. The
drying is often completed in an apartment through which dry air is
forced by fans. In the process of finishing linen the old-fashioned
laundress made use of the mangle, about the only piece of mechanism at
her disposal. In the box-mangle the articles were pressed on a flat
surface by rollers which were weighted with a box full of stones, moved
to and fro by a rack and pinion. In a later and less cumbrous form of
the machine they were passed between wooden rollers or "bowls" held
close together by weighted levers. An important advance was marked by
the introduction of machines which not only smooth and press the linen
like the mangle, but also give it the glazed finish obtained by hot
ironing. Machines of this kind are essentially the same as the calenders
used in paper and textile manufacture. They are made in a great variety
of forms, to enable them to deal with articles of different shapes, but
they may be described generally as consisting either of a polished metal
roller, heated by steam or gas, which works against a blanketted or
felted surface in the form of another roller or a flat table, or, as in
the Decoudun type, of a felted metal roller rotating against a heated
concave bed of polished metal. In cases where hand-ironing is resorted
to, time is economized by the employment of irons which are continuously
heated by gas or electricity.
LA UNION, a seaport and the capital of the department of La Union,
Salvador, 144 m. E.S.E. of San Salvador. Pop. (1905) about 4000. La
Union is situated at the foot of a lofty volcano, variously known as
Conchagua, Pinos and Meanguera, and on a broad indentation in the
western shore of Fonseca Bay. Its harbour, the best in the republic, is
secure in all weathers and affords good anchorage to large ships. La
Union is the port of shipment for the exports of San Miguel and other
centres of production in eastern Salvador.
LA UNION, a town of eastern Spain in the province of Murcia, 5 m. by
rail E. of Cartagena and close to the Mediterranean Sea. Pop. (1900)
30,275, of whom little more than half inhabit the town itself. The rest
are scattered among the numerous metal works and mines of iron,
manganese, calamine, sulphur and lead, which are included within the
municipal boundaries. La Union is quite a modern town, having sprung up
in the second half of the 19th century. It has good modern municipal
buildings, schools, hospital, town hall and large factories.
LAURAHÜTTE, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, 5
m. S.E. of Beuthen, on the railway Tarnowitz-Emanuelsegen. It has an
Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, but is especially noteworthy
for its huge iron works, which employ about 6000 hands. Pop. (1900)
13,571.
LAUREATE (Lat. _laureatus_, from _laurea_, the laurel tree). The laurel,
in ancient Greece, was sacred to Apollo, and as such was used to form a
crown or wreath of honour for poets and heroes; and this usage has been
widespread. The word "laureate" or "laureated" thus came in English to
signify eminent, or associated with glory, literary or military.
"Laureate letters" in old times meant the despatches announcing a
victory; and the epithet was given, even officially (e.g. to John
Skelton) by universities, to distinguished poets. The name of
"bacca-laureate" for the university degree of bachelor shows a confusion
with a supposed etymology from Lat. _bacca lauri_ (the laurel berry),
which though incorrect (see BACHELOR) involves the same idea. From the
more general use of the term "poet laureate" arose its restriction in
England to the office of the poet attached to the royal household, first
held by Ben Jonson, for whom the position was, in its essentials,
created by Charles I. in 1617. (Jonson's appointment does not seem to
have been formally made as poet-laureate, but his position was
equivalent to that). The office was really a development of the practice
of earlier times, when minstrels and versifiers were part of the retinue
of the King; it is recorded that Richard Coeur de Lion had a
_versificator regis_ (Gulielmus Peregrinus), and Henry III. had a
versificator (Master Henry); in the 15th century John Kay, also a
"versifier," described himself as Edward IV.'s "humble poet laureate."
Moreover, the crown had shown its patronage in various ways; Chaucer had
been given a pension and a perquisite of wine by Edward III., and
Spenser a pension by Queen Elizabeth. W. Hamilton classes Chaucer,
Gower, Kay, Andrew Bernard, Skelton, Robert Whittington, Richard
Edwards, Spenser and Samuel Daniel, as "volunteer Laureates." Sir
William Davenant succeeded Jonson in 1638, and the title of poet
laureate was conferred by letters patent on Dryden in 1670, two years
after Davenant's death, coupled with a pension of £300 and a butt of
Canary wine. The post then became a regular institution, though the
emoluments varied, Dryden's successors being T. Shadwell (who originated
annual birthday and New Year odes), Nahum Tate, Nicholas Rowe, Laurence
Eusden, Colley Cibber, William Whitehead, Thomas Warton, H. J. Pye,
Southey, Wordsworth, Tennyson and, four years after Tennyson's death,
Alfred Austin. The office took on a new lustre from the personal
distinction of Southey, Wordsworth and Tennyson; it had fallen into
contempt before Southey, and on Tennyson's death there was a
considerable feeling that no possible successor was acceptable (William
Morris and Swinburne being hardly court poets). Eventually, however, the
undesirability of breaking with tradition for temporary reasons, and
thus severing the one official link between literature and the state,
prevailed over the protests against following Tennyson by any one of
inferior genius. It may be noted that abolition was similarly advocated
when Warton and Wordsworth died.
The poet laureate, being a court official, was considered responsible
for producing formal and appropriate verses on birthdays and state
occasions; but his activity in this respect has varied, according to
circumstances, and the custom ceased to be obligatory after Pye's death.
Wordsworth stipulated, before accepting the honour, that no formal
effusions from him should be considered a necessity; but Tennyson was
generally happy in his numerous poems of this class. The emoluments of
the post have varied; Ben Jonson first received a pension of 100 marks,
and later an annual "terse of Canary wine." To Pye an allowance of £27
was made instead of the wine. Tennyson drew £72 a year from the lord
chamberlain's department, and £27 from the lord steward's in lieu of the
"butt of sack."
See Walter Hamilton's _Poets Laureate of England_ (1879), and his
contributions to _Notes and Queries_ (Feb. 4, 1893).
LAUREL. At least four shrubs or small trees are called by this name in
Great Britain, viz. the common or cherry laurel (_Prunus Laurocerasus_),
the Portugal laurel (_P. lusitanica_), the bay or sweet laurel (_Laurus
nobilis_) and the spurge laurel (_Daphne Laureola_). The first two
belong to the rose family (_Rosaceae_), to the section _Cerasus_ (to
which also belongs the cherry) of the genus _Prunus_.
The common laurel is a native of the woody and sub-alpine regions of the
Caucasus, of the mountains of northern Persia, of north-western Asia
Minor and of the Crimea. It was received into Europe in 1576, and
flowered for the first time in 1583. Ray in 1688 relates that it was
first brought from Trebizonde to Constantinople, thence to Italy,
France, Germany and England. Parkinson in his _Paradisus_ records it as
growing in a garden at Highgate in 1629; and in Johnson's edition of
Gerard's _Herbal_ (1633) it is recorded that the plant "is now got into
many of our choice English gardens, where it is well respected for the
beauty of the leaues and their lasting or continuall greennesse" (see
Loudon's _Arboretum_, ii. 717). The leaves of this plant are rather
large, broadly lance-shaped and of a leathery consistence, the margin
being somewhat serrated. They are remarkable for their poisonous
properties, giving off the odour of bitter almonds when bruised; the
vapour thus issuing is sufficient to kill small insects by the prussic
acid which it contains. The leaves when cut up finely and distilled
yield oil of bitter almonds and hydrocyanic (prussic) acid. Sweetmeats,
custards, cream, &c., are often flavoured with laurel-leaf water, as it
imparts the same flavour as bitter almonds; but it should be used
sparingly, as it is a dangerous poison, having several times proved
fatal. The first case occurred in 1731, which induced a careful
investigation to be made of its nature; Schrader in 1802 discovered it
to contain hydrocyanic acid. The effects of the distilled laurel-leaf
water on living vegetables is to destroy them like ordinary prussic
acid; while a few drops act on animals as a powerful poison. It was
introduced into the British pharmacopoeia in 1839, but is generally
superseded by the use of prussic acid. The _aqua laurocerasi_, or cherry
laurel water, is now standardized to contain 0.1% of hydrocyanic acid.
It must not be given in doses larger than 2 drachms. It contains benzole
hydrate, which is antiseptic, and is therefore suitable for hypodermic
injection; but the drug is of inconsistent strength, owing to the
volatility of prussic acid.
The following varieties of the common laurel are in cultivation: the
Caucasian (_Prunus Laurocerasus_, var. _caucasica_), which is hardier
and bears very rich dark-green glossy foliage; the Versailles laurel
(var. _latifolia_), which has larger leaves; the Colchican (var.
_colchica_), which is a dwarf-spreading bush with narrow sharply
serrated pale-green leaves. There is also the variety _rotundifolia_
with short broad leaves, the Grecian with narrow leaves and the
Alexandrian with very small leaves.
The Portugal laurel is a native of Portugal and Madeira. It was
introduced into England about the year 1648, when it was cultivated in
the Oxford Botanic Gardens. During the first half of the 18th century
this plant, the common laurel and the holly were almost the only hardy
evergreen shrubs procurable in British nurseries. They are all three
tender about Paris, and consequently much less seen in the neighbourhood
of that city than in England, where they stand the ordinary winters but
not very severe ones. There is a variety (_myrtifolia_) of compact habit
with smaller narrow leaves, also a variegated variety.
The evergreen glossy foliage of the common and Portugal laurels render
them well adapted for shrubberies, while the racemes of white flowers
are not devoid of beauty. The former often ripens its insipid drupes,
but the Portugal rarely does so. It appears to be less able to
accommodate itself to the English climate, as the wood does not usually
"ripen" so satisfactorily. Hence it is rather more liable to be cut by
the frost. It is grown in the open air in the southern United States.
The bay or sweet laurel (_Laurus nobilis_) belongs to the family
Lauraceae, which contains sassafras, benzoin, camphor and other trees
remarkable for their aromatic properties. It is a large evergreen shrub,
sometimes reaching the height of 60 ft., but rarely assuming a truly
tree-like character. The leaves are smaller than those of the preceding
laurels, possessing an aromatic and slightly bitter flavour, and are
quite devoid of the poisonous properties of the cherry laurel. The small
yellowish-green flowers are produced in axillary clusters, are male or
female, and consist of a simple 4-leaved perianth which encloses nine
stamens in the male, the anthers of which dehisce by valves which lift
upwards as in the common barberry, and carry glandular processes at the
base of the filament. The fruit consists of a succulent berry surrounded
by the persistent base of the perianth. The bay laurel is a native of
Italy, Greece and North Africa, and is abundantly grown in the British
Isles as an evergreen shrub, as it stands most winters. The date of its
introduction is unknown, but must have been previous to 1562, as it is
mentioned in Turner's _Herbal_ published in that year. A full
description also occurs in Gerard's _Herball_ (1597, p. 1222). It was
used for strewing the floors of houses of distinguished persons in the
reign of Elizabeth. Several varieties have been cultivated, differing in
the character of their foliage, as the _undulata_ or wave-leafed,
_salicifolia_ or willow-leafed, the variegated, the broad-leafed and the
curled; there is also the double-flowered variety. The bay laurel was
carried to North America by the early colonists.
This laurel is generally held to be the _Daphne_ of the ancients, though
Lindley, following Gerard (_Herball_, 1597, p. 761), asserted that the
Greek _Daphne_ was _Ruscus racemosus_. Among the Greeks the laurel was
sacred to Apollo, especially in connexion with Tempe, in whose laurel
groves the god himself obtained purification from the blood of the
Python. This legend was dramatically represented at the Pythian festival
once in eight years, a boy fleeing from Delphi to Tempe, and after a
time being led back with song, crowned and adorned with laurel. Similar
[Greek: daphnêphoriai] were known elsewhere in Greece. Apollo, himself
purified, was the author of purification and atonement to other
penitents, and the laurel was the symbol of this power, which came to be
generally associated with his person and sanctuaries. The relation of
Apollo to the laurel was expressed in the legend of Daphne (q.v.). The
victors in the Pythian games were crowned with the laurels of Apollo,
and thus the laurel became the symbol of triumph in Rome as well as in
Greece. As Apollo was the god of poets, the _Laurea Apollinaris_
naturally belonged to poetic merit (see LAUREATE). The various
prerogatives of the laurel among the ancients are collected by Pliny
(_Hist. Nat._ xv. 30). It was a sign of truce, like the olive branch;
letters announcing victory and the arms of the victorious soldiery were
garnished with it; it was thought that lightning could not strike it,
and the emperor Tiberius always wore a laurel wreath during
thunderstorms. From its association with the divine power of
purification and protection, it was often set before the door of Greek
houses, and among the Romans it was the guardian of the gates of the
Caesars (Ovid, _Met._ i. 562 sq.). The laurel worn by Augustus and his
successors had a miraculous history: the laurel grove at the imperial
villa by the ninth milestone on the Flaminian way sprang from a shoot
sent from heaven to Livia Drusilla (Sueton. _Galba_, i.). Like the
olive, the laurel was forbidden to profane use. It was employed in
divination; the crackling of its leaves in the sacred flame was a good
omen (Tibull. ii. 5. 81), and their silence unlucky (Propert. ii. 21);
and the leaves when chewed excited a prophetic afflatus ([Greek:
daphnêphagoi], cf. Tibull. ii. 5. 63). There is a poem enumerating the
ancient virtues of the laurel by J. Passeratius (1594).
The last of the plants mentioned above under the name of laurel is the
so-called spurge laurel (_Daphne Laureola_). This and one other species
(_D. Mezereum_), the mezereon, are the sole representatives of the
family Thymelaeaceae in Great Britain. The spurge laurel is a small
evergreen shrub, with alternate somewhat lanceolate leaves with entire
margins. The green flowers are produced in early spring, and form
drooping clusters at the base of the leaves. The calyx is four-cleft,
and carries eight stamens in two circles of four each within the tube.
The pistil forms a berry, green at first, but finally black. The
mezereon differs in blossoming before the leaves are produced, while the
flowers are lilac instead of green. The bark furnishes the drug _Cortex
Mezerei_, for which that of the spurge laurel is often substituted. Both
are powerfully acrid, but the latter is less so than the bark of
mezereon. It is now only used as an ingredient of the _liquor sarsae
compositus concentratus_. Of other species in cultivation there are _D.
Fortunei_ from China, which has lilac flowers; _D. pontica_, a native of
Asia Minor; _D. alpina_, from the Italian Alps; _D. collina_, south
European; and _D. Cneorum_, the garland flower or trailing daphne, the
handsomest of the hardy species.
See Hemsley's _Handbook of Hardy Trees_, &c.
LAURENS, HENRY (1724-1792), American statesman, was born in Charleston,
South Carolina, on the 24th of February 1724, of Huguenot ancestry. When
sixteen he became a clerk in a counting-house in London, and later
engaged in commercial pursuits with great success at Charleston until
1771, when he retired from active business. He spent the next three
years travelling in Europe and superintending the education of his sons
in England. In spite of his strong attachment to England, and although
he had defended the Stamp Act, in 1774, in the hope of averting war, he
united with thirty-seven other Americans in a petition to parliament
against the passing of the Boston Port Bill. Becoming convinced that a
peaceful settlement was impracticable, he returned to Charleston at the
close of 1774, and there allied himself with the conservative element of
the Whig party. He was soon made president of the South Carolina council
of safety, and in 1776 vice-president of the state; in the same year he
was sent as a delegate from South Carolina to the general continental
congress at Philadelphia, of which body he was president from November
1777 until December 1778. In August 1780 he started on a mission to
negotiate on behalf of congress a loan of ten million dollars in
Holland; but he was captured on the 3rd of September off the Banks of
Newfoundland by the British frigate "Vestal," taken to London and
closely imprisoned in the Tower. His papers were found to contain a
sketch of a treaty between the United States and Holland projected by
William Lee, in the service of Congress, and Jan de Neufville, acting on
behalf of Mynheer Van Berckel, pensionary of Amsterdam, and this
discovery eventually led to war between Great Britain and the United
Provinces. During his imprisonment his health became greatly impaired.
On the 31st of December 1781 he was released on parole, and he was
finally exchanged for Cornwallis. In June 1782 he was appointed one of
the American commissioners for negotiating peace with Great Britain, but
he did not reach Paris until the 28th of November 1782, only two days
before the preliminaries of peace were signed by himself, John Adams,
Franklin and Jay. On the day of signing, however, he procured the
insertion of a clause prohibiting the British from "carrying away any
negroes or other property of American inhabitants"; and this
subsequently led to considerable friction between the British and
American governments. On account of failing health he did not remain for
the signing of the definitive treaty, but returned to Charleston, where
he died on the 8th of December 1792.
His son, JOHN LAURENS (1754-1782), American revolutionary officer, was
born at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 28th of October 1754. He was
educated in England, and on his return to America in 1777, in the height
of the revolutionary struggle, he joined Washington's staff. He soon
gained his commander's confidence, which he reciprocated with the most
devoted attachment, and was entrusted with the delicate duties of a
confidential secretary, which he performed with much tact and skill. He
was present in all Washington's battles, from Brandywine to Yorktown,
and his gallantry on every occasion has gained him the title of "the
Bayard of the Revolution." Laurens displayed bravery even to rashness in
the storming of the Chew mansion at Germantown; at Monmouth, where he
saved Washington's life, and was himself severely wounded; and at
Coosahatchie, where, with a handful of men, he defended a pass against a
large English force under General Augustine Prevost, and was again
wounded. He fought a duel against General Charles Lee, and wounded him,
on account of that officer's disrespectful conduct towards Washington.
Laurens distinguished himself further at Savannah, and at the siege of
Charleston in 1780. After the capture of Charleston by the English, he
rejoined Washington, and was selected by him as a special envoy to
appeal to the king of France for supplies for the relief of the American
armies, which had been brought by prolonged service and scanty pay to
the verge of dissolution. The more active co-operation of the French
fleets with the land forces in Virginia, which was one result of his
mission, brought about the disaster of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Laurens
lost no time in rejoining the army, and at Yorktown was at the head of
an American storming party which captured an advanced redoubt. Laurens
was designated with the vicomte de Noailles to arrange the terms of the
surrender, which virtually ended the war, although desultory
skirmishing, especially in the South, attended the months of delay
before peace was formally concluded. In one of these trifling affairs on
the 27th of August 1782, on the Combahee river, Laurens exposed himself
needlessly and was killed. Washington lamented deeply the death of
Laurens, saying of him, "He had not a fault that I could discover,
unless it were intrepidity bordering upon rashness."
The most valuable of Henry Laurens's papers and pamphlets including
the important "Narrative of the Capture of Henry Laurens, of his
Confinement in the Tower of London, &c., 1780, 1781, 1782," in vol. i.
(Charleston, 1857) of the Society's _Collections_, have been published
by the South Carolina Historical Society. John Laurens's military
correspondence, with a brief memoir by W. G. Simms, was privately
printed by the Bradford Club, New York, in 1867.
LAURENT, FRANÇOIS (1810-1887), Belgian historian and jurisconsult, was
born at Luxemburg on the 8th of July 1810. He held a high appointment in
the ministry of justice for some time before he became professor of
civil law in the university of Ghent in 1836. His advocacy of liberal
and anti-clerical principles both from his chair and in the press made
him bitter enemies, but he retained his position until his death on the
11th of February 1887. He treated the relations of church and state in
_L'Église et l'état_ (Brussels, 3 vols., 1858-1862; new and revised
edition, 1865), and the same subject occupied a large proportion of the
eighteen volumes of his chief historical work, _Études sur l'histoire de
l'humanité_ (Ghent and Brussels, 1855-1870), which aroused considerable
interest beyond the boundaries of Belgium. His fame as a lawyer rests on
his authoritative exposition of the Code Napoléon in his _Principes de
droit civil_ (Brussels, 33 vols., 1869-1878), and his _Droit civil
international_ (Brussels, 8 vols., 1880-1881). He was charged in 1879 by
the minister of justice with the preparation of a report on the proposed
revision of the civil code. Besides his anti-clerical pamphlets his
minor writings include much discussion of social questions, of the
organization of savings banks, asylums, &c., and he founded the _Société
Callier_ for the encouragement of thrift among the working classes. With
Gustave Callier, whose funeral in 1863 was made the occasion of a
display of clerical intolerance, Laurent had much in common, and the
efforts of the society were directed to the continuation of Callier's
philanthropic schemes.
For a complete list of his works, see G. Koninck, _Bibliographie
nationale_ (Brussels, vol. ii., 1892).
LAURENTINA, VIA, an ancient road of Italy, leading southwards from Rome.
The question of the nomenclature of the group of roads between the Via
Ardeatina and the Via Ostiensis is somewhat difficult, and much depends
on the view taken as to the site of Laurentum. It seems probable,
however, that the Via Laurentina proper is that which led out of the
Porta Ardeatina of the Aurelian wall and went direct to Tor Paterno,
while the road branching from the Via Ostiensis at the third mile, and
leading past Decimo to Lavinium (Pratica), which crosses the other road
at right angles not far from its destination (the Laurentina there
running S.W. and that to Lavinium S.E.) may for convenience be called
Lavinatis, though this name does not occur in ancient times. On this
latter road, beyond Decimo, two milestones, one of Tiberius, the other
of Maxentius, each bearing the number 11, have been found; and farther
on, at Capocotta, traces of ancient buildings, and an important
sepulchral inscription of a Jewish ruler of a synagogue have come to
light. That the Via Laurentina was near the Via Ardeatina is clear from
the fact that the same contractor was responsible for both roads.
Laurentum was also accessible by a branch from the Via Ostiensis at the
eighth mile (at Malafede) leading past Castel Porziano, the royal
hunting-lodge, which is identical with the ancient Ager Solonius (in
which, Festus tells us, was situated the Pomonal or sacred grove of
Pomona) and which later belonged to Marius.
See R. Lanciani in articles quoted under LAVINIUM. (T. As.)
LAURENTIUS, PAUL (1554-1624), Lutheran divine, was born on the 30th of
March 1554 at Ober Wierau, where his father, of the same names, was
pastor. From a school at Zwickau he entered (1573) the university of
Leipzig, graduating in 1577. In 1578 he became rector of the Martin
school at Halberstadt; in 1583 he was appointed town's preacher at
Plauen-im-Vogtland, and in 1586 superintendent at Oelnitz. On the 20th
of October 1595 he took his doctorate in theology at Jena, his thesis on
the _Symbolum Athanasii_ (1597), gaining him similar honours at
Wittenberg and Leipzig. He was promoted (1605) to be pastor and
superintendent at Dresden, and transferred (1616) to the superintendence
at Meissen, where he died on the 24th of February 1624. His works
consist chiefly of commentaries and expository discourses on prophetic
books of the Old Testament, parts of the Psalter, the Lord's Prayer and
the history of the Passion. In two orations he compared Luther to
Elijah. Besides theological works he was the author of a _Spicilegium
Gnomonologicum_ (1612).
The main authority is C. Schlegel, the historian of the Dresden
superintendents (1698), summarized by H. W. Rotermund, in the
additions (1810) to Jöcher, _Gelehrten-Lexicon_ (1750). (A. Go.*)
LAURIA (LURIA or LORIA) ROGER DE (d. 1305), admiral of Aragon and
Sicily, was the most prominent figure in the naval war which arose
directly from the Sicilian Vespers. Nothing is really known of his life
before he was named admiral in 1283. His father was a supporter of the
Hohenstaufen, and his mother came to Spain with Costanza, the daughter
of Manfred of Beneventum, when she married Peter, the eldest son and
heir of James the Conqueror of Aragon. According to one account Bella of
Lauria, the admiral's mother, had been the foster mother of Costanza.
Roger, who accompanied his mother, was bred at the court of Aragon and
endowed with lands in the newly conquered kingdom of Valencia. When the
misrule of Charles of Anjou's French followers had produced the famous
revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, Roger de Lauria
accompanied King Peter III. of Aragon on the expedition which under the
cover of an attack on the Moorish kingdom of Tunis was designed to be an
attempt to obtain possession of all or at least part of the Hohenstaufen
dominions in Naples and Sicily which the king claimed by right of his
wife as the heiress of Manfred. In 1283, when the island had put itself
under the protection of Peter III. and had crowned him king, he gave the
command of his fleet to Roger de Lauria. The commission speaks of him in
the most laudatory terms, but makes no reference to previous military
services.
From this time forward till the peace of Calatabellota in 1303, Roger
de Lauria was the ever victorious leader of fleets in the service of
Aragon, both in the waters of southern Italy and on the coast of
Catalonia. In the year of his appointment he defeated a French naval
force in the service of Charles of Anjou, off Malta. The main object
before him was to repel the efforts of the Angevine party to reconquer
Sicily and then to carry the war into their dominions in Naples.
Although Roger de Lauria did incidental fighting on shore, he was as
much a naval officer as any modern admiral, and his victories were won
by good manoeuvring and by discipline. The Catalan squadron, on which
the Sicilian was moulded, was in a state of high and intelligent
efficiency. Its chiefs relied not on merely boarding, and the use of the
sword, as the French forces of Charles of Anjou did, but on the use of
the ram, and of the powerful cross-bows used by the Catalans either by
hand or, in case of the larger ones, mounted on the bulwarks, with great
skill. The conflict was in fact the equivalent on the water of the
battles between the English bowmen and the disorderly chivalry of France
in the Hundred Years' War. In 1284 Roger defeated the Angevine fleet in
the Bay of Naples, taking prisoner the heir to the kingdom, Charles of
Salerno, who remained a prisoner in the hands of the Aragonese in
Sicily, and later in Spain, for years. In 1285 he fought on the coast of
Catalonia one of the most brilliant campaigns in all naval history. The
French king Philippe le Hardi had invaded Catalonia with a large army to
which the pope gave the character of crusaders, in order to support his
cousin of Anjou in his conflict with the Aragonese. The king, Peter
III., had offended his nobles by his vigorous exercise of the royal
authority, and received little support from them, but the outrages
perpetrated by the French invaders raised the towns and country against
them. The invaders advanced slowly, taking the obstinately defended
towns one by one, and relying on the co-operation of a large number of
allies, who were stationed in squadrons along the coast, and who brought
stores and provisions from Narbonne and Aigues Mortes. They relied in
fact wholly on their fleet for their existence. A successful blow struck
at that would force them to retreat. King Peter was compelled to risk
Sicily for a time, and he recalled Roger de Lauria from Palermo to the
coast of Catalonia. The admiral reached Barcelona on the 24th of August,
and was informed of the disposition of the French. He saw that if he
could break the centre of their line of squadrons, stretched as it was
so far that its general superiority of numbers was lost in the attempt
to occupy the whole of the coast, he could then dispose of the
extremities in detail. On the night of the 9th of September he fell on
the central squadron of the French fleet near the Hormigas. The Catalan
and Sicilian squadrons doubled on the end of the enemies' line, and by a
vigorous employment of the ram, as well as by the destructive shower of
bolts from the cross-bows, which cleared the decks of the French, gained
a complete victory. The defeat of the enemy was followed, as usually in
medieval naval wars, by a wholesale massacre. Roger then made for Rosas,
and tempted out the French squadron stationed there by approaching under
French colours. In the open it was beaten in its turn. The result was
the capture of the town, and of the stores collected there by King
Philippe for the support of his army. Within a short time he was forced
to retreat amid sufferings from hunger, and the incessant attacks of the
Catalan mountaineers, by which his army was nearly annihilated. This
campaign, which was followed up by destructive attacks on the French
coast, saved Catalonia from the invaders, and completely ruined the
French naval power for the time being. No medieval admiral of any nation
displayed an equal combination of intellect and energy, and none of
modern times has surpassed it. The work had been so effectually done on
the coast of Catalonia that Roger de Lauria was able to return to
Sicily, and resume his command in the struggle of Aragonese and Angevine
to gain, or to hold, the possession of Naples.
He maintained his reputation and was uniformly successful in his battles
at sea, but they were not always fought for the defence of Sicily. The
death of Peter III. in 1286 and of his eldest son Alphonso in the
following year caused a division among the members of the house of
Aragon. The new king, James, would have given up Sicily to the Angevine
line with which he made peace and alliance, but his younger brother
Fadrique accepted the crown offered him by the Sicilians, and fought for
his own hand against both the Angevines and his senior. King James tried
to force him to submission without success. Roger de Lauria adhered for
a time to Fadrique, but his arrogant temper made him an intolerable
supporter, and he appears, moreover, to have thought that he was bound
to obey the king of Aragon. His large estates in Valencia gave him a
strong reason for not offending that sovereign. He therefore left
Fadrique, who confiscated his estates in Sicily and put one of his
nephews to death as a traitor. For this Roger de Lauria took a ferocious
revenge in two successive victories at sea over the Sicilians. When the
war, which had become a ravening of wild beasts, was at last ended by
the peace of Calatabellota, Roger de Lauria retired to Valencia, where
he died on the 2nd of January 1305, and was buried, by his express
orders, in the church of Santas Creus, a now deserted monastery of the
Cistercians, at the feet of his old master Peter III. In his ferocity,
and his combination of loyalty to his feudal lord with utter want of
scruple to all other men, Roger belonged to his age. As a captain he was
far above his contemporaries and his successors for many generations.
Signor Amari's _Guerra del Vespro Siciliano_ gives a general picture
of these wars, but the portrait of Roger de Lauria must be sought in
the _Chronicle_ of the Catalan Ramon de Muntaner who knew him and was
formed in his school. There is a very fair and well "documented"
account of the masterly campaign of 1285 in Charles de la Roncière's
_Histoire de la marine française_, i. 189-217. (D. H.)
LAURIA, or LORIA, a city of Basilicata, Italy, in the province of
Potenza, situated near the borders of Calabria, 7½ m. by road S. of
Lagonegro. Pop. (1901) 10,470. It is a walled town on the steep side of
a hill with another portion in the plain below, 1821 ft. above
sea-level. The castle was the birthplace of Ruggiero di Loria, the great
Italian admiral of the 13th century. It was destroyed by the French
under Masséna in 1806.
LAURIER, SIR WILFRID (1841- ), Canadian statesman, was born on the
20th of November 1841, at St Lin in the province of Quebec. The child of
French Roman Catholic parents, he attended the elementary school of his
native parish and for eight or nine months was a pupil of the Protestant
elementary school at New Glasgow in order to learn English; his
association with the Presbyterian family with whom he lived during this
period had a permanent influence on his mind. At twelve years of age he
entered L'Assomption college, and was there for seven years. The
college, like all the secondary schools in Quebec then available for
Roman Catholics, was under direct ecclesiastical control. On leaving it
he entered a law office at Montreal and took the law course at McGill
University. At graduation he delivered the valedictory address for his
class. This, like so many of his later utterances, closed with an appeal
for sympathy and union between the French and English races as the
secret of the future of Canada. He began to practise law in Montreal,
but owing to ill-health soon removed to Athabaska, where he opened a law
office and undertook also to edit _Le Défricheur_, a newspaper then on
the eve of collapse. At Athabaska, the seat of one of the superior
courts of Quebec, the population of the district was fairly divided
between French- and English-speaking people, and Laurier's career was
undoubtedly influenced by his constant association with English-speaking
people and his intimate acquaintance with their views and aspirations.
While at Montreal he had joined the Institut Canadien, a literary and
scientific society which, owing to its liberal discussions and the fact
that certain books upon its shelves were on the _Index expurgatorius_,
was finally condemned by the Roman Catholic authorities. _Le Défricheur_
was an organ of extreme French sentiment, opposed to confederation, and
also under ecclesiastical censure. One of its few surviving copies
contains an article by Laurier opposing confederation as a scheme
designed in the interest of the English colonies in North America, and
certain to prove the tomb of the French race and the ruin of Lower
Canada. The Liberals of Quebec under the leadership of Sir Antoine
Dorion were hostile to confederation, or at least to the terms of union
agreed upon at the Quebec conference, and Laurier in editorials and
speeches maintained the position of Dorion and his allies. He was
elected to the Quebec legislature in 1871, and his first speech in the
provincial assembly excited great interest, on account of its literary
qualities and the attractive manner and logical method of the speaker.
He was not less successful in the Dominion House of Commons, to which he
was elected in 1874. During his first two years in the federal
parliament his chief speeches were made in defence of Riel and the
French halfbreeds who were concerned in the Red River rebellion, and on
fiscal questions. Sir John Macdonald, then in opposition, had committed
his party to a protectionist policy, and Laurier, notwithstanding that
the Liberal party stood for a low tariff, avowed himself to be "a
moderate protectionist." He declared that if he were in Great Britain he
would be a free trader, but that free trade or protection must be
applied according to the necessities of a country, and that which
protection necessarily involved taxation it was the price a young and
vigorous nation must pay for its development. But the Liberal
government, to which Laurier was admitted as minister of inland revenue
in 1877, made only a slight increase in duties, raising the general
tariff from 15% to 17½%; and against the political judgment of Alexander
Mackenzie, Sir Richard Cartwright, George Brown, Laurier and other of
the more influential leaders of the party, it adhered to a low tariff
platform. In the bye-election which followed Laurier's admission to the
cabinet he was defeated--the only personal defeat he ever sustained; but
a few weeks later he was returned for Quebec East, a constituency which
he held thenceforth by enormous majorities. In 1878 his party went out
of office and Sir John Macdonald entered upon a long term of power, with
protection as the chief feature of his policy, to which was afterwards
added the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway.
After the defeat of the Mackenzie government, Laurier sat in Parliament
as the leader of the Quebec Liberals and first lieutenant to the Hon.
Edward Blake, who succeeded Mackenzie in the leadership of the party. He
was associated with Blake in his sustained opposition to high tariff,
and to the Conservative plan for the construction of the Canadian
Pacific railway, and was a conspicuous figure in the long struggle
between Sir John Macdonald and the leaders of the Liberal party to
settle the territorial limits of the province of Ontario and the
legislative rights of the provinces under the constitution. He was
forced also to maintain a long conflict with the ultramontane element of
the Roman Catholic church in Quebec, which for many years had a close
working alliance with the Conservative politicians of the province and
even employed spiritual coercion in order to detach votes from the
Liberal party. Notwithstanding that Quebec was almost solidly Roman
Catholic the Rouges sternly resisted clerical pressure; they appealed to
the courts and had certain elections voided on the ground of undue
clerical influence, and at length persuaded the pope to send out a
delegate to Canada, through whose inquiry into the circumstances the
abuses were checked and the zeal of the ultramontanes restrained.
In 1887, upon the resignation of Blake on the ground of ill-health,
Laurier became leader of the Liberal party, although he and many of the
more influential men in the party doubted the wisdom of the proceeding.
He was the first French Canadian to lead a federal party in Canada since
confederation. Apart from the natural fear that he would arouse
prejudice in the English-speaking provinces, the second Riel rebellion
was then still fresh in the public mind, and the fierce nationalist
agitation which Riel's execution had excited in Quebec had hardly
subsided. Laurier could hardly have come to the leadership at a more
inopportune moment, and probably he would not have accepted the office
at all if he had not believed that Blake could be persuaded to resume
the leadership when his health was restored. But from the first he won
great popularity even in the English-speaking provinces, and showed
unusual capacity for leadership. His party was beaten in the first
general election held after he became leader (1891), but even with its
policy of unrestricted reciprocity with the United States, and with Sir
John Macdonald still at the head of the Conservative party, it was
beaten by only a small majority. Five years later, with unrestricted
reciprocity relegated to the background, and with a platform which
demanded tariff revision so adjusted as not to endanger established
interests, and which opposed the federal measure designed to restore in
Manitoba the separate or Roman Catholic schools which the provincial
government had abolished, Laurier carried the country, and in July 1896
he was called by Lord Aberdeen, then governor-general, to form a
government.
He was the first French-Canadian to occupy the office of premier; and
his personal supremacy was shown by his long continuance in power.
During the years from 1896 to 1910, he came to hold a position within
the British Empire which was in its way unique, and in this period he
had seen Canadian prosperity advance progressively by leaps and bounds.
The chief features of his administration were the fiscal preference of
33(1/3)% in favour of goods imported into Canada from Great Britain, the
despatch of Canadian contingents to South Africa during the Boer war,
the contract with the Grand Trunk railway for the construction of a
second transcontinental road from ocean to ocean, the assumption by
Canada of the imperial fortresses at Halifax and Esquimault, the
appointment of a federal railway commission with power to regulate
freight charges, express rates and telephone rates, and the relations
between competing companies, the reduction of the postal rate to Great
Britain from 5 cents to 2 cents and of the domestic rate from 3 cents to
2 cents, a substantial contribution to the Pacific cable, a practical
and courageous policy of settlement and development in the Western
territories, the division of the North-West territories into the
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the enactment of the
legislation necessary to give them provincial status, and finally
(1910), a tariff arrangement with the United States, which, if not all
that Canada might claim in the way of reciprocity, showed how entirely
the course of events had changed the balance of commercial interests in
North America.
Laurier made his first visit to Great Britain on the occasion of Queen
Victoria's diamond jubilee (1897), when he received the grand cross of
the Bath; he then secured the denunciation of the Belgian and German
treaties and thus obtained for the colonies the right to make
preferential trade arrangements with the mother country. His personality
made a powerful impression in Great Britain and also in France, which he
visited before his return to Canada. His strong facial resemblance both
to Lord Beaconsfield and to Sir John Macdonald marked him out in the
public eye, and he captured attention by his charm of manner, fine
command of scholarly English and genuine eloquence. Some of his speeches
in Great Britain, coming as they did from a French-Canadian, and
revealing delicate appreciation of British sentiment and thorough
comprehension of the genius of British institutions, excited great
interest and enthusiasm, while one or two impassioned speeches in the
Canadian parliament during the Boer war profoundly influenced opinion in
Canada and had a pronounced effect throughout the empire.
A skilful party-leader, Laurier kept from the first not only the
affection of his political friends but the respect of his opponents;
while enforcing the orderly conduct of public business, he was careful
as first minister to maintain the dignity of parliament. In office he
proved more of an opportunist than his career in opposition would have
indicated, but his political courage and personal integrity remained
beyond suspicion. His jealousy for the political autonomy of Canada was
noticeable in his attitude at the Colonial conference held at the time
of King Edward's coronation, and marked all his diplomatic dealings with
the mother country. But he strove for sympathetic relations between
Canadian and imperial authorities, and favoured general legislative and
fiscal co-operation between the two countries. He strove also for good
relations between the two races in Canada, and between Canada and the
United States. Although he was classed in Canada as a Liberal, his
tendencies would in England have been considered strongly conservative;
an individualist rather than a collectivist, he opposed the intrusion
of the state into the sphere of private enterprise, and showed no
sympathy with the movement for state operation of railways, telegraphs
and telephones, or with any kindred proposal looking to the extension of
the obligations of the central government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--J. S. Willison, _Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal
Party; a Political History_ (Toronto, 1903); L. O. David, _Laurier et
son temps_ (Montreal, 1905); see also Henri Moreau, _Sir Wilfrid
Laurier, Premier Ministre du Canada_ (Paris, 1902); and the collection
of Laurier's speeches from 1871 to 1890, compiled by Ulric Barthe
(Quebec, 1890). (J. S. W.)
LAURISTON, JACQUES ALEXANDRE BERNARD LAW, MARQUIS DE (1768-1828), French
soldier and diplomatist, was the son of Jacques François Law de
Lauriston (1724-1785), a general officer in the French army, and was
born at Pondicherry on the 1st of February 1768. He obtained his first
commission about 1786, served with the artillery and on the staff in the
earlier Revolutionary campaigns, and became brigadier of artillery in
1795. Resigning in 1796, he was brought back into the service in 1800 as
aide-de-camp to Napoleon, with whom as a cadet Lauriston had been on
friendly terms. In the years immediately preceding the first empire
Lauriston was successively director of the Le Fère artillery school and
special envoy to Denmark, and he was selected to convey to England the
ratification of the peace of Amiens (1802). In 1805, having risen to the
rank of general of division, he took part in the war against Austria. He
occupied Venice and Ragusa in 1806, was made governor-general of Venice
in 1807, took part in the Erfurt negotiations of 1808, was made a count,
served with the emperor in Spain in 1808-1809 and held commands under
the viceroy Eugène Beauharnais in the Italian campaign and the advance
to Vienna in the same year. At the battle of Wagram he commanded the
guard artillery in the famous "artillery preparation" which decided the
battle. In 1811 he was made ambassador to Russia; in 1812 he held a
command in the _Grande Armée_ and won distinction by his firmness in
covering the retreat from Moscow. He commanded the V. army corps at
Lützen and Bautzen and the V. and XI. in the autumn campaign, falling
into the hands of the enemy in the disastrous retreat from Leipzig. He
was held a prisoner of war until the fall of the empire, and then joined
Louis XVIII., to whom he remained faithful in the Hundred Days. His
reward was a seat in the house of peers and a command in the royal
guard. In 1817 he was created marquis and in 1823 marshal of France.
During the Spanish War he commanded the corps which besieged and took
Pamplona. He died at Paris on the 12th of June 1828.
LAURIUM ([Greek: Laurion], mod. ERGASTIRI), a mining town in Attica,
Greece, famous for the silver mines which were one of the chief sources
of revenue of the Athenian state, and were employed for coinage. After
the battle of Marathon, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to devote
the revenue derived from the mines to shipbuilding, and thus laid the
foundation of the Athenian naval power, and made possible the victory of
Salamis. The mines, which were the property of the state, were usually
farmed out for a certain fixed sum and a percentage on the working;
slave labour was exclusively employed. Towards the end of the 5th
century the output was diminished, partly owing to the Spartan
occupation of Decelea. But the mines continued to be worked, though
Strabo records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and
Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient
workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and
pans and other arrangements for extracting the metal, may still be seen.
The mines are still worked at the present day by French and Greek
companies, but mainly for lead, manganese and cadmium. The population of
the modern town was 10,007 in 1907.
See E. Ardaillon, "Les Mines du Laurion dans l'antiquité," No. lxxvii.
of the _Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome_.
LAURIUM, a village of Houghton county, Michigan, U.S.A., near the centre
of Keweenaw peninsula, the northern extremity of the state. Pop. (1890)
1159; (1900) 5643, of whom 2286 were foreign-born; (1904) 7653; (1910)
8537. It is served by the Mineral Range and the Mohawk and Copper Range
railways. It is in one of the most productive copper districts in the
United States, and copper mining is its chief industry. Immediately W.
of Laurium is the famous Calumet and Hecla mine. The village was
formerly named Calumet, and was incorporated under that name in 1889,
but in 1895 its name was changed by the legislature to Laurium, in
allusion to the mineral wealth of Laurium in Greece. The name Calumet is
now applied to the post office in the village of Red Jacket
(incorporated 1875; pop. 1900, 4668; 1904, 3784; 1910, 4211), W. of the
Calumet and Hecla mine; and Laurium, the mining property and Red Jacket
are all in the township of Calumet (pop. 1904, state census, 28,587).
LAURUSTINUS, in botany, the popular name of a common hardy evergreen
garden shrub known botanically as _Viburnum Tinus_, with rather
dark-green ovate leaves in pairs and flat-topped clusters (or corymbs)
of white flowers, which are rose-coloured before expansion, and appear
very early in the year. It is a native of the Mediterranean region, and
was in cultivation in Britain at the end of the 16th century. _Viburnum_
belongs to the natural order Caprifoliaceae and includes the common
wayfaring tree (_V. Lantana_) and the guelder rose (_V. Opulus_).
LAURVIK, LARVIK or LAURVIG, a seaport of Norway, in Jarlsberg and
Laurvik _amt_ (county), at the head of a short fjord near the mouth of
the Laagen river, 98 m. S.S.W. of Christiania by the Skien railway. Pop.
(1900) 10,664. It has various industries, including saw and planing
mills, shipbuilding, glassworks and factories for wood-pulp, barrels and
potato flour; and an active trade in exporting timber, ice, wood-pulp
and granite, chiefly to Great Britain, and in importing from the same
country coal and salt. The port has a depth of 18 to 24 ft. beside the
quays. Four miles south is Fredriksvaern, formerly a station of the
Norwegian fleet and the seat of a naval academy. Laurviks Bad is a
favourite spa, with mineral and sulphur springs and mud-baths.
LAUSANNE, the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is the junction of
the railway lines from Geneva, from Brieg and the Simplon, from Fribourg
and Bern, and from Vallorbe (for Paris). A funicular railway connects
the upper town with the central railway station and with Ouchy, the port
of Lausanne on the lake of Geneva. Lausanne takes its name from the Flon
stream flowing through it, which was formerly called Laus (water). The
older or upper portion of the town is built on the crest and slopes of
five hillocks and in the hollows between them, all forming part of the
Jorat range. It has a picturesque appearance from the surface of the
lake, above which the cathedral rises some 500 ft., while from the town
there is a fine view across the lake towards the mountains of Savoy and
of the Valais. The quaint characteristics of the hilly site of the old
town have largely been destroyed by modern improvements, which began in
1836 and were not quite completed in 1910. The Grand Pont, designed by
the cantonal engineer, Adrien Pichard (1790-1841), was built 1839-1844,
while the Barre tunnel was pierced 1851-1855 and the bridge of Chauderon
was built in 1905. The valleys and lower portions of the town were
gradually filled up so as to form a series of squares, of which those of
Riponne and of St François are the finest, the latter now being the real
centre of the town. The railways were built between 1856 and 1862, while
the opening of the Simplon tunnel (1906) greatly increased the
commercial importance of Lausanne, which is now on the great
international highway from Paris to Milan. From 1896 onwards a
well-planned set of tramways within the town was constructed. The town
is still rapidly extending, especially towards the south and west. Since
the days of Gibbon (resident here for three periods, 1753-1758,
1763-1764 and 1783-1793), whose praises of the town have been often
repeated, Lausanne has become a favourite place of residence for
foreigners (including many English), who are especially attracted by the
excellent establishments for secondary and higher education. Hence in
1900 there were 9501 foreign residents (of whom 628 were British
subjects) out of a total population of 46,732 inhabitants; in 1905 it
was reckoned that these numbers had risen respectively to 10,625, 818
and 53,577. In 1709 it is said that the inhabitants numbered but 7432
and 9965 in 1803, while the numbers were 20,515 in 1860 and 33,340 in
1888. Of the population in 1900 the great majority was French-speaking
(only 6627 German-speaking and 3146 Italian-speaking) and Protestant
(9364 Romanists and 473 Jews).
The principal building is the cathedral church (now Protestant) of Notre
Dame, which with the castle occupies the highest position. It is the
finest medieval ecclesiastical building in Switzerland. Earlier
buildings were more or less completely destroyed by fire, but the
present edifice was consecrated in 1275 by Pope Gregory X. in the
presence of the emperor Rudolf of Habsburg. It was sacked after the
Bernese conquest (1536) and the introduction of Protestantism, but many
ancient tapestries and other precious objects are still preserved in the
Historical Museum at Bern. The church was well restored at great cost
from 1873 onwards, as it is the great pride of the citizens. Close by is
the castle, built in the early 15th century by the bishops, later the
residence of the Bernese bailiffs and now the seat of the various
branches of the administration of the canton of Vaud. Near both is the
splendid Palais de Rumine (on the Place de la Riponne), opened in 1906
and now housing the university as well as the cantonal library, the
cantonal picture gallery (or Musée Arlaud, founded 1841) and the
cantonal collections of archaeology, natural history, &c. The university
was raised to that rank in 1890, but, as an academy, dates from 1537.
Among its former teachers may be mentioned Theodore Beza, Conrad Gesner,
J. P. de Crousaz, Charles Monnard, Alexandre Vinet, Eugène Rambert,
Juste Olivier and several members of the Secretan family. On the
Montbenon heights to the south-west of the cathedral group is the
federal palace of justice, the seat (since 1886) of the federal court of
justice, which, erected by the federal constitution of 29th May 1874,
was fixed at Lausanne by a federal resolution of 26th June 1874. The
house, La Grotte, which Gibbon inhabited 1783-1793, and on the terrace
of which he completed (1787) his famous history, was demolished in 1896
to make room for the new post office that stands on the Place St
François. The asylum for the blind was mainly founded (1845) by the
generosity of W. Haldimand, an Englishman of Swiss descent. The first
book printed in Lausanne was the missal of the cathedral church (1493),
while the _Gazette de Lausanne_ (founded 1798) took that name in 1804.
Lausanne has been the birthplace of many distinguished men, such as
Benjamin Constant, the Secretans, Vinet and Rambert. It is the seat of
many benevolent, scientific and literary societies and establishments.
The original town (mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary) was on the shore
of the lake, near Vidy, south-west of the present city. It was burnt in
the 4th century by the Alamanni. Some of the inhabitants took refuge in
the hills above and there founded a new town, which acquired more
importance when Bishop Marius about 590 chose it as his see city
(perhaps transferring it from Avenches). Here rose the cathedral church,
the bishop's palace, &c. Across the Flon was a Burgundian settlement,
later known as the Bourg, while to the west was a third colony around
the church of St Laurent. These three elements joined together to form
the present city. The bishops obtained little by little great temporal
powers (the diocese extended to the left bank of the Aar) and riches,
becoming in 1125 princes of the empire, while their chapter was
recruited only from the noblest families. But in 1368 the bishop was
forced to recognize various liberties and customs that had been
gradually won by the citizens, the _Plaid Général_ of that year showing
that there was already some kind of municipal government, save for the
_cité_, which was not united with the _ville inférieure_ or the other
four _quartiers_ (Bourg, St Laurent, La Palud and Le Pont) in 1481. In
1525 the city made an alliance with Bern and Fribourg. But in 1536 the
territory of the bishop (as well as the Savoyard barony of Vaud) was
forcibly conquered by the Bernese, who at once introduced Protestantism.
The Bernese occupation lasted till 1798, though in 1723 an attempt was
made to put an end to it by Major Davel, who lost his life in
consequence. In 1798 Lausanne became a simple prefecture of the canton
Léman of the Helvetic republic. But in 1803, on the creation of the
canton of Vaud by the Act of Mediation, it became its capital. The
bishop of Lausanne resided after 1663 at Fribourg, while from 1821
onwards he added "and of Geneva" to his title.
Besides the general works dealing with the canton of Vaud (q.v.), the
following books refer specially to Lausanne: A. Bernus, _L'Imprimerie
à Lausanne et à Morges jusqu'à la fin du 16^(ième) siècle_ (Lausanne,
1904); M. Besson, _Récherches sur les origines des évêchés de Genève,
Lausanne, Sion_ (Fribourg, 1906); A. Bonnard, "Lausanne au 18^(ième)
siècle," in the work entitled _Chez nos aïeux_ (Lausanne, 1902); E.
Dupraz, _La Cathédrale de Lausanne ... étude historique_ (Lausanne,
1906); E. Gibbon, _Autobiography and Letters_ (3 vols., 1896); F.
Gingins and F. Forel, _Documents concernant l'ancien évêché de
Lausanne_, 2 parts (Lausanne, 1846-1847); J. H. Lewis and F. Gribble,
_Lausanne_ (1909); E. van Muyden and others, _Lausanne à travers les
âges_ (Lausanne, 1906); Meredith Read, _Historic Studies in Vaud,
Berne and Savoy_ (2 vols., 1897); M. Schmitt, _Mémoires hist. sur le
diocèse de Lausanne_ (2 vols., Fribourg, 1859); J. Stammler
(afterwards bishop of Lausanne), _Le Trésor de la cathédrale de
Lausanne_ (Lausanne, 1902; trans. of a German book of 1894).
(W. A. B. C.)
LAUTREC, ODET DE FOIX, VICOMTE DE (1488-1528), French soldier. The
branch of the viscounts of Lautrec originated with Pierre, the grandson
of Archambaud de Grailly, captal de Buch, who came into possession of
the county of Foix in 1401. Odet de Foix and his two brothers, the
seigneur de Lescun and the seigneur de l'Esparre or Asparros, served
Francis I. as captains; and the influence of their sister, Françoise de
Châteaubriant, who became the king' mistress, gained them high offices.
In 1515 Lautrec took part in the campaign of Marignano. In 1516 he
received the government of the Milanese, and by his severity made the
French domination insupportable. In 1521 he succeeded in defending the
duchy against the Spanish army, but in 1522 he was completely defeated
at the battle of the Bicocca, and was forced to evacuate the Milanese.
The mutiny of his Swiss troops had compelled him, against his wish, to
engage in the battle. Created marshal of France, he received again, in
1527, the command of the army of Italy, occupied the Milanese, and was
then sent to undertake the conquest of the kingdom of Naples. The
defection of Andrea Doria and the plague which broke out in the French
camp brought on a fresh disaster. Lautrec himself caught the infection,
and died on the 15th of August 1528. He had the reputation of a gallant
and able soldier, but this reputation scarcely seems to be justified by
the facts; though he was always badly used by fortune.
There is abundant MS. correspondence in the Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris. See the Works of Brantôme (Coll. Société d'Histoire de France,
vol. iii., 1867); _Memoirs_ of Martin du Bellay (Coll. Michaud and
Poujoulat, vol. v., 1838).
LAUZUN, ANTONIN NOMPAR DE CAUMONT, MARQUIS DE PUYGUILHEM, DUC DE
(1632-1723), French courtier and soldier, was the son of Gabriel, comte
de Lauzun, and his wife Charlotte, daughter of the duc de La Force. He
was brought up with the children of his kinsman, the maréchal de
Gramont, of whom the comte de Guiche became the lover of Henrietta of
England, duchess of Orleans, while Catherine Charlotte, afterwards
princess of Monaco, was the object of the one passion of Lauzun's life.
He entered the army, and served under Turenne, also his kinsman, and in
1655 succeeded his father as commander of the _cent gentilshommes de la
maison du roi_. Puyguilhem (or Péguilin, as contemporaries simplified
his name) rapidly rose in Louis XIV.'s favour, became colonel of the
royal regiment of dragoons, and was gazetted _maréchal de camp_. He and
Mme de Monaco belonged to the coterie of the young duchess of Orleans.
His rough wit and skill in practical jokes pleased Louis XIV., but his
jealousy and violence were the causes of his undoing. He prevented a
meeting between Louis XIV. and Mme de Monaco, and it was jealousy in
this matter, rather than hostility to Louise de la Vallière, which led
him to promote Mme de Montespan's intrigues with the king. He asked this
lady to secure for him the post of grand-master of the artillery, and on
Louis's refusal to give him the appointment he turned his back on the
king, broke his sword, and swore that never again would he serve a
monarch who had broken his word. The result was a short sojourn in the
Bastille, but he soon returned to his functions of court buffoon.
Meanwhile, the duchess of Montpensier (La Grande Mademoiselle) had
fallen in love with the little man, whose ugliness seems to have
exercised a certain fascination over many women. He naturally encouraged
one of the greatest heiresses in Europe, and the wedding was fixed for
the 20th of December 1670, when on the 18th Louis sent for his cousin
and forbade the marriage. Mme de Montespan had never forgiven his fury
when she failed to procure the grand-mastership of the artillery, and
now, with Louvois, secured his arrest. He was removed in November 1671
from the Bastille to Pignerol, where excessive precautions were taken to
ensure his safety. He was eventually allowed free intercourse with
Fouquet, but before that time he managed to find a way through the
chimney into Fouquet's room, and on another occasion succeeded in
reaching the courtyard in safety. Another fellow-prisoner, from
communication with whom he was supposed to be rigorously excluded, was
Eustache Dauger (see IRON MASK).
It was now intimated to Mademoiselle that Lauzun's restoration to
liberty depended on her immediate settlement of the principality of
Dombes, the county of Eu and the duchy of Aumale--three properties
assigned by her to Lauzun--on the little duc de Maine, eldest son of
Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan. She gave way, but Lauzun, even after
ten years of imprisonment, refused to sign the documents, when he was
brought to Bourbon for the purpose. A short term of imprisonment at
Chalon-sur-Sâone made him change his mind, but when he was set free
Louis XIV. was still set against the marriage, which is supposed to have
taken place secretly (see MONTPENSIER). Married or not, Lauzun was
openly courting Fouquet's daughter, whom he had seen at Pignerol. He was
to be restored to his place at court, and to marry Mlle Fouquet, who,
however, became Mme d'Uzès in 1683. In 1685 Lauzun went to England to
seek his fortune under James II., whom he had served as duke of York in
Flanders. He rapidly gained great influence at the English court. In
1688 he was again in England, and arranged the flight of Mary of Modena
and the infant prince, whom he accompanied to Calais, where he received
strict instructions from Louis to bring them "on any pretext" to
Vincennes. In the late autumn of 1689 he was put in command of the
expedition fitted out at Brest for service in Ireland, and he sailed in
the following year. Lauzun was honest, a quality not too common in James
II.'s officials in Ireland, but had no experience of the field, and he
blindly followed Richard Talbot, earl of Tyrconnel. After the battle of
the Boyne they fled to Limerick, and thence to the west, leaving Patrick
Sarsfield to show a brave front. In September they sailed for France,
and on their arrival at Versailles Lauzun found that his failure had
destroyed any prospect of a return of Louis XIV.'s favour. Mademoiselle
died in 1693, and two years later Lauzun married Geneviève de Durfort, a
child of fourteen, daughter of the maréchal de Lorges. Mary of Modena,
through whose interest Lauzun secured his dukedom, retained her faith in
him, and it was he who in 1715, more than a quarter of a century after
the flight from Whitehall, brought her the news of the disaster of
Sheriffmuir. Lauzun died on the 19th of November 1723. The duchy fell to
his nephew, Armand de Gontaut, comte de Biron.
See the letters of Mme de Sévigné, the memoirs of Saint-Simon, who was
Lauzun's wife's brother-in-law; also J. Lair, _Nicolas Fouquet_, vol.
ii. (1890); Martin Hailes, _Mary of Modena_ (1905), and M. F. Sandars,
_Lauzun, Courtier and Adventurer_ (1908).
LAVA, an Italian word (from Lat. _lavare_, to wash) applied to the
liquid products of volcanic activity. Streams of rain-water, formed by
condensation of exhaled steam often mingled with volcanic ashes so as to
produce mud, are known as _lava d'acqua_, whilst the streams of molten
matter are called _lava di fuoco_. The term lava is applied by
geologists to all matter of volcanic origin, which is, or has been, in a
molten state. The magma, or molten lava in the interior of the earth,
may be regarded as a mutual solution of various mineral silicates,
charged with highly-heated vapour, sometimes to the extent of
super-saturation. According to the proportion of silica, the lava is
distinguished as "acid" or "basic." The basic lavas are usually darker
and denser than lavas of acid type, and when fused they tend to flow to
great distances, and may thus form far-spreading sheets, whilst the acid
lavas, being more viscous, rapidly consolidate after extrusion. The lava
is emitted from the volcanic vent at a high temperature, but on exposure
to the air it rapidly consolidates superficially, forming a crust which
in many cases is soon broken up by the continued flow of the subjacent
liquid lava, so that the surface becomes rugged with clinkers. J. D.
Dana introduced the term "aa" for this rough kind of lava-stream, whilst
he applied the term "pahoehoe" to those flows which have a smooth
surface, or are simply wrinkled and ropy; these terms being used in this
sense in Hawaii, in relation to the local lavas. The different kinds of
lava are more fully described in the article VOLCANO.
LAVABO (Lat. "I will wash"; the Fr. equivalent is lavoir), in
ecclesiastical usage, the term for the washing of the priests' hands, at
the celebration of the Mass, at the offertory. The words of Psalm xxvi.
6, _Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas_, are said during the rite. The
word is also used for the basin employed in the ritual washing, and also
for the lavatories, generally erected in the cloisters of monasteries.
Those at Gloucester, Norwich and Lincoln are best known. A very curious
example at Fontenay, surrounding a pillar, is given by Viollet-le-Duc.
In general the lavabo is a sort of trough; in some places it has an
almery for towels, &c.
LAVAGNA, a seaport of Liguria, Italy, in the province of Genoa, from
which it is 25½ m. S.E. by rail. Pop. (1901) 7005. It has a small
shipbuilding trade, and exports great quantities of slate (_lavagna_,
taking its name from the town). It also has a large cotton-mill. It was
the seat of the Fieschi family, independent counts, who, at the end of
the 12th century, were obliged to recognize the supremacy of Genoa.
Sinibaldo Fieschi became Pope Innocent IV. (1243-1254), and Hadrian V.
(1276) was also a Fieschi.
LAVAL, ANDRÉ DE, SEIGNEUR DE LOHÉAC (c. 1408-1485), French soldier. In
1423 he served in the French army against England, and in 1428 was taken
prisoner by John Talbot, 1st earl of Shrewsbury, after the capitulation
of Laval, which he was defending. After paying his ransom he was present
with Joan of Arc at the siege of Orleans, at the battle of Patay, and at
the coronation of Charles VII. He was made admiral of France in 1437 and
marshal in 1439. He served Charles VII. faithfully in all his wars, even
against the dauphin (1456), and when the latter became king as Louis
XI., Laval was dismissed from the marshal's office. After the War of the
Public Weal he was restored to favour, and recovered the marshal's
bâton, the king also granting him the offices of lieutenant-general to
the government of Paris and governor of Picardy, and conferring upon him
the collar of the order of St Michael. In 1472 Laval was successful in
resisting the attacks of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, on
Beauvais.
LAVAL, a town of north-western France, capital of the department of
Mayenne, on the Mayenne river, 188 m. W.S.W. of Paris by rail. Pop.
(1906) 24,874. On the right bank of the river stands the old feudal
city, with its ancient castle and its irregularly built houses whose
slate roofs and pointed gables peep from the groves of trees which
clothe the hill. On the left bank the regularly built new town extends
far into the plain. The river, here 80 yds. broad, is crossed by the
handsome railway viaduct, a beautiful stone bridge called Pont Neuf, and
the Pont Vieux with three pointed arches, built in the 16th century.
There is communication by steamer as far as Angers. Laval may justly
claim to be one of the loveliest of French towns. Its most curious and
interesting monument is the sombre old castle of the counts (now a
prison) with a donjon of the 12th century, the roof of which presents a
fine example of the timberwork superseded afterwards by stone
machicolation. The "new castle," dating partly from the Renaissance,
serves as court-house. Laval possesses several churches of different
periods: in that of the Trinity, which serves as the cathedral, the
transept and nave are of the 12th century while the choir is of the
16th; St Vénérand (15th century) has good stained glass; Notre-Dame des
Cordeliers, which dates from the end of the 14th century or the
beginning of the 15th, has some fine marble altars. Half-a-mile below
the Pont Vieux is the beautiful 12th-century church of Avenières, with
an ornamental spire of 1534. The finest remaining relic of the ancient
fortifications is the Beucheresse gate near the cathedral. The narrow
streets around the castle are bordered by many old houses of the 15th
and 16th century, chief among which is that known as the "Maison du
Grand Veneur." There are an art-museum, a museum of natural history and
archaeology and a library. The town is embellished by fine promenades,
at the entrance of one of which, facing the mairie, stands the statue of
the celebrated surgeon Ambroise Paré (1517-1590). Laval is the seat of a
prefect, a bishopric created in 1855, and a court of assizes, and has
tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a
board of trade-arbitrators, training colleges, an ecclesiastical
seminary and a lycée for boys. The principal industry of the town is the
cloth manufacture, introduced from Flanders in the 14th century. The
production of fabrics of linen, of cotton or of mixtures of both,
occupies some 10,000 hands in the town and suburbs. Among the numerous
other industries are metal-founding, flour-milling, tanning, dyeing, the
making of boots and shoes, and the sawing of the marble quarried in the
vicinity. There is trade in grain.
Laval is not known to have existed before the 9th century. It was taken
by John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, in 1428, changed hands several times
during the wars of the League, and played an important part at the end
of the 18th century in the war of La Vendée.
SEIGNEURS AND COUNTS OF LAVAL. The castle of Laval was founded at the
beginning of the 11th century by a lord of the name of Guy, and remained
in the possession of his male descendants until the 13th century. In
1218 the lordship passed to the house of Montmorency by the marriage of
Emma, daughter of Guy VI. of Laval, to Mathieu de Montmorency, the hero
of the battle of Bouvines. Of this union was born Guy VII. seigneur of
Laval, the ancestor of the second house of Laval. Anne of Laval (d.
1466), the heiress of the second family, married John de Montfort, who
took the name of Guy (XIII.) of Laval. At Charles VII.'s coronation
(1429) Guy XIV., who was afterwards son-in-law of John V., duke of
Brittany, and father-in-law of King René of Anjou, was created count of
Laval, and the countship remained in the possession of Guy's male
descendants until 1547. After the Montforts, the countship of Laval
passed by inheritance to the families of Rieux and Sainte Maure, to the
Colignys, and finally to the La Trémoilles, who held it until the
Revolution.
See Bertrand de Broussillon, _La Maison de Laval_ (3 vols.,
1895-1900).
LA VALLIÈRE, LOUISE FRANÇOISE DE (1644-1710), mistress of Louis XIV.,
was born at Tours on the 6th of August 1644, the daughter of an officer,
Laurent de la Baume le Blanc, who took the name of La Vallière from a
small property near Amboise. Laurent de la Vallière died in 1651; his
widow, who soon married again, joined the court of Gaston d'Orléans at
Blois. Louise was brought up with the younger princesses, the
step-sisters of La Grande Mademoiselle. After Gaston's death his widow
moved with her daughters to the palace of the Luxembourg in Paris, and
with them went Louise, who was now a girl of sixteen. Through the
influence of a distant kinswoman, Mme de Choisy, she was named maid of
honour to Henrietta of England, who was about her own age and had just
married Philip of Orleans, the king's brother. Henrietta joined the
court at Fontainebleau, and was soon on the friendliest terms with her
brother-in-law, so friendly indeed that there was some scandal, to avoid
which it was determined that Louis should pay marked attentions
elsewhere. The person selected was Madame's maid of honour, Louise. She
had been only two months in Fontainebleau before she became the king's
mistress. The affair, begun on Louis's part as a blind, immediately
developed into real passion on both sides. It was Louis's first serious
attachment, and Louise was an innocent, religious-minded girl, who
brought neither coquetry nor self-interest to their relation, which was
sedulously concealed. Nicolas Fouquet's curiosity in the matter was one
of the causes of his disgrace. In February 1662 there was a storm when
Louise refused to tell her lover the relations between Madame
(Henrietta) and the comte de Guiche. She fled to an obscure convent at
Chaillot, where Louis rapidly followed her. Her enemies, chief of whom
was Olympe Mancini, comtesse de Soissons, Mazarin's niece, sought her
downfall by bringing her liaison to the ears of Queen Maria Theresa. She
was presently removed from the service of Madame, and established in a
small building in the Palais Royal, where in December 1663 she gave
birth to a son Charles, who was given in charge to two faithful servants
of Colbert. Concealment was practically abandoned after her return to
court, and within a week of Anne of Austria's death in January 1666, La
Vallière appeared at mass side by side with Maria Theresa. But her
favour was already waning. She had given birth to a second child in
January 1665, but both children were dead before the autumn of 1666. A
daughter born at Vincennes in October 1666, who received the name of
Marie Anne and was known as Mlle de Blois, was publicly recognized by
Louis as his daughter in letters-patent making the mother a duchess in
May 1667 and conferring on her the estate of Vaujours. In October of
that year she bore a son, but by this time her place in Louis's
affections was definitely usurped by Athénaïs de Montespan (q.v.), who
had long been plotting against her. She was compelled to remain at court
as the king's official mistress, and even to share Mme de Montespan's
apartments at the Tuileries. She made an attempt at escape in 1671, when
she fled to the convent of Ste Marie de Chaillot, only to be compelled
to return. In 1674 she was finally permitted to enter the Carmelite
convent in the Rue d'Enfer. She took the final vows a year later, when
Bossuet pronounced the allocution.
Her daughter married Armand de Bourbon, prince of Conti, in 1680. The
count of Vermandois, her youngest born, died on his first campaign at
Courtrai in 1683.
La Vallière's _Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu_, written after
her retreat, were printed by Lequeux in 1767, and in 1860 _Réflexions,
lettres et sermons_, by M. P. Clement (2 vols.). Some apocryphal
_Mémoires_ appeared in 1829, and the _Lettres de Mme la duchesse de la
Vallière_ (1767) are a corrupt version of her correspondence with the
maréchal de Bellefonds. Of modern works on the subject see Arsène
Houssaye, _Mlle de la Vallière et Mme de Montespan_ (1860); Jules
Lair, _Louise de la Vallière_ (3rd ed., 1902, Eng. trans., 1908); and
C. Bonnet, _Documents inédits sur Mme de la Vallière_ (1904).
LAVATER, JOHANN KASPAR (1741-1801), German poet and physiognomist, was
born at Zürich on the 15th of November 1741. He was educated at the
gymnasium of his native town, where J. J. Bodmer and J. J. Breitinger
were among his teachers. When barely one-and-twenty he greatly
distinguished himself by denouncing, in conjunction with his friend, the
painter H. Fuseli, an iniquitous magistrate, who was compelled to make
restitution of his ill-gotten gains. In 1769 Lavater took orders, and
officiated till his death as deacon or pastor in various churches in his
native city. His oratorical fervour and genuine depth of conviction gave
him great personal influence; he was extensively consulted as a casuist,
and was welcomed with demonstrative enthusiasm in his numerous journeys
through Germany. His mystical writings were also widely popular.
Scarcely a trace of this influence has remained, and Lavater's name
would be forgotten but for his work on physiognomy, _Physiognomische
Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe_
(1775-1778). The fame even of this book, which found enthusiastic
admirers in France and England, as well as in Germany, rests to a great
extent upon the handsome style of publication and the accompanying
illustrations. It left, however, the study of physiognomy (q.v.), as
desultory and unscientific as it found it. As a poet, Lavater published
_Christliche Lieder_ (1776-1780) and two epics, _Jesus Messias_ (1780)
and _Joseph von Arimathia_ (1794), in the style of Klopstock. More
important and characteristic of the religious temperament of Lavater's
age are his introspective _Aussichten in die Ewigkeit_ (4 vols.,
1768-1778); _Geheimes Tagebuch von einem Beobachter seiner selbst_ (2
vols., 1772-1773) and _Pontius Pilatus, oder der Mensch in allen
Gestalten_ (4 vols., 1782-1785). From 1774 on, Goethe was intimately
acquainted with Lavater, but at a later period he became estranged from
him, somewhat abruptly accusing him of superstition and hypocrisy.
Lavater had a mystic's indifference to historical Christianity, and,
although esteemed by himself and others a champion of orthodoxy, was in
fact only an antagonist of rationalism. During the later years of his
life his influence waned, and he incurred ridicule by some exhibitions
of vanity. He redeemed himself by his patriotic conduct during the
French occupation of Switzerland, which brought about his tragical
death. On the taking of Zürich by the French in 1799, Lavater, while
endeavouring to appease the soldiery, was shot through the body by an
infuriated grenadier; he died after long sufferings borne with great
fortitude, on the 2nd of January 1801.
Lavater himself published two collections of his writings, _Vermischte
Schriften_ (2 vols., 1774-1781), and _Kleinere prosaische Schriften_
(3 vols., 1784-1785). His _Nachgelassene Schriften_ were edited by G.
Gessner (5 vols., 1801-1802); _Sämtliche Werke_ (but only poems) (6
vols., 1836-1838); _Ausgewählte Schriften_ (8 vols., 1841-1844). See
G. Gessner, _Lavaters Lebensbeschreibung_ (3 vols., 1802-1803); U.
Hegner, _Beiträge zur Kenntnis Lavaters_ (1836); F. W. Bodemann,
_Lavater nach seinem Leben, Lehren und Wirken_ (1856; 2nd ed., 1877);
F. Muncker, _J. K. Lavater_ (1883); H. Waser, _J. K. Lavater nach
Hegners Aufzeichnungen_ (1894); _J. K. Lavater, Denkschrift zum 100.
Todestag_ (1902).
LAVAUR, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Tarn, 37 m. S.E. of Montauban by rail. Pop. (1906),
town 4069; commune 6388. Lavaur stands on the left bank of the Agout,
which is here crossed by a railway-bridge and a fine stone bridge of the
late 18th century. From 1317 till the Revolution Lavaur was the seat of
a bishopric, and there is a cathedral dating from the 13th, 14th and
15th centuries, with an octagonal bell-tower; a second smaller square
tower contains a _jaquemart_ (a statue which strikes the hours with a
hammer) of the 16th century. In the bishop's garden is the statue of
Emmanuel Augustin, marquis de Las Cases, one of the companions of
Napoleon at St Helena. The town carries on distilling and flour-milling
and the manufacture of brushes, plaster and wooden shoes. There are a
subprefecture and tribunal of first instance. Lavaur was taken in 1211
by Simon de Montfort during the wars of the Albigenses, and several
times during the religious wars of the 16th century.
LAVEDAN, HENRI LÉON ÉMILE (1859- ), French dramatist and man of letters,
was born at Orleans, the son of Hubert Léon Lavedan, a well-known
Catholic and liberal journalist. He contributed to various Parisian
papers a series of witty tales and dialogues of Parisian life, many of
which were collected in volume form. In 1891 he produced at the Théâtre
Français _Une Famille_, followed at the Vaudeville in 1894 by _Le Prince
d'Aurec_, a satire on the nobility, afterwards re-named _Les
Descendants_. Later brilliant and witty pieces were _Les Deux noblesses_
(1897), _Catherine_ (1897), _Le Nouveau jeu_ (1898), _Le Vieux marcheur_
(1899), _Le Marquis de Priola_ (1902), and _Varennes_ (1904), written in
collaboration with G. Lenôtre. He had a great success with _Le Duel_
(Comédie Française, 1905), a powerful psychological study of the
relations of two brothers. Lavedan was admitted to the French Academy in
1898.
LAVELEYE, ÉMILE LOUIS VICTOR DE (1822-1892), Belgian economist, was born
at Bruges on the 5th of April 1822, and educated there and at the
Collège Stanislas in Paris, a celebrated establishment in the hands of
the Oratorians. He continued his studies at the Catholic university of
Louvain and afterwards at Ghent, where he came under the influence of
François Huet, the philosopher and Christian Socialist. In 1844 he won a
prize with an essay on the language and literature of Provence. In 1847
he published _L'Histoire des rois francs_, and in 1861 a French version
of the _Nibelungen_, but though he never lost his interest in literature
and history, his most important work was in the domain of economics. He
was one of a group of young lawyers, doctors and critics, all old pupils
of Huet, who met once a week to discuss social and economic questions,
and was thus led to publish his views on these subjects. In 1859 some
articles by him in the _Revue des deux mondes_ laid the foundation of
his reputation as an economist. In 1864 he was elected to the chair of
political economy at the state university of Liége. Here he wrote his
most important works: _La Russie et l'Autriche depuis Sadowa_ (1870),
_Essai sur les formes de gouvernement dans les sociétés modernes_
(1872), _Des Causes actuelles de guerre en Europe et de l'arbitrage_ and
_De la propriété et de ses formes primitives_ (1874), dedicated to the
memory of John Stuart Mill and François Huet. He died at Doyon, near
Liége, on the 3rd of January 1892. Laveleye's name is particularly
connected with bimetallism and primitive property, and he took a special
interest in the revival and preservation of small nationalities. But his
activity included the whole realm of political science, political
economy, monetary questions, international law, foreign and Belgian
politics, questions of education, religion and morality, travel and
literature. He had the art of popularizing even the most technical
subjects, owing to the clearness of his view and his firm grasp of the
matter in hand. He was especially attracted to England, where he thought
he saw many of his ideals of social, political and religious progress
realized. He was a frequent contributor to the English newspapers and
leading reviews. The most widely circulated of his works was a pamphlet
on _Le Parti clérical en Belgique_, of which 2,000,000 copies were
circulated in ten languages.
LAVENDER, botanically _Lavandula_, a genus of the natural order Labiatae
distinguished by an ovate tubular calyx, a two-lipped corolla, of which
the upper lip has two and the lower three lobes, and four stamens bent
downwards.
The plant to which the name of lavender is commonly applied, _Lavandula
vera_, is a native of the mountainous districts of the countries
bordering on the western half of the Mediterranean, extending from the
eastern coast of Spain to Calabria and northern Africa, growing in some
places at a height of 4500 ft. above the sea-level, and preferring stony
declivities in open sunny situations. It is cultivated in the open air
as far north as Norway and Livonia. Lavender forms an evergreen
under-shrub about 2 ft. high, with greyish-green hoary linear leaves,
rolled under at the edges when young; the branches are erect and give a
bushy appearance to the plant. The flowers are borne on a terminal spike
at the summit of a long naked stalk, the spike being composed of 6-10
dense clusters in the axils of small, brownish, rhomboidal, tapering,
opposite bracts, the clusters being more widely separated towards the
base of the spike. The calyx is tubular, contracted towards the mouth,
marked with 13 ribs and 5-toothed, the posterior tooth being the
largest. The corolla is of a pale violet colour, but darker on its inner
surface, tubular, two-lipped, the upper lip with two and the lower with
three lobes. Both corolla and calyx are covered with stellate hairs,
amongst which are imbedded shining oil glands to which the fragrance of
the plant is due. The leaves and flowers of lavender are said to have
been used by the ancients to perfume their baths; hence the Med. Lat.
name _Lavandula_ or _Lavendula_ is supposed to have been derived from
_lavare_, to wash. This derivation is considered doubtful and a
connexion has been suggested with Lat. _livere_, to be of a bluish, pale
or livid colour.
Although _L. Stoechas_ was well known to the ancients, no allusion
unquestionably referring to _L. vera_ has been found in the writings of
classical authors, the earliest mention of the latter plant being in the
12th century by the abbess Hildegard, who lived near Bingen on the
Rhine. Under the name of _llafant_ or _llafantly_ it was known to the
Welsh physicians as a medicine in the 13th century. The dried flowers
have long been used in England, the United States and other countries
for perfuming linen, and the characteristic cry of "Lavender! sweet
lavender!" was still to be heard in London streets at the beginning of
the 20th century. In England lavender is cultivated chiefly for the
distillation of its essential oil, of which it yields on an average 1½%
when freed from the stalks, but in the south of Europe the flowers form
an object of trade, being exported to the Barbary states, Turkey and
America.
In Great Britain lavender is grown in the parishes of Mitcham,
Carshalton and Beddington in Surrey, and in Hertfordshire in the
parish of Hitchin. The most suitable soil seems to be a sandy loam
with a calcareous substratum, and the most favourable position a sunny
slope in localities elevated above the level of fogs, where the plant
is not in danger of early frost and is freely exposed to air and
light. At Hitchin lavender is said to have been grown as early as
1568, but as a commercial speculation its cultivation dates back only
to 1823. The plants at present in cultivation do not produce seed, and
the propagation is always made by slips or by dividing the roots. The
latter plan has only been followed since 1860, when a large number of
lavender plants were killed by a severe frost. Since that date the
plants have been subject to the attack of a fungus, in consequence of
which the price of the oil has been considerably enhanced.
The flowers are collected in the beginning of August, and taken direct
to the still. The yield of oil depends in great measure upon the
weather. After a wet and dull June and July the yield is sometimes
only half as much as when the weather has been bright and sunshiny.
From 12 to 30 lb. of oil per acre is the average amount obtained. The
oil contained in the stem has a more rank odour and is less volatile
than that of the flowers; consequently the portion that distils over
after the first hour and a half is collected separately.
[Illustration: Lavender (_Lavandula vera_).
1. Flower, side view.
2. Flower, front view.
3. Calyx opened and spread flat.
4. Corolla opened and spread flat.
5. Pistil.]
The finest oil is obtained by the distillation of the flowers, without
the stalks, but the labour spent upon this adds about 10s. per lb. to
the expense of the oil, and the same end is practically attained by
fractional distillation. The oil mellows by keeping three years, after
which it deteriorates unless mixed with alcohol; it is also improved
by redistillation. Oil of lavender is distilled from the wild plants
in Piedmont and the South of France, especially in the villages about
Mont Ventoux near Avignon, and in those some leagues west of
Montpellier. The best French oil realizes scarcely one-sixth of the
price of the English oil. Cheaper varieties are made by distilling the
entire plant.
Oil of lavender is a mobile liquid having a specific gravity from 0.85
to 0.89. Its chief constituents are linalool acetate, which also
occurs in oil of bergamot, and linalool, C10H17OH, an alcohol derived
by oxidation from myrcene, C10H16, which is one of the terpenes. The
dose is ½-3 minims. The British pharmacopeia contains a spiritus
lavandulae, dose 5-20 minims: and a compound tincture, dose ½-1
drachm. This is contained in liquor arsenicalis, and its
characteristic odour may thus be of great practical importance,
medico-legally and otherwise. The pharmacology of oil of lavender is
simply that of an exceptionally pleasant and mild volatile oil. It is
largely used as a carminative and as a colouring and flavouring agent.
Its adulteration with alcohol may be detected by chloride of calcium
dissolving in it and forming a separate layer of liquid at the bottom
of the vessel. Glycerine acts in the same way. If it contain
turpentine it will not dissolve in three volumes of alcohol, in which
quantity the pure oil is perfectly soluble.
Lavender flowers were formerly considered good for "all disorders of
the head and nerves"; a spirit prepared with them was known under the
name of palsy drops.
Lavender water consists of a solution of the volatile oil in spirit
of wine with the addition of the essences of musk, rose, bergamot and
ambergris, but is very rarely prepared by distillation of the flowers
with spirit.
In the climate of New York lavender is scarcely hardy, but in the
vicinity of Philadelphia considerable quantities are grown for the
market. In American gardens sweet basil (_Ocimum basilicum_) is
frequently called lavender.
_Lavandula Spica_, a species which differs from _L. vera_ chiefly in
its smaller size, more crowded leaves and linear bracts, is also used
for the distillation of an essential oil, which is known in England as
oil of spike and in France under the name of _essence d'aspic_. It is
used in painting on porcelain and in veterinary medicine. The oil as
met with in commerce is less fragrant than that of _L. vera_--probably
because the whole plant is distilled, for the flowers of the two
species are scarcely distinguishable in fragrance. _L. Spica_ does not
extend so far north, nor ascend the mountains beyond 2000 ft. It
cannot be cultivated in Britain except in sheltered situations. A
nearly allied species, _L. lanata_, a native of Spain, with broader
leaves, is also very fragrant, but does not appear to be distilled for
oil.
_Lavandula Stoechas_, a species extending from the Canaries to Asia
Minor, is distinguished from the above plants by its blackish purple
flowers, and shortly stalked spikes crowned by conspicuous purplish
sterile bracts. The flowers were official in the London pharmacopoeia
as late as 1746. They are still used by the Arabs as an expectorant
and antispasmodic. The Stoechades (now called the isles of Hyères near
Toulon) owed their name to the abundance of the plant growing there.
Other species of lavender are known, some of which extend as far east
as to India. A few which differ from the above in having divided
leaves, as _L. dentata_, _L. abrotanoides_, _L. multifolia_, _L.
pinnata_ and _L. viridis_, have been cultivated in greenhouses, &c.,
in England.
Sea lavender is a name applied in England to several species of
_Statice_, a genus of littoral plants belonging to the order _Plumba
gineae_. Lavender cotton is a species of the genus _Santolina_, small,
yellow-flowered, evergreen undershrubs of the Composite order.
LAVERDY, CLÉMENT CHARLES FRANÇOIS DE (1723-1793), French statesman, was
a member of the parlement of Paris when the case against the Jesuits
came before that body in August 1761. He demanded the suppression of the
order and thus acquired popularity. Louis XV. named him
controller-general of the finances in December 1763, but the burden was
great and Laverdy knew nothing of finance. Three months after his
nomination he forbade anything of any kind whatever to be printed
concerning his administration, thus refusing advice as well as censure.
He used all sorts of expedients, sometimes dishonest, to replenish the
treasury, and was even accused of having himself profited from the
commerce in wheat. A court intrigue led to his sudden dismissal on the
1st of October 1768. Henceforward he lived in retirement until, during
the Revolution, he was involved in the charges against the financiers of
the old régime. The Revolutionary tribunal condemned him to death, and
he was guillotined on the 24th of November 1793.
See A. Jobez, _La France sous Louis XV_ (1869).
LAVERNA, an old Italian divinity, originally one of the spirits of the
underworld. A cup found in an Etruscan tomb bears the inscription
"Lavernai Pocolom," and in a fragment of Septimius Serenus Laverna is
expressly mentioned in connexion with the _di inferi_. By an easy
transition, she came to be regarded as the protectress of thieves, whose
operations were associated with darkness. She had an altar on the
Aventine hill, near the gate called after her Lavernalis, and a grove on
the Via Salaria. Her aid was invoked by thieves to enable them to carry
out their plans successfully without forfeiting their reputation for
piety and honesty (Horace, _Ep._ i. 16, 60). Many explanations have been
given of the name: (1) from _latere_ (Schol. on Horace, who gives
_laternio_ as another form of _lavernio_ or robber); (2) from _lavare_
(Acron on Horace, according to whom thieves were called _lavatores_,
perhaps referring to bath thieves); (3) from _levare_ (cf.
shop-lifters). Modern etymologists connect it with _lu-crum_, and
explain it as meaning the goddess of gain.
LAVERY, JOHN (1857- ), British painter, was born in Belfast, and
received his art training in Glasgow, London and Paris. He was elected
associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1892 and academician in 1896,
having won a considerable reputation as a painter of portraits and
figure subjects, and as a facile and vigorous executant. He became also
vice-president of the International Society of sculptors, painters and
gravers. Many of his paintings have been acquired for public
collections, and he is represented in the National Galleries at
Brussels, Berlin and Edinburgh, in the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburg,
the Philadelphia Gallery, the New South Wales Gallery, the Modern
Gallery, Venice, the Pinakothek, Munich, the Glasgow Corporation
Gallery, and the Luxembourg.
LAVIGERIE, CHARLES MARTIAL ALLEMAND (1825-1892), French divine, cardinal
archbishop of Carthage and Algiers and primate of Africa, was born at
Bayonne on the 31st of October 1825, and was educated at St Sulpice,
Paris. He was ordained priest in 1849, and was professor of
ecclesiastical history at the Sorbonne from 1854 to 1856. In 1856 he
accepted the direction of the schools of the East, and was thus for the
first time brought into contact with the Mahommedan world. "C'est là,"
he wrote, "que j'ai connu enfin ma vocation." Activity in missionary
work, especially in alleviating the distresses of the victims of the
Druses, soon brought him prominently into notice; he was made a
chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in October 1861, shortly after
his return to Europe, was appointed French auditor at Rome. Two years
later he was raised to the see of Nancy, where he remained for four
years, during which the diocese became one of the best administered in
France. While bishop of Nancy he met Marshal MacMahon, then
governor-general of Algeria, who in 1866 offered him the see of Algiers,
just raised to an archbishopric. Lavigerie landed in Africa on the 11th
of May 1868, when the great famine was already making itself felt, and
he began in November to collect the orphans into villages. This action,
however, did not meet with the approval of MacMahon, who feared that the
Arabs would resent it as an infraction of the religious peace, and
thought that the Mahommedan church, being a state institution in
Algeria, ought to be protected from proselytism; so it was intimated to
the prelate that his sole duty was to minister to the colonists.
Lavigerie, however, continued his self-imposed task, refused the
archbishopric of Lyons, which was offered to him by the emperor, and won
his point. Contact with the natives during the famine caused Lavigerie
to entertain exaggerated hopes for their general conversion, and his
enthusiasm was such that he offered to resign his archbishopric in order
to devote himself entirely to the missions. Pius IX. refused this, but
granted him a coadjutor, and placed the whole of equatorial Africa under
his charge. In 1870 Lavigerie warmly supported papal infallibility. In
1871 he was twice a candidate for the National Assembly, but was
defeated. In 1874 he founded the Sahara and Sudan mission, and sent
missionaries to Tunis, Tripoli, East Africa and the Congo. The order of
African missionaries thus founded, for which Lavigerie himself drew up
the rule, has since become famous as the _Pères Blancs_. From 1881 to
1884 his activity in Tunisia so raised the prestige of France that it
drew from Gambetta the celebrated declaration, _L'Anticléricalisme n'est
pas un article d'exportation_, and led to the exemption of Algeria from
the application of the decrees concerning the religious orders. On the
27th of March 1882 the dignity of cardinal was conferred upon Lavigerie,
but the great object of his ambition was to restore the see of St
Cyprian; and in that also he was successful, for by a bull of 10th
November 1884 the metropolitan see of Carthage was re-erected, and
Lavigerie received the pallium on the 25th of January 1885. The later
years of his life were spent in ardent anti-slavery propaganda, and his
eloquence moved large audiences in London, as well as in Paris, Brussels
and other parts of the continent. He hoped, by organizing a fraternity
of armed laymen as pioneers, to restore fertility to the Sahara; but
this community did not succeed, and was dissolved before his death. In
1890 Lavigerie appeared in the new character of a politician, and
arranged with Pope Leo XIII. to make an attempt to reconcile the church
with the republic. He invited the officers of the Mediterranean squadron
to lunch at Algiers, and, practically renouncing his monarchical
sympathies, to which he clung as long as the comte de Chambord was
alive, expressed his support of the republic. and emphasized it by
having the Marseillaise played by a band of his _Pères Blancs_. The
further steps in this evolution emanated from the pope, and Lavigerie,
whose health now began to fail, receded comparatively into the
background. He died at Algiers on the 26th of November 1892.
(G. F. B.)
LA VILLEMARQUÉ, THÉODORE CLAUDE HENRI, VICOMTE HERSART DE (1815-1895),
French philologist and man of letters, was born at Keransker, near
Quimperlé, on the 6th of July 1815. He was descended from an old Breton
family, which counted among its members a Hersart who had followed Saint
Louis to the Crusade, and another who was a companion in arms of Du
Guesclin. La Villemarqué devoted himself to the elucidation of the
monuments of Breton literature. Introduced in 1851 by Jacob Grimm as
correspondent to the Academy of Berlin, he became in 1858 a member of
the Academy of Inscriptions. His works include: _Contes populaires des
anciens Bretons_ (1842), to which was prefixed an essay on the origin of
the romances of the Round Table; _Essai sur l'histoire de la langue
bretonne_ (1837); _Poèmes des bardes bretons du sixième siècle_ (1850);
_La Légende celtique en Irelande, en Cambrie et en Bretagne_ (1859). The
popular Breton songs published by him in 1839 as _Barzaz Breiz_ were
considerably retouched. La Villemarqué's work has been superseded by the
work of later scholars, but he has the merit of having done much to
arouse popular interest in his subject. He died at Keransker on the 8th
of December 1895.
On the subject of the doubtful authenticity of Barzaz Breiz, see
Luzel's Preface to his _Chansons populaires de la Basse-Bretagne_,
and, for a list of works on the subject, the _Revue Celtique_ (vol.
v.).
LAVINIUM, an ancient town of Latium, on the so-called Via Lavinatis (see
LAURENTINA, VIA), 19 m. S. of Rome, the modern PRATICA, situated 300 ft.
above sea-level and 2½ m. N.E. from the sea-coast. Its foundation is
attributed to Aeneas (whereas Laurentum was the primitive city of King
Latinus), who named it after his wife Lavinia. It is rarely mentioned in
Roman history and often confused with Lanuvium or Lanivium in the text
both of authors and of inscriptions. The custom by which the consuls and
praetors or dictators sacrificed on the Alban Mount and at Lavinium to
the Penates and to Vesta, before they entered upon office or departed
for their province, seems to have been one of great antiquity. There is
no trace of its having continued into imperial times, but the cults of
Lavinium were kept up, largely by the imperial appointment of honorary
non-resident citizens to hold the priesthoods. The citizens of Lavinium
were known under the empire as Laurentes Lavinates, and the place itself
at a late period as Laurolavinium. It was deserted or forgotten not long
after the time of Theodosius.
Lavinium was preceded by a more ancient town, LAURENTUM, the city of
Latinus (Verg. _Aen._ viii.); of this the site is uncertain, but it is
probably to be sought at the modern Tor Paterno, close to the sea-coast
and 5 m. N. by W. of Lavinium. Here the name of Laurentum is preserved
by the modern name Pantan di Lauro. Even in ancient times it was famous
for its groves of bay-trees (_laurus_) from which its name was perhaps
derived, and which in imperial times gave the villas of its territory a
name for salubrity, so that both Vitellius and Commodus resorted there.
The exact date of the abandonment of the town itself and the
incorporation of its territory with that of Lavinium is uncertain, but
it may be placed in the latter part of the republic. Under the empire a
portion of it must have been imperial domain and forest. We hear of an
imperial, procurator in charge of the elephants at Laurentum; and the
imperial villa may perhaps be identified with the extensive ruins at Tor
Paterno itself. The remains of numerous other villas lie along the
ancient coast-line (which was half a mile inland of the modern, being
now marked by a row of sand-hills, and was followed by the Via
Severiana), both north-west and south-east of Tor Paterno: they extended
as a fact in an almost unbroken line along the low sandy coast--now
entirely deserted and largely occupied by the low scrub which serves as
cover for the wild boars of the king of Italy's preserves--from the
mouth of the Tiber to Antium, and thence again to Astura; but there are
no traces of any buildings previous to the imperial period. In one of
these villas, excavated by the king of Italy in 1906, was found a fine
replica of the famous discobolus of Myron. The plan of the building is
interesting, as it diverges entirely from the normal type and adapts
itself to the site. Some way to the N.W. was situated the village of
Vicus Augustanus Laurentium, taking its name probably from Augustus
himself, and probably identical with the village mentioned by Pliny the
younger as separated by only one villa from his own. This village was
brought to light by excavation in 1874, and its forum and curia are
still visible. The remains of the villa of Pliny, too, were excavated in
1713 and in 1802-1819, and it is noteworthy that the place bears the
name Villa di Pino (sic) on the staff map; how old the name is, is
uncertain. It is impossible without further excavation to reconcile the
remains--mainly of substructions--with the elaborate description of his
villa given by Pliny (cf. H. Winnefeld in _Jahrbuch des Instituts_,
1891, 200 seq.).
The site of the ancient Lavinium, no less than 300 ft. above sea-level
and 2½ m. inland, is far healthier than the low-lying Laurentum, where,
except in the immediate vicinity of the coast, malaria must have been a
dreadful scourge. It possesses considerable natural strength, and
consists of a small hill, the original acropolis, occupied by the modern
castle and the village surrounding it, and a larger one, now given over
to cultivation, where the city stood. On the former there are now no
traces of antiquity, but on the latter are scanty remains of the city
walls, in small blocks of the grey-green tufa (_cappellaccio_) which is
used in the earliest buildings of Rome, and traces of the streets. The
necropolis, too, has been discovered, but not systematically excavated;
but objects of the first Iron age, including a sword of Aegean type
(thus confirming the tradition), have been found; also remains of a
building with Doric columns of an archaistic type, remains of later
buildings in brick, and inscriptions, some of them of considerable
interest.
See R. Lanciani in _Monumenti dei Lincei_, xiii. (1903), 133 seq.;
xvi. (1906), 241 seq. (T. As.)
LAVISSE, ERNEST (1842- ), French historian, was born at
Nouvion-en-Thiérache, Aisne, on the 17th of December 1842. In 1865 he
obtained a fellowship in history, and in 1875 became a doctor of
letters; he was appointed _maître de conférence_ (1876) at the école
normale supérieure, succeeding Fustel de Coulanges, and then professor
of modern history at the Sorbonne (1888), in the place of Henri Wallon.
He was an eloquent professor and very fond of young people, and played
an important part in the revival of higher studies in France after 1871.
His knowledge of pedagogy was displayed in his public lectures and his
addresses, in his private lessons, where he taught a small number of
pupils the historical method, and in his books, where he wrote _ad
probandum_ at least as much as _ad narrandum_: class-books, collections
of articles, intermingled with personal reminiscences (_Questions
d'enseignement national_, 1885; _Études et étudiants_, 1890; _À propos
de nos écoles_, 1895), rough historical sketches (_Vue générale de
l'histoire politique de l'Europe_, 1890), &c. Even his works of
learning, written without a trace of pedantry, are remarkable for their
lucidity and vividness.
After the Franco-Prussian War Lavisse studied the development of Prussia
and wrote _Étude sur l'une des origines de la monarchie prussienne, ou
la Marche de Brandebourg sous la dynastie ascanienne_, which was his
thesis for his doctor's degree in 1875, and _Études sur l'histoire de la
Prusse_ (1879). In connexion with his study of the Holy Roman Empire,
and the cause of its decline, he wrote a number of articles which were
published in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_; and he wrote _Trois empereurs
d'Allemagne_ (1888), _La Jeunesse du grand Frédéric_ (1891) and
_Frédéric II. avant son avènement_ (1893) when studying the modern
German empire and the grounds for its strength. With his friend Alfred
Rambaud he conceived the plan of _L'Histoire générale du IV^e siècle
jusqu'à nos jours_, to which, however, he contributed nothing. He edited
the _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'à la Révolution_
(1901- ), in which he carefully revised the work of his numerous
assistants, reserving the greatest part of the reign of Louis XIV. for
himself. This section occupies the whole of volume vii. It is a
remarkable piece of work, and the sketch of absolute government in
France during this period has never before been traced with an equal
amount of insight and brilliance. Lavisse was admitted to the Académie
Française on the death of Admiral Jurien de la Gravière in 1892, and
after the death of James Darmesteter became editor of the _Revue de
Paris_. He is, however, chiefly a master of pedagogy. When the école
normale was joined to the university of Paris, Lavisse was appointed
director of the new organization, which he had helped more than any one
to bring about.
LAVOISIER, ANTOINE LAURENT (1743-1794), French chemist, was born in
Paris on the 26th of August 1743. His father, an _avocat au parlement_,
gave him an excellent education at the collège Mazarin, and encouraged
his taste for natural science; and he studied mathematics and astronomy
with N. L. de Lacaille, chemistry with the elder Rouelle and botany with
Bernard de Jussieu. In 1766 he received a gold medal from the Academy of
Sciences for an essay on the best means of lighting a large town; and
among his early work were papers on the analysis of gypsum, on thunder,
on the aurora and on congelation, and a refutation of the prevalent
belief that water by repeated distillation is converted into earth. He
also assisted J. E. Guettard (1715-1786) in preparing his mineralogical
atlas of France. In 1768, recognized as a man who had both the ability
and the means for a scientific career, he was nominated _adjoint
chimiste_ to the Academy, and in that capacity made numerous reports on
the most diverse subjects, from the theory of colours to water-supply
and from invalid chairs to mesmerism and the divining rod. The same year
he obtained the position of _adjoint_ to Baudon, one of the
farmers-general of the revenue, subsequently becoming a full titular
member of the body. This was the first of a series of posts in which his
administrative abilities found full scope. Appointed _régisseur des
poudres_ in 1775, he not only abolished the vexatious search for
saltpetre in the cellars of private houses, but increased the production
of the salt and improved the manufacture of gunpowder. In 1785 he was
nominated to the committee on agriculture, and as its secretary drew up
reports and instructions on the cultivation of various crops, and
promulgated schemes for the establishment of experimental agricultural
stations, the distribution of agricultural implements and the adjustment
of rights of pasturage. Seven years before he had started a model farm
at Fréchine, where he demonstrated the advantages of scientific methods
of cultivation and of the introduction of good breeds of cattle and
sheep. Chosen a member of the provincial assembly of Orleans in 1787, he
busied himself with plans for the improvement of the social and economic
conditions of the community by means of savings banks, insurance
societies, canals, workhouses, &c.; and he showed the sincerity of his
philanthropical work by advancing money out of his own pocket, without
interest, to the towns of Blois and Romorantin, for the purchase of
barley during the famine of 1788. Attached in this same year to the
_caisse d'escompte_, he presented the report of its operations to the
national assembly in 1789, and as commissary of the treasury in 1791 he
established a system of accounts of unexampled punctuality. He was also
asked by the national assembly to draw up a new scheme of taxation in
connexion with which he produced a report _De la richesse territoriale
de la France_, and he was further associated with committees on hygiene,
coinage, the casting of cannon, &c., and was secretary and treasurer of
the commission appointed in 1790 to secure uniformity of weights and
measures.
In 1791, when Lavoisier was in the middle of all this official activity,
the suppression of the farmers-general marked the beginning of troubles
which brought about his death. His membership of that body was alone
sufficient to make him an object of suspicion; his administration at the
_régie des poudres_ was attacked; and Marat accused him in the _Ami du
Peuple_ of putting Paris in prison and of stopping the circulation of
air in the city by the _mur d'octroi_ erected at his suggestion in 1787.
The Academy, of which as treasurer at the time he was a conspicuous
member, was regarded by the convention with no friendly eyes as being
tainted with "incivism," and in the spring of 1792 A. F. Fourcroy
endeavoured to persuade it to purge itself of suspected members. The
attempt was unsuccessful, but in August of the same year Lavoisier had
to leave his house and laboratory at the Arsenal, and in November the
Academy was forbidden until further orders to fill up the vacancies in
its numbers. Next year, on the 1st of August, the convention passed a
decree for the uniformity of weights and measures, and requested the
Academy to take measures for carrying it out, but a week later Fourcroy
persuaded the same convention to suppress the Academy together with
other literary societies _patentées et dotées_ by the nation. In
November it ordered the arrest of the ex-farmers-general, and on the
advice of the committee of public instruction, of which Guyton de
Morveau and Fourcroy were members, the names of Lavoisier and others
were struck off from the commission of weights and measures. The fate of
the ex-farmers-general was sealed on the 2nd of May 1794, when, on the
proposal of Antoine Dupin, one of their former officials, the convention
sent them for trial by the Revolutionary tribunal. Within a week
Lavoisier and 27 others were condemned to death. A petition in his
favour addressed to Coffinhal, the president of the tribunal, is said to
have been met with the reply _La République n'a pas besoin de savants_,
and on the 8th of the month Lavoisier and his companions were
guillotined at the Place de la Révolution. He died fourth, and was
preceded by his colleague Jacques Paulze, whose daughter he had married
in 1771. "_Il ne leur a fallu_," Lagrange remarked, "_qu'un moment pour
faire tomber cette tête, et cent années peut-être ne suffiront pas pour
en reproduire une semblable_."
Lavoisier's name is indissolubly associated with the overthrow of the
phlogistic doctrine that had dominated the development of chemistry for
over a century, and with the establishment of the foundations upon which
the modern science reposes. "He discovered," says Justus von Liebig
(_Letters on Chemistry_, No. 3), "no new body, no new property, no
natural phenomenon previously unknown; but all the facts established by
him were the necessary consequences of the labours of those who preceded
him. His merit, his immortal glory, consists in this--that he infused
into the body of the science a new spirit; but all the members of that
body were already in existence, and rightly joined together." Realizing
that the total weight of all the products of a chemical reaction must be
exactly equal to the total weight of the reacting substances, he made
the balance the _ultima ratio_ of the laboratory, and he was able to
draw correct inferences from his weighings because, unlike many of the
phlogistonists, he looked upon heat as imponderable. It was by weighing
that in 1770 he proved that water is not converted into earth by
distillation, for he showed that the total weight of a sealed glass
vessel and the water it contained remained constant, however long the
water was boiled, but that the glass vessel lost weight to an extent
equal to the weight of earth produced, his inference being that the
earth came from the glass, not from the water. On the 1st of November
1772 he deposited with the Academy a sealed note which stated that
sulphur and phosphorus when burnt increased in weight because they
absorbed "air," while the metallic lead formed from litharge by
reduction with charcoal weighed less than the original litharge because
it had lost "air." The exact nature of the airs concerned in the
processes he did not explain until after the preparation of
"dephlogisticated air" (oxygen) by Priestley in 1774. Then, perceiving
that in combustion and the calcination of metals only a portion of a
given volume of common air was used up, he concluded that Priestley's
new air, _air éminemment pur_, was what was absorbed by burning
phosphorus, &c., "non-vital air," azote, or nitrogen remaining behind.
The gas given off in the reduction of metallic calces by charcoal he at
first supposed to be merely that contained in the calx, but he soon came
to understand that it was a product formed by the union of the charcoal
with the "dephlogisticated air" in the calx. In a memoir presented to
the Academy in 1777, but not published till 1782, he assigned to
dephlogisticated air the name oxygen, or "acid-producer," on the
supposition that all acids were formed by its union with a simple,
usually non-metallic, body; and having verified this notion for
phosphorus, sulphur, charcoal, &c., and even extended it to the
vegetable acids, he naturally asked himself what was formed by the
combustion of "inflammable air" (hydrogen). This problem he had attacked
in 1774, and in subsequent years he made various attempts to discover
the acid which, under the influence of his oxygen theory, he expected
would be formed. It was not till the 25th of June 1783 that in
conjunction with Laplace he announced to the Academy that water was the
product formed by the combination of hydrogen and oxygen, but by that
time he had been anticipated by Cavendish, to whose prior work, however,
as to that of several other investigators in other matters, it is to be
regretted that he did not render due acknowledgment. But a knowledge of
the composition of water enabled him to storm the last defences of the
phlogistonists. Hydrogen they held to be the phlogiston of metals, and
they supported this view by pointing out that it was liberated when
metals were dissolved in acids. Considerations of weight had long
prevented Lavoisier from accepting this doctrine, but he was now able to
explain the process fully, showing that the hydrogen evolved did not
come from the metal itself, but was one product of the decomposition of
the water of the dilute acid, the other product, oxygen, combining with
the metal to form an oxide which in turn united with the acid. A little
later this same knowledge led him to the beginnings of quantitative
organic analysis. Knowing that the water produced by the combustion of
alcohol was not pre-existent in that substance but was formed by the
combination of its hydrogen with the oxygen of the air, he burnt alcohol
and other combustible organic substances, such as wax and oil, in a
known volume of oxygen, and, from the weight of the water and carbon
dioxide produced and his knowledge of their composition, was able to
calculate the amounts of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen present in the
substance.
Up to about this time Lavoisier's work, mainly quantitative in
character, had appealed most strongly to physicists, but it now began to
win conviction from chemists also. C. L. Berthollet, L. B. Guyton de
Morveau and A. F. Fourcroy, his collaborators in the reformed system of
chemical terminology set forth in 1787 in the _Méthode de nomenclature
chimique_, were among the earliest French converts, and they were
followed by M. H. Klaproth and the German Academy, and by most English
chemists except Cavendish, who rather suspended his judgment, and
Priestley, who stubbornly clung to the opposite view. Indeed, though the
partisans of phlogiston did not surrender without a struggle, the
history of science scarcely presents a second instance of a change so
fundamental accomplished with such ease. The spread of Lavoisier's
doctrines was greatly facilitated by the defined and logical form in
which he presented them in his _Traité élémentaire de chimie_ (_présenté
dans un ordre nouveau et d'après les découvertes modernes_) (1789). The
list of simple substances contained in the first volume of this work
includes light and caloric with oxygen, azote and hydrogen. Under the
head of "oxidable or acidifiable" substances, the combination of which
with oxygen yielded acids, were placed sulphur, phosphorus, carbon, and
the muriatic, fluoric and boracic radicals. The metals, which by
combination with oxygen became oxides, were antimony, silver, arsenic,
bismuth, cobalt, copper, tin, iron, manganese, mercury, molybdenum,
nickel, gold, platinum, lead, tungsten and zinc; and the "simple earthy
salifiable substances" were lime, baryta, magnesia, alumina and silica.
The simple nature of the alkalies Lavoisier considered so doubtful that
he did not class them as elements, which he conceived as substances
which could not be further decomposed by any known process of
analysis--_les molécules simples et indivisibles qui composent les
corps_. The union of any two of the elements gave rise to binary
compounds, such as oxides, acids, sulphides, &c. A substance containing
three elements was a binary compound of the second order; thus salts,
the most important compounds of this class, were formed by the union of
acids and oxides, iron sulphate, for instance, being a compound of iron
oxide with sulphuric acid.
In addition to his purely chemical work, Lavoisier, mostly in
conjunction with Laplace, devoted considerable attention to physical
problems, especially those connected with heat. The two carried out some
of the earliest thermochemical investigations, devised apparatus for
measuring linear and cubical expansions, and employed a modification of
Joseph Black's ice calorimeter in a series of determinations of specific
heats. Regarding heat (_matière de feu_ or _fluide igné_) as a peculiar
kind of imponderable matter, Lavoisier held that the three states of
aggregation--solid, liquid and gas--were modes of matter, each depending
on the amount of _matière de feu_ with which the ponderable substances
concerned were interpenetrated and combined; and this view enabled him
correctly to anticipate that gases would be reduced to liquids and
solids by the influence of cold and pressure. He also worked at
fermentation, respiration and animal heat, looking upon the processes
concerned as essentially chemical in nature. A paper discovered many
years after his death showed that he had anticipated later thinkers in
explaining the cyclical process of animal and vegetable life, for he
pointed out that plants derive their food from the air, from water, and
in general from the mineral kingdom, and animals in turn feed on plants
or on other animals fed by plants, while the materials thus taken up by
plants and animals are restored to the mineral kingdom by the
breaking-down processes of fermentation, putrefaction and combustion.
A complete edition of the writings of Lavoisier, _Oeuvres de
Lavoisier, publiées par les soins du ministre de l'instruction
publique_, was issued at Paris in six volumes from 1864-1893. This
publication comprises his _Opuscules physiques et chimiques_ (1774),
many memoirs from the Academy volumes, and numerous letters, notes and
reports relating to the various matters on which he was engaged. At
the time of his death he was preparing an edition of his collected
works, and the portions ready for the press were published in two
volumes as _Mémoires de chimie_ in 1805 by his widow (in that year
married to Count Rumford), who had drawn and engraved the plates in
his _Traité élémentaire de chimie_ (1789).
Sec E. Grimaux, _Lavoisier 1743-1794, d'après sa correspondance, ses
manuscripts_, &c. (1888), which gives a list of his works; P. E. M.
Berthelot, _La Révolution chimique: Lavoisier_ (1890), which contains
an analysis of and extracts from his laboratory notebooks.
LA VOISIN. CATHERINE MONVOISIN, known as "La Voisin" (d. 1680), French
sorceress, whose maiden name was Catherine Deshayes, was one of the
chief personages in the famous _affaire des poisons_, which disgraced
the reign of Louis XIV. Her husband, Monvoisin, was an unsuccessful
jeweller, and she practised chiromancy and face-reading to retrieve
their fortunes. She gradually added the practice of witchcraft, in which
she had the help of a renegade priest, Étienne Guibourg, whose part was
the celebration of the "black mass," an abominable parody in which the
host was compounded of the blood of a little child mixed with horrible
ingredients. She practised medicine, especially midwifery, procured
abortion and provided love powders and poisons. Her chief accomplice was
one of her lovers, the magician Lesage, whose real name was Adam
Coeuret. The great ladies of Paris flocked to La Voisin, who accumulated
enormous wealth. Among her clients were Olympe Mancini, comtesse de
Soissons, who sought the death of the king's mistress, Louise de la
Vallière; Mme de Montespan, Mme de Gramont (_la belle_ Hamilton) and
others. The bones of toads, the teeth of moles, cantharides, iron
filings, human blood and human dust were among the ingredients of the
love powders concocted by La Voisin. Her knowledge of poisons was not
apparently so thorough as that of less well-known sorcerers, or it would
be difficult to account for La Vallière's immunity. The art of poisoning
had become a regular science. The death of Henrietta, duchess of
Orleans, was attributed, falsely it is true, to poison, and the crimes
of Marie Madeleine de Brinvilliers (executed in 1676) and her
accomplices were still fresh in the public mind. In April 1679 a
commission appointed to inquire into the subject and to prosecute the
offenders met for the first time. Its proceedings, including some
suppressed in the official records, are preserved in the notes of one of
the official _rapporteurs_, Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie. The revelation
of the treacherous intention of Mme de Montespan to poison Louis XIV.
and of other crimes, planned by personages who could not be attacked
without scandal which touched the throne, caused Louis XIV. to close the
_chambre ardente_, as the court was called, on the 1st of October 1680.
It was reopened on the 19th of May 1681 and sat until the 21st of July
1682. Many of the culprits escaped through private influence. Among
these were Marie Anne Mancini, duchesse de Bouillon, who had sought to
get rid of her husband in order to marry the duke of Vendôme, though
Louis XIV. banished her to Nérac. Mme de Montespan was not openly
disgraced, because the preservation of Louis's own dignity was
essential, and some hundred prisoners, among them the infamous Guibourg
and Lesage, escaped the scaffold through the suppression of evidence
insisted on by Louis XIV. and Louvois. Some of these were imprisoned in
various fortresses, with instructions from Louvois to the respective
commandants to flog them if they sought to impart what they knew. Some
innocent persons were imprisoned for life because they had knowledge of
the facts. La Voisin herself was executed at an early stage of the
proceedings, on the 20th of February 1680, after a perfunctory
application of torture. The authorities had every reason to avoid
further revelations. Thirty-five other prisoners were executed; five
were sent to the galleys and twenty-three were banished. Their crimes
had furnished one of the most extraordinary trials known to history.
See F. Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, vols. iv.-vii.
(1870-1874); the notes of La Reynie, preserved in the Bibliothèque
Nationale; F. Funck-Brentano, _Le Drame des poisons_ (1899); A.
Masson, _La Sorcellerie et la science des poisons au XVII^e siècle_
(1904). Sardou made the affair a background for his _Affaire des
poisons_ (1907). There is a portrait of La Voisin by Antoine Coypel,
which has been often reproduced.
LAW, JOHN (1671-1729), Scots economist, best known as the originator of
the "Mississippi scheme," was born at Edinburgh in April 1671. His
father, a goldsmith and banker, bought shortly before his death, which
took place in his son's youth, the lands of Lauriston near Edinburgh.
John lived at home till he was twenty, and then went to London. He had
already studied mathematics, and the theory of commerce and political
economy, with much interest; but he was known rather as fop than
scholar. In London he gambled, drank and flirted till in April 1694 a
love intrigue resulted in a duel with Beau Wilson in Bloomsbury Square.
Law killed his antagonist, and was condemned to death. His life was
spared, but he was detained in prison. He found means to escape to
Holland, then the greatest commercial country in Europe. Here he
observed with close attention the practical working of banking and
financial business, and conceived the first ideas of his celebrated
"system." After a few years spent in foreign travel, he returned to
Scotland, then exhausted and enraged by the failure of the Darien
expedition (1695-1701). He propounded plans for the relief of his
country in a work[1] entitled _Money and Trade Considered, with a
Proposal for supplying the Nation with Money_ (1705). This attracted
some notice, but had no practical effect, and Law again betook himself
to travel. He visited Brussels, Paris, Vienna, Genoa, Rome, making large
sums by gambling and speculation, and spending them lavishly. He was in
Paris in 1708, and made some proposals to the government as to their
financial difficulties, but Louis XIV. declined to treat with a
"Huguenot," and d'Argenson, chief of the police, had Law expelled as a
suspicious character. He had, however, become intimately acquainted
with the duke of Orleans, and when in 1715 that prince became regent,
Law at once returned to Paris.
The extravagant expenditure of the late monarch had plunged the kingdom
into apparently inextricable financial confusion. The debt was 3000
million livres, the estimated annual expenditure, exclusive of interest
payments, 148 million livres, and the income about the same. The
advisability of declaring a national bankruptcy was seriously discussed,
and though this plan was rejected, measures hardly less violent were
carried. By a _visa_, or examination of the state liabilities by a
committee with full powers of quashing claims, the debt was reduced
nearly a half, the coin in circulation was ordered to be called in and
reissued at the rate of 120 for 100--a measure by which foreign coiners
profited greatly, and a chamber of justice was established to punish
speculators, to whom the difficulties of the state were ascribed. These
measures had so little success that the _billets d'état_ which were
issued as part security for the new debt at once sank 75% below their
nominal value. At this crisis Law unfolded a vast scheme to the
perplexed regent. A royal bank was to manage the trade and currency of
the kingdom, to collect the taxes, and to free the country from debt.
The council of finance, then under the duc de Noailles, opposed the
plan, but the regent allowed Law to take some tentative steps. By an
edict of 2nd May 1716, a private institution called _La Banque
générale_, and managed by Law, was founded. The capital was 6 million
livres, divided into 1200 shares of 5000 livres, payable in four
instalments, one-fourth in cash, three-fourths in _billets d'état_. It
was to perform the ordinary functions of a bank, and had power to issue
notes payable at sight in the weight and value of the money mentioned at
day of issue. The bank was a great and immediate success. By providing
for the absorption of part of the state paper it raised the credit of
the government. The notes were a most desirable medium of exchange, for
they had the element of fixity of value, which, owing to the arbitrary
mint decrees of the government, was wanting in the coin of the realm.
They proved the most convenient instruments of remittance between the
capital and the provinces, and they thus developed the industries of the
latter. The rate of interest, previously enormous and uncertain, fell
first to 6 and then to 4%; and when another decree (10th April 1717)
ordered collectors of taxes to receive notes as payments, and to change
them for coin at request, the bank so rose in favour that it soon had a
note-issue of 60 million livres. Law now gained the full confidence of
the regent, and was allowed to proceed with the development of the
"system."
The trade of the region about the Mississippi had been granted to a
speculator named Crozat. He found the undertaking too large, and was
glad to give it up. By a decree of August 1717 Law was allowed to
establish the _Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d'Occident_, and to endow it
with privileges practically amounting to sovereignty over the most
fertile region of North America. The capital was 100 million livres
divided into 200,000 shares of 500 livres. The payments were to be
one-fourth in coin and three-fourths in _billets d'état_. On these last
the government was to pay 3 million livres interest yearly to the
company. As the state paper was depreciated the shares fell much below
par. The rapid rise of Law had made him many enemies, and they took
advantage of this to attack the system. D'Argenson, now head of the
council of finance, with the brothers Paris of Grenoble, famous tax
farmers of the day, formed what was called the "anti-system." The
farming of the taxes was let to them, under an assumed name, for 48½
million livres yearly. A company was formed, the exact counterpart of
the Mississippi company. The capital was the same, divided in the same
manner, but the payments were to be entirely in money. The returns from
the public revenue were sure; those from the Mississippi scheme were
not. Hence the shares of the latter were for some time out of favour.
Law proceeded unmoved with the development of his plans. On the 4th of
December 1718 the bank became a government institution under the name of
_La Banque royale_. Law was director, and the king guaranteed the notes.
The shareholders were repaid in coin, and, to widen the influence of
the new institution, the transport of money between towns where it had
branches was forbidden. The paper-issue now reached 110 millions. Law
had such confidence in the success of his plans that he agreed to take
over shares in the Mississippi company at par at a near date. The shares
began rapidly to rise. The next move was to unite the companies _Des
Indes Orientales_ and _De Chine_, founded in 1664 and 1713 respectively,
but now dwindled away to a shadow, to his company. The united
association, _La Compagnie des Indes_, had a practical monopoly of the
foreign trade of France. These proceedings necessitated the creation of
new capital to the nominal amount of 25 million livres. The payment was
spread over 20 months. Every holder of four original shares (_mères_)
could purchase one of the new shares (_filles_) at a premium of 50
livres. All these 500-livre shares rapidly rose to 750, or 50% above
par. Law now turned his attention to obtaining additional powers within
France itself. On the 25th of July 1719 an edict was issued granting the
company for nine years the management of the mint and the coin-issue.
For this privilege the company paid 5 million livres, and the money was
raised by a new issue of shares of the nominal value of 500 livres, but
with a premium of other 500. The list was only open for twenty days, and
it was necessary to present four _mères_ and one _fille_ in order to
obtain one of the new shares (_petites filles_). At the same time two
dividends per annum of 6% each were promised. Again there was an attempt
to ruin the bank by the commonplace expedient of making a run on it for
coin; but the conspirators had to meet absolute power managed with
fearlessness and skill. An edict appeared reducing, at a given date, the
value of money, and those who had withdrawn coin from the bank hastened
again to exchange it for the more stable notes. Public confidence in Law
was increased, and he was enabled rapidly to proceed with the completion
of the system. A decree of 27th August 1719 deprived the rival company
of the farming of the revenue, and gave it to the _Compagnie des Indes_
for nine years in return for an annual payment of 52 million livres.
Thus at one blow the "anti-system" was crushed. One thing yet remained;
Law proposed to take over the national debt, and manage it on terms
advantageous to the state. The mode of transfer was this. The debt was
over 1500 million livres. Notes were to be issued to that amount, and
with these the state creditors must be paid in a certain order. Shares
were to be issued at intervals corresponding to the payments, and it was
expected that the notes would be used in buying them. The government was
to pay 3% for the loan. It had formerly been bound to pay 80 millions,
it would now pay under 50, a clear gain of over 30. As the shares of the
company were almost the only medium for investment, the transfer would
be surely effected. The creditors would now look to the government
payments and the commercial gains of the company for their annual
returns. Indeed the creditors were often not able to procure the shares,
for each succeeding issue was immediately seized upon, though the
500-livre share was now issued at a premium of 4500 livres. After the
third issue, on the 2nd of October, the shares immediately resold at
8000 livres in the Rue Quincampoix, then used as a bourse. They went on
rapidly rising as new privileges were still granted to the company. Law
had now more than regal power. The exiled Stuarts paid him court; the
proudest aristocracy in Europe humbled themselves before him; and his
liberality made him the idol of the populace. After, as a necessary
preliminary, becoming a Catholic, he was made controller-general of the
finances in place of d'Argenson. Finally, in February 1720, the bank was
in name as well as in reality united to the company.
The system was now complete; but it had already begun to decay. In
December 1719 it was at its height. The shares had then amounted to
20,000 livres, forty times their nominal price. A sort of madness
possessed the nation. Men sold their all and hastened to Paris to
speculate. The population of the capital was increased by an enormous
influx of provincials and foreigners. Trade received a vast though
unnatural impulse. Everybody seemed to be getting richer, no one poorer.
Those who could still reflect saw that this prosperity was not real.
The whole issue of shares at the extreme market-price valued 12,000
million livres. It would require 600 million annual revenue to give a 5%
dividend on this. Now, the whole income of the company as yet was hardly
sufficient to pay 5% on the original capital of 1677 million livres. The
receipts from the taxes, &c., could be precisely calculated, and it
would be many years before the commercial undertakings of the
company--with which only some trifling beginning had been made--would
yield any considerable return. People began to sell their shares, and to
buy coin, houses, land--anything that had a stable element of value in
it. There was a rapid fall in the shares, a rapid rise in all kinds of
property, and consequently a rapid depreciation of the paper money. Law
met these new tendencies by a succession of the most violent edicts. The
notes were to bear a premium over specie. Coin was only to be used in
small payments, and only a small amount was to be kept in the possession
of private parties. The use of diamonds, the fabrication of gold and
silver plate, was forbidden. A dividend of 40% on the original capital
was promised. By several ingenious but fallaciously reasoned pamphlets
Law endeavoured to restore public confidence. The shares still fell. At
last, on the 5th of March 1720, an edict appeared fixing their price at
9000 livres, and ordering the bank to buy and sell them at that price.
The fall now was transferred to the notes, of which there were soon over
2500 million livres in circulation. A large proportion of the coined
money was removed from the kingdom. Prices rose enormously. There was
everywhere distress and complete financial confusion. Law became an
object of popular hatred. He lost his court influence, and was obliged
to consent to a decree (21st May 1720) by which the notes and
consequently the shares were reduced to half their nominal value. This
created such a commotion that its promoters were forced to recall it,
but the mischief was done. What confidence could there be in the
depreciated paper after such a measure? Law was removed from his office,
and his enemies proceeded to demolish the "system." A vast number of
shares had been deposited in the bank. These were destroyed. The notes
were reconverted into government debt, but there was first a _visa_
which reduced that debt to the same size as before it was taken over by
the company. The rate of interest was lowered, and the government now
only pledged itself to pay 37 instead of 80 millions annually. Finally
the bank was abolished, and the company reduced to a mere trading
association. By November the "system" had disappeared. With these last
measures Law, it may well be believed, had nothing to do. He left France
secretly in December 1720, resumed his wandering life, and died at
Venice, poor and forgotten, on the 21st of March 1729.
Of Law's writings the most important for the comprehension of the
"system" is his _Money and Trade Considered_. In this work he says
that national power and wealth consist in numbers of people, and
magazines of home and foreign goods. These depend on trade, and that
on money, of which a greater quantity employs more people; but credit,
if the credit have a circulation, has all the beneficial effects of
money. To create and increase instruments of credit is the function of
a bank. Let such be created then, and let its notes be only given in
return for land sold or pledged. Such a currency would supply the
nation with abundance of money; and it would have many advantages,
which Law points out in detail, over silver. The bank or commission
was to be a government institution, and its profits were to be spent
in encouraging the export and manufacture of the nation. A very
evident error lies at the root of the "system." Money is not the
result but the cause of wealth, he thought. To increase it then must
be beneficial, and the best way is by a properly secured paper
currency. This is the motive force; but it is to be applied in a
particular way. Law had a profound belief in the omnipotence of
government. He saw the evils of minor monopolies, and of private
farming of taxes. He proposed to centre foreign trade and internal
finance in one huge monopoly managed by the state for the people, and
carrying on business through a plentiful supply of paper money. He did
not see that trade and commerce are best left to private enterprise,
and that such a scheme would simply result in the profits of
speculators and favourites. The "system" was never so far developed as
to exhibit its inherent faults. The madness of speculators ruined the
plan when only its foundations were laid. One part indeed might have
been saved. The bank was not necessarily bound to the company, and had
its note-issue been retrenched it might have become a permanent
institution. As Thiers points out, the edict of the 5th of March
1720, which made the shares convertible into notes, ruined the bank
without saving the company. The shares had risen to an unnatural
height, and they should have been allowed to fall to their natural
level. Perhaps Law felt this to be impossible. He had friends at court
whose interests were involved in the shares, and he had enemies eager
for his overthrow. It was necessary to succeed completely or not at
all; so Law, a gambler to the core, risked and lost everything.
Notwithstanding the faults of the "system," its author was a financial
genius of the first order. He had the errors of his time; but he
propounded many truths as to the nature of currency and banking then
unknown to his contemporaries. The marvellous skill which he displayed
in adapting the theory of the "system" to the actual condition of
things in France, and in carrying out the various financial
transactions rendered necessary by its development, is absolutely
without parallel. His profound self-confidence and belief in the truth
of his own theories were the reasons alike of his success and his
ruin. He never hesitated to employ the whole force of a despotic
government for the definite ends which he saw before him. He left
France poorer than he entered it, yet he was not perceptibly changed
by his sudden transitions of fortune. Montesquieu visited him at
Venice after his fall, and has left a description of him touched with
a certain pathos. Law, he tells us, was still the same in character,
perpetually planning and scheming, and, though in poverty, revolving
vast projects to restore himself to power, and France to commercial
prosperity.
The fullest account of the Mississippi scheme is that of Thiers, _Law
et son système des finances_ (1826, American trans. 1859). See also
Heymann, _Law und sein System_ (1853); Pierre Bonnassieux, _Les
Grandes Compagnies de commerce_ (1892); S. Alexi, _John Law und sein
System_ (1885); E. Levasseur, _Récherches historiques sur le système
de Law_ (1854); and Jobez, _Une Préface au socialisme, ou le système
de Law et la chasse aux capitalistes_ (1848). Full biographical
details are given in Wood's _Life of Law_ (Edinburgh, 1824). All Law's
later writings are to be found in Daire, _Collection des principaux
économistes_, vol. i. (1843). Other works on Law are: A. W.
Wiston-Glynn, _John Law of Lauriston_ (1908); P. A. Cachut, _The
Financier Law, his Scheme and Times_ (1856); A. Macf. Davis, _An
Historical Study of Law's System_ (Boston, 1887); A. Beljame, _La
Pronunciation du nom de Jean Law le financier_ (1891). See also E. A.
Benians in _Camb. Mod. Hist._ vi. 6 (1909). For minor notices see
Poole's _Index to Periodicals_. There is a portrait of Law by A. S.
Belle in the National Portrait Gallery, London. (F. Wa.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] A work entitled _Proposals and Reasons for constituting a Council
of Trade in Scotland_ was published anonymously at Edinburgh in 1701.
It was republished at Glasgow in 1751 with Law's name attached; but
several references in the state papers of the time mention William
Paterson (1658-1719), founder of the Bank of England, as the author
of the plan therein propounded. Even if Law had nothing to do with
the composition of the work, he must have read it and been influenced
by it. This may explain how it contains the germs of many of the
developments of the "system." Certainly the suggestion of a central
board, to manage great commercial undertakings, to furnish occupation
for the poor, to encourage mining, fishing and manufactures, and to
bring about a reduction in the rate of interest, was largely realized
in the Mississippi scheme. See Bannister's Life of William Paterson
(ed. 1858), and _Writings of William Paterson_ (2nd ed., 3 vols.,
1859).
LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761), English divine, was born at King's Cliffe,
Northamptonshire. In 1705 he entered as a sizar at Emmanuel College,
Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was
ordained. He resided at Cambridge, teaching and taking occasional duty
until the accession of George I., when his conscience forbade him to
take the oaths of allegiance to the new government and of abjuration of
the Stuarts. His Jacobitism had already been betrayed in a tripos speech
which brought him into trouble; and he was now deprived of his
fellowship and became a non-juror. For the next few years he is said to
have been a curate in London. By 1727 he was domiciled with Edward
Gibbon (1666-1736) at Putney as tutor to his son Edward, father of the
historian, who says that Law became "the much honoured friend and
spiritual director of the whole family." In the same year he accompanied
his pupil to Cambridge, and resided with him as governor, in term time,
for the next four years. His pupil then went abroad, but Law was left at
Putney, where he remained in Gibbon's house for more than ten years,
acting as a religious guide not only to the family but to a number of
earnest-minded folk who came to consult him. The most eminent of these
were the two brothers John and Charles Wesley, John Byrom the poet,
George Cheyne the physician and Archibald Hutcheson, M.P. for Hastings.
The household was dispersed in 1737. Law was parted from his friends,
and in 1740 retired to King's Cliffe, where he had inherited from his
father a house and a small property. There he was presently joined by
two ladies: Mrs Hutcheson, the rich widow of his old friend, who
recommended her on his death-bed to place herself under Law's spiritual
guidance, and Miss Hester Gibbon, sister to his late pupil. This curious
trio lived for twenty-one years a life wholly given to devotion, study
and charity, until the death of Law on the 9th of April 1761.
Law was a busy writer under three heads:--
1. _Controversy._--In this field he had no contemporary peer save
perhaps Richard Bentley. The first of his controversial works was
_Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor_ (1717), which were considered
by friend and foe alike as one of the most powerful contributions to
the Bangorian controversy on the high church side. Thomas Sherlock
declared that "Mr Law was a writer so considerable that he knew but
one good reason why his lordship did not answer him." Law's next
controversial work was _Remarks on Mandeville's Fable of the Bees_
(1723), in which he vindicates morality on the highest grounds; for
pure style, caustic wit and lucid argument this work is remarkable; it
was enthusiastically praised by John Sterling, and republished by F.
D. Maurice. Law's _Case of Reason_ (1732), in answer to Tindal's
_Christianity as old as the Creation_ is to a great extent an
anticipation of Bishop Butler's famous argument in the _Analogy_. In
this work Law shows himself at least the equal of the ablest champion
of Deism. His _Letters to a Lady inclined to enter the Church of Rome_
are excellent specimens of the attitude of a high Anglican towards
Romanism. His controversial writings have not received due
recognition, partly because they were opposed to the drift of his
times, partly because of his success in other fields.
2. _Practical Divinity._--The _Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life_
(1728), together with its predecessor, _A Treatise of Christian
Perfection_ (1726), deeply influenced the chief actors in the great
Evangelical revival. The Wesleys, George Whitefield, Henry Venn,
Thomas Scott and Thomas Adam all express their deep obligation to the
author. The _Serious Call_ affected others quite as deeply. Samuel
Johnson, Gibbon, Lord Lyttelton and Bishop Horne all spoke
enthusiastically of its merits; and it is still the only work by which
its author is popularly known. It has high merits of style, being
lucid and pointed to a degree. In a tract entitled _The Absolute
Unlawfulness of Stage Entertainments_ (1726) Law was tempted by the
corruptions of the stage of the period to use unreasonable language,
and incurred some effective criticism from John Dennis in _The Stage
Defended_.
3. _Mysticism._--Though the least popular, by far the most
interesting, original and suggestive of all Law's works are those
which he wrote in his later years, after he had become an enthusiastic
admirer (not a disciple) of Jacob Boehme, the Teutonic theosophist.
From his earliest years he had been deeply impressed with the piety,
beauty and thoughtfulness of the writings of the Christian mystics,
but it was not till after his accidental meeting with the works of
Boehme, about 1734, that pronounced mysticism appeared in his works.
Law's mystic tendencies divorced him from the practical-minded Wesley,
but in spite of occasional wild fancies the books are worth reading.
They are _A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a
late Book called a "Plain Account, &c., of the Lord's Supper_" (1737);
_The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Regeneration_ (1739); _An
Appeal to all that Doubt and Disbelieve the Truths of Revelation_
(1740); _An Earnest and Serious Answer to Dr Trapp's Sermon on being
Righteous Overmuch_ (1740); _The Spirit of Prayer_ (1749, 1752); _The
Way to Divine Knowledge_ (1752); _The Spirit of Love_ (1752, 1754); _A
Short but Sufficient Confutation of Dr Warburton's Projected Defence
(as he calls it) of Christianity in his "Divine Legation of Moses"_
(1757); _A Series of Letters_ (1760); a _Dialogue between a Methodist
and a Churchman_ (1760); and _An Humble, Earnest and Affectionate
Address to the Clergy_ (1761).
Richard Tighe wrote a short account of Law's life in 1813. See also
Christopher Walton, _Notes and Materials for a Complete Biography of
W. Law_ (1848); Sir Leslie Stephen, _English Thought in the 18th
century_, and in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._ (xxxii. 236); W. H. Lecky,
_History of England in the 18th Century_; C. J. Abbey, _The English
Church in the 18th Century_; and J. H. Overton, _William Law, Nonjuror
and Mystic_ (1881).
LAW (O. Eng. _lagu_, M. Eng. _lawe_; from an old Teutonic root _lag_,
"lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. _lex_, Fr. _loi_), a word
used in English in two main senses--(1) as a rule prescribed by
authority for human action, and (2) in scientific and philosophic
phraseology, as a uniform order of sequence (e.g. "laws" of motion). In
the first sense the word is used either in the abstract, for
jurisprudence generally or for a state of things in which the laws of a
country are duly observed ("law and order"), or in the concrete for some
particular rule or body of rules. It is usual to distinguish further
between "law" and "equity" (q.v.). The scientific and philosophic usage
has grown out of an early conception of jurisprudence, and is really
metaphorical, derived from the phrase "natural law" or "law of nature,"
which presumed that commands were laid on matter by God (see T. E.
Holland, _Elements of Jurisprudence_, ch. ii.). The adjective "legal" is
only used in the first sense, never in the second. In the case of the
"moral law" (see ETHICS) the term is employed somewhat ambiguously
because of its connexion with both meanings. There is also an Old
English use of the word "law" in a more or less sporting sense ("to give
law" or "allow so much law"), meaning a start or fair allowance in time
or distance. Presumably this originated simply in the liberty-loving
Briton's respect for proper legal procedure; instead of the brute
exercise of tyrannous force he demanded "law," or a fair opportunity
and trial. But it may simply be an extension of the meaning of "right,"
or of the sense of "leave" which is found in early uses of the French
_loi_.
In this work the laws or uniformities of the physical universe are dealt
with in the articles on the various sciences. The general principles of
law in the legal sense are discussed under JURISPRUDENCE. What may be
described as "national systems" of law are dealt with historically and
generally under ENGLISH LAW, AMERICAN LAW, ROMAN LAW, GREEK LAW,
MAHOMMEDAN LAW, INDIAN LAW, &c. Certain broad divisions of law are
treated under CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CANON LAW, CIVIL LAW,
COMMON LAW, CRIMINAL LAW, ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, EQUITY, INTERNATIONAL LAW,
MILITARY LAW, &c. And the particular laws of different countries on
special subjects are stated under the headings for those subjects
(BANKRUPTCY, &c.). For courts (q.v.) of law, and procedure, see
JURISPRUDENCE, APPEAL, TRIAL, KING'S BENCH, &c.
AUTHORITIES.--The various legal articles have bibliographies attached,
but it may be convenient here to mention such general works on law,
apart from the science of jurisprudence, as (for English law) Lord
Halsbury's _Laws of England_ (vol. i., 1907), _The Encyclopaedia of
the Laws of England_, ed. Wood Renton (1907), Stephen's _Commentaries
on the Laws of England_ (1908), Brett's _Commentaries on the present
Laws of England_ (1896), Broom's _Commentaries on the Common Law_
(1896) and Brodie-Innes's _Comparative Principles of the Laws of
England and Scotland_ (vol. i., 1903); and, for America, Bouvier's
_Law Dictionary_, and Kent's _Commentaries on American Law_.
LAWES, HENRY (1595-1662), English musician, was born at Dinton in
Wiltshire in December 1595, and received his musical education from John
Cooper, better known under his Italian pseudonym Giovanni Coperario (d.
1627), a famous composer of the day. In 1626 he was received as one of
the gentlemen of the chapel royal, which place he held till the
Commonwealth put a stop to church music. But even during that songless
time Lawes continued his work as a composer, and the famous collection
of his vocal pieces, _Ayres and Dialogues for One, Two and Three
Voyces_, was published in 1653, being followed by two other books under
the same title in 1655 and 1658 respectively. When in 1660 the king
returned, Lawes once more entered the royal chapel, and composed an
anthem for the coronation of Charles II. He died on the 21st of October
1662, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Lawes's name has become known
beyond musical circles by his friendship with Milton, whose _Comus_ he
supplied with incidental music for the performance of the masque in
1634. The poet in return immortalized his friend in the famous sonnet in
which Milton, with a musical perception not common amongst poets,
exactly indicates the great merit of Lawes. His careful attention to the
words of the poet, the manner in which his music seems to grow from
those words, the perfect coincidence of the musical with the metrical
accent, all put Lawes's songs on a level with those of Schumann or Liszt
or any modern composer. At the same time he is by no means wanting in
genuine melodic invention, and his concerted music shows the learned
contrapuntist.
LAWES, SIR JOHN BENNET, BART. (1814-1900), English agriculturist, was
born at Rothamsted on the 28th of December 1814. Even before leaving
Oxford, where he matriculated in 1832, he had begun to interest himself
in growing various medicinal plants on the Rothamsted estates, which he
inherited on his father's death in 1822. About 1837 he began to
experiment on the effects of various manures on plants growing in pots,
and a year or two later the experiments were extended to crops in the
field. One immediate consequence was that in 1842 he patented a manure
formed by treating phosphates with sulphuric acid, and thus initiated
the artificial manure industry. In the succeeding year he enlisted the
services of Sir J. H. Gilbert, with whom he carried on for more than
half a century those experiments in raising crops and feeding animals
which have rendered Rothamsted famous in the eyes of scientific
agriculturists all over the world (see AGRICULTURE). In 1854 he was
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which in 1867 bestowed a Royal
medal on Lawes and Gilbert jointly, and in 1882 he was created a
baronet. In the year before his death, which happened on the 31st of
August 1900, he took measures to ensure the continued existence of the
Rothamsted experimental farm by setting aside £100,000 for that purpose
and constituting the Lawes Agricultural Trust, composed of four members
from the Royal Society, two from the Royal Agricultural Society, one
each from the Chemical and Linnaean Societies, and the owner of
Rothamsted mansion-house for the time being.
LAW MERCHANT or LEX MERCATORIA, originally a body of rules and
principles relating to merchants and mercantile transactions, laid down
by merchants themselves for the purpose of regulating their dealings. It
was composed of such usages and customs as were common to merchants and
traders in all parts of Europe, varied slightly in different localities
by special peculiarities. The law merchant owed its origin to the fact
that the civil law was not sufficiently responsive to the growing
demands of commerce, as well as to the fact that trade in pre-medieval
times was practically in the hands of those who might be termed
cosmopolitan merchants, who wanted a prompt and effective jurisdiction.
It was administered for the most part in special courts, such as those
of the gilds in Italy, or the fair courts of Germany and France, or as
in England, in courts of the staple or piepowder (see also SEA LAWS).
The history of the law merchant in England is divided into three stages:
the first prior to the time of Coke, when it was a special kind of
law--as distinct from the common law--administered in special courts for
a special class of the community (i.e. the mercantile); the second stage
was one of transition, the law merchant being administered in the common
law courts, but as a body of customs, to be proved as a fact in each
individual case of doubt; the third stage, which has continued to the
present day, dates from the presidency over the king's bench of Lord
Mansfield (q.v.), under whom it was moulded into the mercantile law of
to-day. To the law merchant modern English law owes the fundamental
principles in the law of partnership, negotiable instruments and trade
marks.
See G. Malynes, _Consuetudo vel lex mercatoria_ (London, 1622); W.
Mitchell, _The Early History of the Law Merchant_ (Cambridge, 1904);
J. W. Smith, _Mercantile Law_ (ed. Hart and Simey, 1905).
LAWN, a very thin fabric made from level linen or cotton yarns. It is
used for light dresses and trimmings, also for handkerchiefs. The terms
lawn and cambric (q.v.) are often intended to indicate the same fabric.
The word "lawn" was formerly derived from the French name for the fabric
_linon_, from _lin_, flax, linen, but Skeat (_Etym. Dict._, 1898,
Addenda) and A. Thomas (_Romania_, xxix. 182, 1900) have shown that the
real source of the word is to be found in the name of the French town
Laon. Skeat quotes from Palsgrave, _Les claircissement de la langue
Françoÿse_ (1530), showing that the early name of the fabric was _Laune
lynen_. An early form of the word was "laund," probably due to an
adaptation to "laund," lawn, glade or clearing in a forest, now used of
a closely-mown expanse of grass in a garden, park, &c. (see GRASS and
HORTICULTURE). This word comes from O. Fr. _launde_, mod. _lande___,
wild, heathy or sandy ground, covered with scrub or brushwood, a word of
Celtic origin; cf. Irish and Breton _lann_, heathy ground, also
enclosure, land; Welsh _llan_, enclosure. It is cognate with "land,"
common to Teutonic languages. In the original sense of clearing in a
forest, glade, Lat. _saltus_, "lawn," still survives in the New Forest,
where it is used of the feeding-places of cattle.
LAWN-TENNIS, a game played with racquet and ball on a court traversed by
a net, but without enclosing walls. It is a modern adaptation of the
ancient game of tennis (q.v.), with which it is identical as regards the
scoring of the game and "set." Lawn-tennis is essentially a summer game,
played in the open air, either on courts marked with whitewash on
close-cut grass like a cricket pitch, or on asphalt, cinders, gravel,
wood, earth or other substance which can be so prepared as to afford a
firm, level and smooth surface. In winter, however, the game is often
played on the floor of gymnasiums, drill sheds or other buildings, when
it is called "covered-court lawn-tennis"; but there is no difference in
the game itself corresponding to these varieties of court.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The lawn-tennis court for the single-handed game, one player against one
("singles"), is shown in fig. 1, and that for the four-handed game
("doubles") in fig. 2. The net stretched across the middle of the court
is attached to the tops of two posts which stand 3 ft. outside the court
on each side. The height of the net is 3 ft. 6 in. at the posts and 3
ft. at the centre. The court is bisected longitudinally by the
half-court-line, which, however, is marked only between the two
service-lines and at the points of junction with the base-lines. The
divisions of the court on each side of the half-court-line are called
respectively the right-hand and left-hand courts; and the portion of
these divisions between the service-lines and the net are the right-hand
service-court and left-hand service-court respectively. The balls, which
are made of hollow india-rubber, tightly covered with white flannel, are
2½ in. in diameter, and from 1(7/8) to 2 oz. in weight. The racquets
(fig. 3), for which there are no regulation dimensions, are broader and
lighter than those used in tennis.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Before play begins, a racquet is spun as in tennis, and the winner of
the spin elects either to take first service or to take choice of
courts. If he takes choice of courts, he and his partner (if the game be
doubles) take their position on the selected side of the net, one
stationing himself in the right-hand court and the other in the left,
which positions are retained throughout the set. If the winner of the
spin takes choice of courts, his opponent has first service; and vice
versa. The players change sides of the net at the end of the first,
third and every subsequent alternate game, and at the end of each set;
but they may agree not to change during any set except the last. Service
is delivered by each player in turn, who retains it for one game
irrespective of the winning or losing of points. In doubles the partner
of the server in the first game serves in the third, and the partner of
the server in the second game serves in the fourth; the same order being
preserved till the end of the set; but each pair of partners decide for
themselves before their first turn of service which of the two shall
serve first. The server delivers the service from the right- and
left-hand courts alternately, beginning in each of his service games
from the right-hand court, even though odds be given or owed; he must
stand behind (i.e. farther from the net than) the base-line, and must
serve the ball so that it drops in the opponent's service-court
diagonally opposite to the court served from, or upon one of the lines
enclosing that service-court. If in a serve, otherwise good, the ball
touches the net, it is a "let" whether the serve be "taken" or not by
striker-out; a "let" does not annul a previous "fault." (For the meaning
of "let," "rest," "striker-out" and other technical terms used in the
game, see TENNIS and RACQUETS.) The serve is a fault (1) if it be not
delivered by the server from the proper court, and from behind the
base-line; (2) if the ball drops into the net or out-of-court, or into
any part of the court other than the proper service-court. The
striker-out cannot, as in racquets, "take," and thereby condone, a
fault. When a fault has been served, the server must serve again from
the same court, unless it was a fault because served from the wrong
court, in which case the server crosses to the proper court before
serving again. Two consecutive faults score a point against the side of
the server. Lawn-tennis differs from tennis and racquets in that the
service may not be taken on the volley by striker-out. After the serve
has been returned the play proceeds until the "rest" (or "rally") ends
by one side or the other failing to make a "good return"; a good return
in lawn-tennis meaning a stroke by which the ball, having been hit with
the racquet before its second bound, is sent over the net, even if it
touches the net, so as to fall within the limits of the court on the
opposite side. A point is scored by the player, or side, whose opponent
fails to return the serve or to make a good return in the rest. A player
also loses a point if the ball when in play touches him or his partner,
or their clothes; or if he or his racquet touches the net or any of its
supports while the ball is in play; or if he leaps over the net to avoid
touching it; or if he volley the ball before it has passed the net.
For him who would excel in lawn-tennis a strong fast service is hardly
less necessary than a heavily "cut" service to the tennis player and
the racquet player. High overhand service, by which alone any great
pace can be obtained, was first perfected by the brothers Renshaw
between 1880 and 1890, and is now universal even among players far
below the first rank. The service in vogue among the best players in
America, and from this circumstance known as the "American service,"
has less pace than the English but is "cut" in such a way that it
swerves in the air and "drags" off the ground, the advantage being
that it gives the server more time to "run in" after his serve, so as
to volley his opponent's return from a position within a yard or two
of the net. Both in singles and doubles the best players often make it
their aim to get up comparatively near the net as soon as possible,
whether they are serving or receiving the serve, the object being to
volley the ball whenever possible before it begins to fall. The
server's partner, in doubles, stands about a yard and a half from the
net, and rather nearer the side-line than the half-court-line; the
receiver of the service, not being allowed to volley the serve, must
take his stand according to the nature of the service, which, if very
fast, will require him to stand outside the base-line; the receiver's
partner usually stands between the net and the service-line. All four
players, if the rest lasts beyond a stroke or two, are generally found
nearer to the net than the service-lines; and the game, assuming the
players to be of the championship class, consists chiefly of rapid low
volleying, varied by attempts on one side or the other to place the
ball out of the opponents' reach by "lobbing" it over their heads into
the back part of the court. Good "lobbing" demands great skill, to
avoid on the one hand sending the ball out of court beyond the
base-line, and on the other allowing it to drop short enough for the
adversary to kill it with a "smashing" volley. Of "lobbing" it has
been laid down by the brothers Doherty that "the higher it is the
better, so long as the length is good"; and as regards returning lobs
the same authorities say, "you must get them if you can before they
drop, for it is usually fatal to let them drop when playing against a
good pair." The reason for this is that if the lob be allowed to drop
before being returned, so much time is given to the striker of it to
gain position that he is almost certain to be able to kill the return,
unless the lob be returned by an equally good and very high lob,
dropping within a foot or so of the base-line in the opposite court, a
stroke that requires the utmost accuracy of strength to accomplish
safely. The game in the hands of first-class players consists largely
in manoeuvring for favourable position in the court while driving the
opponent into a less favourable position on his side of the net; the
player who gains the advantage of position in this way being generally
able to finish the rest by a smashing volley impossible to return.
Ability to play this "smash" stroke is essential to strong
lawn-tennis. "To be good overhead," say the Dohertys, "is the sign of
a first-class player, even if a few have managed to get on without
it." The smash stroke is played very much in the same way as the
overhand service, except that it is not from a defined position of
known distance from the net; and therefore when making it the player
must realize almost instinctively what his precise position is in
relation to the net and the side-lines, for it is of the last
importance that he should not take his eye off the ball "even for the
hundredth part of a second." By drawing the racquet across the ball at
the moment of impact spin may be imparted to it as in tennis, or as
"side" is imparted to a billiard ball, and the direction of this spin
and the consequent behaviour of the ball after the stroke may be
greatly varied by a skilful player. Perhaps the most generally useful
form of spin, though by no means the only one commonly used, is that
known as "top" or "lift," a vertical rotatory motion of the ball in
the same direction as its flight, which is imparted to it by an upward
draw of the racquet at the moment of making the stroke, and the effect
of which is to make it drop more suddenly than it would ordinarily do,
and in an unexpected curve. A drive made with plenty of "top" can be
hit much harder than would otherwise be possible without sending the
ball out of court, and it is therefore extensively employed by the
best players. While the volleying game is almost universally the
practice of first-class players--A. W. Gore, M. J. G. Ritchie and S.
H. Smith being almost alone among those of championship rank in modern
days to use the volley comparatively little--its difficulty places it
beyond the reach of the less skilful. In lawn-tennis as played at the
ordinary country house or local club the real "smash" of a Renshaw or
a Doherty is seldom to be seen, and the high lob is almost equally
rare. Players of moderate calibre are content to take the ball on the
bound and to return it with some pace along the side-lines or across
the court, with the aim of placing it as artfully as possible beyond
the reach of the adversary; and if now and again they venture to
imitate a stroke employed with killing effect at Wimbledon, they think
themselves fortunate if they occasionally succeed in making it without
disaster to themselves.
Before 1890 the method of handicapping at lawn-tennis was the same as
in tennis so far as it was applicable to a game played in an open
court. In 1890 bisques were abolished, and in 1894 an elaborate system
was introduced by which fractional parts of "fifteen" could be
conceded by way of handicap, in accordance with tables inserted in the
laws of the game. The system is a development of the tennis
handicapping by which a finer graduation of odds may be given.
"One-sixth of fifteen" is one stroke given in every six games of a
set; and similarly two-sixths, three-sixths, four-sixths and
five-sixths of fifteen, are respectively two, three, four and five
strokes given in every six games of a set; the particular game in the
set in which the stroke in each case must be given being specified in
the tables.
_History._--Lawn-tennis cannot be said to have existed prior to the year
1874. It is, indeed, true that outdoor games based on tennis were from
time to time improvised by lovers of that game who found themselves out
of reach of a tennis-court. Lord Arthur Hervey, sometime bishop of Bath
and Wells, had thus devised a game which he and his friends played on
the lawn of his rectory in Suffolk; and even so early as the end of the
18th century "field tennis" was mentioned by the _Sporting Magazine_ as
a game that rivalled the popularity of cricket. But, however much or
little this game may have resembled lawn-tennis, it had long ceased to
exist; and even to be remembered, when in 1874 Major Wingfield took out
a patent for a game called Sphairistike, which the specification
described as "a new and improved portable court for playing the ancient
game of tennis." The court for this game was wider at the base-lines
than at the net, giving the whole court the shape of an hour-glass; one
side of the net only was divided into service-courts, service being
always delivered from a fixed mark in the centre of the opposite court;
and from the net-posts side-nets were fixed which tapered down to the
ground at about the middle of the side-lines, thus enclosing nearly half
the courts on each side of the net. The possibilities of Sphairistike
were quickly perceived; and under the new name of lawn-tennis its
popularity grew so quickly that in 1875 a meeting of those interested in
the game was held at Lord's cricket-ground, where a committee of the
Marylebone Club (M.C.C.) was appointed to draw up a code of rules. The
hour-glass shape of the court was retained by this code (issued in May
1875), and the scoring of the game followed in the main the racquets
instead of the tennis model. It was at the suggestion of J. M.
Heathcote, the amateur tennis champion, that balls covered with white
flannel were substituted for the uncovered balls used at first. In 1875,
through the influence of Henry Jones ("Cavendish"), lawn-tennis was
included in the programme of the All England Croquet Club, which in 1877
became the All England Croquet and Lawn-Tennis Club, on whose ground at
Wimbledon the All England championships have been annually played since
that date. In the same year, in anticipation of the first championship
meeting, the club appointed a committee consisting of Henry Jones,
Julian Marshall and C. G. Heathcote to revise the M.C.C. code of rules;
the result of their labours being the introduction of the tennis in
place of the racquets scoring, the substitution of a rectangular for the
"hour-glass" court, and the enactment of the modern rule as regards the
"fault." The height of the net, which under the M.C.C. rules had been 4
ft. in the centre, was reduced to 3 ft. 3 in.; and regulations as to the
size and weight of the ball were also made. Some controversy had already
taken place in the columns of the _Field_ as to whether volleying the
ball, at all events within a certain distance of the net, should not be
prohibited. Spencer Gore, the first to win the championship in 1877,
used the volley with great skill and judgment, and in principle
anticipated the tactics afterwards brought to perfection by the
Renshaws, which aimed at forcing the adversary back to the base-line and
killing his return with a volley from a position near the net. P. F.
Hadow, champion in 1878, showed how the volley might be defeated by
skilful use of the lob; but the question of placing some check on the
volley continued to be agitated among lovers of the game. The rapidly
growing popularity of lawn-tennis was proved in 1879 by the inauguration
at Oxford of the four-handed championship, and at Dublin of the Irish
championship, and by the fact that there were forty-five competitors for
the All England single championship at Wimbledon, won by J. T. Hartley,
a player who chiefly relied on the accuracy of his return without
frequent resort to the volley. It was in the autumn of the same year, in
a tournament at Cheltenham, that W. Renshaw made his first successful
appearance in public. The year 1880 saw the foundation of the Northern
Lawn-Tennis Association, whose tournaments have long been regarded as
inferior in importance only to the championship meetings at Wimbledon
and Dublin, and a revision of the rules which substantially made them
what they have ever since remained. This year is also memorable for the
first championship doubles won by the twin brothers William and Ernest
Renshaw, a success which the former followed up by winning the Irish
championship, beating among others H. F. Lawford for the first time.
The Renshaws had already developed the volleying game at the net, and
had shown what could be done with the "smash" stroke (which became known
by their name as the "Renshaw smash"), but their service had not as yet
become very severe. In 1881 the distinctive features of their style were
more marked, and the brothers first established firmly the supremacy
which they maintained almost without interruption for the next eight
years. In the doubles they discarded the older tactics of one partner
standing back and the other near the net; the two Renshaws stood about
the same level, just inside the service-line, and from there volleyed
with relentless severity and with an accuracy never before equalled, and
seldom if ever since; while their service also acquired an immense
increase of pace. Their chief rival, and the leading exponent of the
non-volleying game for several years, was H. F. Lawford. After a year or
two it became evident that neither the volleying tactics of Renshaw nor
the strong back play of Lawford would be adopted to the exclusion of the
other, and both players began to combine the two styles. Thus the
permanent features of lawn-tennis may be said to have been firmly
established by about the year 1885; and the players who have since then
come to the front have for the most part followed the principles laid
down by the Renshaws and Lawford. One of the greatest performances at
lawn-tennis was in the championship competition in 1886 when W. Renshaw
beat Lawford a love set in 9½ minutes. The longest rest in first-class
lawn-tennis occurred in a match between Lawford and E. Lubbock in 1880,
when eighty-one strokes were played. Among players in the first class
who were contemporaries of the Renshaws, mention should be made of E. de
S. Browne, a powerful imitator of the Renshaw style; C. W. Grinstead, R.
T. Richardson, V. Goold (who played under the _nom de plume_ "St
Leger"), J. T. Hartley, E. W. Lewis, E. L. Williams, H. Grove and W. J.
Hamilton; while among the most prominent lady players of the period were
Miss M. Langrishe, Miss Bradley, Miss Maud Watson, Miss L. Dod, Miss
Martin and Miss Bingley (afterwards Mrs Hillyard). In 1888 the
Lawn-Tennis Association was established; and the All England Mixed
Doubles Championship (four-handed matches for ladies and gentlemen in
partnership) was added to the existing annual competitions. Since 1881
lawn-tennis matches between Oxford and Cambridge universities have been
played annually; and almost every county in England, besides Scotland,
Wales and districts such as "Midland Counties," "South of England," &c.,
have their own championship meetings. Tournaments are also played in
winter at Nice, Monte Carlo and other Mediterranean resorts where most
of the competitors are English visitors.
The results of the All England championships have been as follows:--
Year. Gentlemen's | Year. Gentlemen's
Singles. | Singles.
|
1877 S. W. Gore | 1894 J. Pim
1878 P. F. Hadow | 1895 W. Baddeley
1879 J. T. Hartley | 1896 H. S. Mahony
1880 J. T. Hartley | 1897 R. F. Doherty
1881 W. Renshaw | 1898 R. F. Doherty
1882 W. Renshaw | 1899 R. F. Doherty
1883 W. Renshaw | 1900 R. F. Doherty
1884 W. Renshaw | 1901 A. W. Gore
1885 W. Renshaw | 1902 H. L. Doherty
1886 W. Renshaw | 1903 H. L. Doherty
1887 H. F. Lawford | 1904 H. L. Doherty
1888 E. Renshaw | 1905 H. L. Doherty
1889 W. Renshaw | 1906 H. L. Doherty
1890 W. J. Hamilton | 1907 N. E. Brookes
1891 W. Baddeley | 1908 A. W. Gore
1892 W. Baddeley | 1909 A. W. Gore
1893 J. Pim | 1910 A. F. Wilding
Year. Gentlemen's Doubles.
1879 L. R. Erskine and H. F. Lawford
1880 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1881 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1882 J. T. Hartley " R. T. Richardson
1883 C. W. Grinstead " C. E. Welldon
1884 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1885 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1886 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1887 P. B. Lyon " H. W. W. Wilberforce
1888 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1889 W. Renshaw " E. Renshaw
1890 J. Pim " F. O. Stoker
1891 W. Baddeley " H. Baddeley
1892 H. S. Barlow " E. W. Lewis
1893 J. Pim " F. O. Stoker
1894 W. Baddeley " H. Baddeley
1895 W. Baddeley " H. Baddeley
1896 W. Baddeley " H. Baddeley
1897 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1898 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1899 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1900 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1901 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1902 S. H. Smith " F. L. Riseley
1903 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1904 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1905 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1906 S. H. Smith " F. L. Riseley
1907 N. E. Brookes " A. F. Wilding
1908 M. J. G. Ritchie " A. F. Wilding
1909 A. W. Gore " H. Roper Barrett
1910 M. J. G. Ritchie " A. F. Wilding
Year. Ladies' Singles. Year. Ladies' Singles.
1884 Miss M. Watson | 1898 Miss C. Cooper
1885 Miss M. Watson | 1899 Mrs Hillyard
1886 Miss Bingley | 1900 Mrs Hillyard
1887 Miss Dod | 1901 Mrs Sterry (Miss C.
1888 Miss Dod | Cooper)
1889 Mrs Hillyard | 1902 Miss M. E. Robb
(Miss Bingley) | 1903 Miss D. K. Douglass
1890 Miss Rice | 1904 Miss D. K. Douglass
1891 Miss Dod | 1905 Miss M. Sutton
1892 Miss Dod | 1906 Miss D. K. Douglass
1893 Miss Dod | 1907 Miss M. Sutton
1894 Mrs Hillyard | 1908 Mrs Sterry
1895 Miss C. Cooper | 1909 Miss D. Boothby
1896 Miss C. Cooper | 1910 Mrs Lambert Chambers
1897 Mrs Hillyard | (Miss Douglass)
Year. Ladies' and Gentlemen's Doubles.
1888 E. Renshaw and Mrs Hillyard
1889 J. C. Kay " Miss Dod
1890 J. Baldwin " Miss K. Hill
1891 J. C. Kay " Miss Jackson
1892 A. Dod " Miss Dod
1893 W. Baddeley " Mrs Hillyard.
1894 H. S. Mahony " Miss C. Cooper
1895 H. S. Mahony " Miss C. Cooper
1896 H. S. Mahony " Miss C. Cooper
1897 H. S. Mahony " Miss C. Cooper
1898 H. S. Mahony " Miss C. Cooper
1899 C. H. L. Cazelet " Miss Robb
1900 H. L. Doherty " Miss C. Cooper
1901 S. H. Smith " Miss Martin
1902 S. H. Smith " Miss Martin
1903 F. L. Riseley " Miss D. K. Douglass
1904 S. H. Smith " Miss E. W. Thompson
1905 S. H. Smith " Miss E. W. Thompson
1906 F. L. Riseley " Miss D. K. Douglass
1907 N. E. Brookes " Mrs Hillyard
1908 A. F. Wilding " Mrs Lambert Chambers (Miss
D. K. Douglass)
1909 H. Roper Barrett " Miss Morton
1910 S. N. Doust " Mrs Lambert Chambers
In the United States lawn-tennis was played at Nahant, near Boston,
within a year of its invention in England, Dr James Dwight and the
brothers F. R. and R. D. Sears being mainly instrumental in making it
known to their countrymen. In 1881 at a meeting in New York of
representatives of thirty-three clubs the United States National
Lawn-Tennis Association was formed; and the adoption of the English
rules put an end to the absence of uniformity in the size of the ball
and height of the net which had hindered the progress of the game. The
association decided to hold matches for championship of the United
States at Newport, Rhode Island; and, by a curious coincidence, in the
same year in which W. Renshaw first won the English championship, R. D.
Sears won the first American championship by playing a volleying game at
the net which entirely disconcerted his opponents, and he successfully
defended his title for the next six years, winning the doubles
throughout the same period in partnership with Dwight. In 1887, Sears
being unable to play through ill-health, the championship went to H. W.
Slocum. Other prominent players of the period were the brothers C. M.
and J. S. Clark, who in 1883 came to England and were decisively beaten
at Wimbledon by the two Renshaws. To a later generation belong the
strongest single players, M. D. Whitman, Holcombe Ward, W. A. Larned and
Karl Behr. Holcombe Ward and Dwight Davis, who have the credit of
introducing the peculiar "American twist service," were an exceedingly
strong pair in doubles; but after winning the American doubles
championship for three years in succession, they were defeated in 1902
by the English brothers R. F. and H. L. Doherty. The championship
singles in 1904 and 1905 was won by H. Ward and B. C. Wright, the latter
being one of the finest players America has produced; and these two in
partnership won the doubles for three years in succession, until they
were displaced by F. B. Alexander and H. H. Hackett, who in their turn
held the doubles championship for a like period. In 1909 two young
Californians, Long and McLoughlin, unexpectedly came to the front, and,
although beaten in the final round for the championship doubles, they
represented the United States in the contest for the Davis cup (see
below) in Australia in that year; McLoughlin having acquired a service
of extraordinary power and a smashing stroke with a reverse spin which
was sufficient by itself to place him in the highest rank of lawn-tennis
players.
_Winners of United States Championships._
Year. Gentlemen's | Year. Gentlemen's
Singles. | Singles.
|
1881 R. D. Sears | 1896 R. D. Wrenn
1882 R. D. Sears | 1897 R. D. Wrenn
1883 R. D. Sears | 1898 M. D. Whitman
1884 R. D. Sears | 1899 M. D. Whitman
1885 R. D. Sears | 1900 M. D. Whitman
1886 R. D. Sears | 1901 W. A. Larned
1887 R. D. Sears | 1902 W. A. Larned
1888 H. W. Slocum | 1903 H. L. Doherty
1889 H. W. Slocum | 1904 H. Ward
1890 O. S. Campbell | 1905 B. C. Wright
1891 O. S. Campbell | 1906 W. J. Clothier
1892 O. S. Campbell | 1907 W. A. Larned
1893 R. D. Wrenn | 1908 W. A. Larned
1894 R. D. Wrenn | 1909 W. A. Larned
1895 F. H. Hovey | 1910 W. A. Larned
Year. Gentlemen's Doubles.
1882 J. Dwight and R. D. Sears
1883 J. Dwight " R. D. Sears
1884 J. Dwight " R. D. Sears
1885 J. S. Clark " R. D. Sears
1886 J. Dwight " R. D. Sears
1887 J. Dwight " R. D. Sears
1888 V. G. Hall " O. S. Campbell
1889 H. W. Slocum " H. A. Taylor
1890 V. G. Hall " C. Hobart
1891 O. S. Campbell " R. P. Huntingdon
1892 O. S. Campbell " R. P. Huntingdon
1893 C. Hobart " F. H. Hovey
1894 C. Hobart " F. H. Hovey
1895 R. D. Wrenn " M. G. Chase
1896 C. B. Neel " S. R. Neel
1897 L. E. Ware " G. P. Sheldon
1898 L. E. Ware " G. P. Sheldon
1899 D. F. Davis " H. Ward
1900 D. F. Davis " H. Ward
1901 D. F. Davis " H. Ward
1902 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1903 R. F. Doherty " H. L. Doherty
1904 H. Ward " B. C. Wright
1905 H. Ward " B. C. Wright
1906 H. Ward " B. C. Wright
1907 F. B. Alexander " H. H. Hackett
1908 F. B. Alexander " H. H. Hackett
1909 F. B. Alexander " H. H Hackett
1910 F. B. Alexander " H. H. Hackett
Year. Ladies' Singles. Year. Ladies' Singles.
1890 Miss E. C. Roosevelt | 1901 Miss Elizabeth H. Moore
1891 Miss Mabel E. Cahill | 1902 Miss Marion Jones
1892 Miss Mabel E. Cahill | 1903 Miss Elizabeth H. Moore
1893 Miss Aline M. Terry | 1904 Miss May Sutton
1894 Miss Helen R. Helwig | 1905 Miss Elizabeth H. Moore
1895 Miss J. P. Atkinson | 1906 Miss Helen H. Homans
1896 Miss Elizabeth H. Moore | 1907 Miss Evelyn Sears
1897 Miss J. P. Atkinson | 1908 Mrs Barger Wallach
1898 Miss J. P. Atkinson | 1909 Miss Hazel Hotchkiss
1899 Miss Marion Jones | 1910 Miss Hazel Hotchkiss
1900 Miss Myrtle McAteer |
Year. Ladies' and Gentlemen's Doubles.
1894 E. P. Fischer and Miss J. P. Atkinson
1895 E. P. Fischer " Miss J. P. Atkinson
1896 E. P. Fischer " Miss J. P. Atkinson
1897 D. L. Magruder " Miss Laura Henson
1898 E. P. Fischer " Miss Carrie Neely
1899 A. L. Hoskins " Miss Edith Rastall
1900 Alfred Codman " Miss M. Hunnewell
1901 R. D. Little " Miss Marion Jones
1902 W. C. Grant " Miss E. H. Moore
1903 Harry Allen " Miss Chapman
1904 W. C. Grant " Miss E. H. Moore
1905 Clarence Hobart " Mrs Clarence Hobart
1906 E. B. Dewhurst " Miss Coffin
1907 W. F. Johnson " Miss Sayres
1908 N. W. Niles " Miss E. Rotch
1909 W. F. Johnson " Miss H. Hotchkiss
1910 J. R. Carpenter " Miss H. Hotchkiss
In 1900 an international challenge cup was presented by the American D.
F. Davis, to be competed for in the country of the holders. In the
summer of that year a British team, consisting of A. W. Gore, E. D.
Black and H. R. Barrett, challenged for the cup but were defeated by the
Americans, Whitman, Larned, Davis and Ward. In 1902 a more
representative British team, the two Dohertys and Pim, were again
defeated by the same representatives of the United States; but in the
following year the Dohertys brought the Davis cup to England by beating
Larned and the brothers Wrenn at Longwood. In 1904 the cup was played
for at Wimbledon, when representatives of Belgium, Austria and France
entered, but failed to defeat the Dohertys and F. L. Riseley, who
represented Great Britain. In 1905 the entries included France, Austria,
Australasia, Belgium and the United States; in 1906 the same countries,
except Belgium, competed; but in both years the British players
withstood the attack. In 1907, however, when the contest was confined to
England, the United States and Australasia, the latter was successful in
winning the cup, which was then for the first time taken to the
colonies, where it was retained in the following year when the
Australians N. E. Brookes and A. F. Wilding defeated the representatives
of the United States, who had previously beaten the English challengers
in America. In 1909 England was not represented in the competition, and
the Australians again retained the cup, beating the Americans McLoughlin
and Long both in singles and doubles.
See "The Badminton Library," _Tennis: Lawn-Tennis: Racquets: Fives_,
new and revised edition (1903); R. F. and H. L. Doherty, _On
Lawn-Tennis_ (1903); E. H. Miles, _Lessons in Lawn-Tennis_ (1899); E.
de Nanteuil, _La Paume et le lawn-tennis_ (1898); J. Dwight, "Form in
Lawn-Tennis," in _Scribner's Magazine_, vol. vi.; A. Wallis Myers,
_The Complete Lawn-Tennis Player_ (1908). (R. J. M.)
LAWRENCE (LAURENTIUS, LORENZO), ST, Christian martyr, whose name appears
in the canon of the mass, and whose festival is on the 10th of August.
The basilica reared over his tomb at Rome is still visited by pilgrims.
His legend is very popular. Deacon of the pope (St) Sixtus (Xystus) II.,
he was called upon by the judge to bring forth the treasures of the
church which had been committed to his keeping. He thereupon produced
the church's poor people. Seeing his bishop, Sixtus, being led to
punishment, he cried: "Father! whither goest thou without thy son? Holy
priest! whither goest thou without thy deacon?" Sixtus prophesied that
Lawrence would follow him in three days. The prophecy was fulfilled, and
Lawrence was sentenced to be burnt alive on a gridiron. In the midst of
his torments he addressed the judge ironically with the words: _Assum
est, versa et manduca_ ("I am roasted enough on this side; turn me
round, and eat"). All these details of the well-known legend are already
related by St Ambrose (_De Offic._ i. 41, ii. 28). The punishment of the
gridiron and the speech of the martyr are probably a reminiscence of the
Phrygian martyrs, as related by Socrates (iii. 15) and Sozomen (v. 11).
But the fact of the martyrdom is unquestionable. The date is usually put
at the persecution of Valerian in 258.
The cult of St Lawrence has spread throughout Christendom, and there are
numerous churches dedicated to him, especially in England, where 228
have been counted. The Escurial was built in honour of St Lawrence by
Philip II. of Spain, in memory of the battle of St Quentin, which was
won in 1557 on the day of the martyr's festival. The meteorites which
appear annually on or about the 10th of August are popularly known as
"the tears of St Lawrence."
See _Acta sanctorum_, Augusti ii. 485-532; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri,
_S. Lorenzo e il supplicio della graticola_ (Rome, 1900); _Analecta
Bollandiana_, xix. 452 and 453; Fr. Arnold-Forster, _Studies in Church
Dedications or England's Patron Saints_, i. 508-515, iii. 18, 389-390
(1899). (H. De.)
LAWRENCE, AMOS (1786-1852), American merchant and philanthropist, was
born in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the 22nd of April 1786, a
descendant of John Lawrence of Wisset, Suffolk, England, who was one of
the first settlers of Groton. Leaving Groton academy (founded by his
father, Samuel Lawrence, and others) in 1799, he became a clerk in a
country store in Groton, whence after his apprenticeship he went, with
$20 in his pocket, to Boston and there set up in business for himself in
December 1807. In the next year he took into his employ his brother,
Abbott (see below), whom he made his partner in 1814, the firm name
being at first A. & A. Lawrence, and afterwards A. & A. Lawrence & Co.
In 1831 when his health failed, Amos Lawrence retired from active
business, and Abbott Lawrence was thereafter the head of the firm. The
firm became the greatest American mercantile house of the day, was
successful even in the hard times of 1812-1815, afterwards engaged
particularly in selling woollen and cotton goods on commission, and did
much for the establishment of the cotton textile industry in New
England: in 1830 by coming to the aid of the financially distressed
mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, where in that year the Suffolk, Tremont
and Lawrence companies were established, and where Luther Lawrence, the
eldest brother, represented the firm's interests; and in 1845-1847 by
establishing and building up Lawrence, Massachusetts, named in honour of
Abbott Lawrence, who was a director of the Essex company, which
controlled the water power of Lawrence, and afterwards was president of
the Atlantic Cotton Mills and Pacific Mills there. In 1842 Amos Lawrence
decided not to allow his property to increase any further, and in the
last eleven years of his life he spent in charity at least $525,000, a
large sum in those days. He gave to Williams college, to Bowdoin
college, to the Bangor theological seminary, to Wabash college, to
Kenyon college and to Groton academy, which was re-named Lawrence
academy in honour of the family, and especially in recognition of the
gifts of William Lawrence, Amos's brother; to the Boston children's
infirmary, which he established, and ($10,000) to the Bunker Hill
monument fund; and, besides, he gave to many good causes on a smaller
scale, taking especial delight in giving books, occasionally from a
bundle of books in his sleigh or carriage as he drove. He died in Boston
on the 31st of December 1852.
See _Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of the late Amos
Lawrence, with a Brief Account of Some Incidents in his Life_ (Boston,
1856), edited by his son William R. Lawrence.
His brother, ABBOTT LAWRENCE (1792-1855), was born in Groton,
Massachusetts, on the 16th of December 1792. Besides being a partner in
the firm established by his brother, and long its head, he promoted
various New England railways, notably the Boston & Albany. He was a Whig
representative in Congress in 1835-1837 and in 1839-1840 (resigning in
September 1840 because of ill-health); and in 1842 was one of the
commissioners for Massachusetts, who with commissioners from Maine and
with Daniel Webster, secretary of state and plenipotentiary of the
United States, settled with Lord Ashburton, the British plenipotentiary,
the question of the north-eastern boundary. In 1842 he was presiding
officer in the Massachusetts Whig convention; he broke with President
Tyler, tacitly rebuked Daniel Webster for remaining in Tyler's cabinet
after his colleagues had resigned, and recommended Henry Clay and John
Davis as the nominees of the Whig party in 1844--an action that aroused
Webster to make his famous Faneuil Hall address. In 1848 Lawrence was a
prominent candidate for the Whig nomination for the vice-presidency, but
was defeated by Webster's followers. He refused the portfolios of the
navy and of the interior in President Taylor's cabinet, and in 1849-1852
was United States minister to Great Britain, where he was greatly aided
by his wealth and his generous hospitality. He was an ardent
protectionist, and represented Massachusetts at the Harrisburg
convention in 1827. He died in Boston on the 18th of August 1855,
leaving as his greatest memorial the Lawrence scientific school of
Harvard university, which he had established by a gift of $50,000 in
1847 and to which he bequeathed another $50,000; in 1907-1908 this
school was practically abolished as a distinct department of the
university. He made large gifts to the Boston public library, and he
left $50,000 for the erection of model lodging-houses, thus carrying on
the work of an Association for building model lodging-houses for the
poor, organized in Boston in 1857.
See Hamilton A. Hill, _Memoir of Abbott Lawrence_ (Boston, 1884).
Randolph Anders' _Der Weg zum Glück, oder die Kunst Millionär zu
werden_ (Berlin, 1856) is a pretended translation of moral maxims from
a supposititious manuscript bequeathed to Abbott Lawrence by a rich
uncle.
LAWRENCE, AMOS ADAMS (1814-1886), American philanthropist, son of Amos
Lawrence, was born in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the 31st of July
1814. He graduated at Harvard in 1835, went into business in Lowell, and
in 1837 established in Boston his own counting-house, which from 1843 to
1858 was the firm of Lawrence & Mason, and which was a selling agent for
the Cocheco mills of Dover, New Hampshire, and for other textile
factories. Lawrence established a hosiery and knitting mill at
Ipswich--the first of importance in the country--and was a director in
many large corporations. He was greatly interested in the claims of
Eleazer Williams of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and through loans to this
"lost dauphin" came into possession of much land in Wisconsin; in 1849
he founded at Appleton, Wisconsin, a school named in his honour Lawrence
university (now Lawrence college). He also contributed to funds for the
colonization of free negroes in Liberia. In 1854 he became treasurer of
the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company (reorganized in 1855 as the New
England Emigrant Aid Company), which sent 1300 settlers to Kansas, where
the city of Lawrence was named in his honour. He contributed personally
for the famous Sharp rifles, which, packed as "books" and "primers,"
were shipped to Kansas and afterwards came into the hands of John Brown,
who had been a _protégé_ of Lawrence. During the contest in Kansas,
Lawrence wrote frequently to President Pierce (his mother's nephew) in
behalf of the free-state settlers; and when John Brown was arrested he
appealed to the governor of Virginia to secure for him a lawful trial.
On Robinson and others in Kansas he repeatedly urged the necessity of
offering no armed resistance to the Federal government; and he deplored
Brown's fanaticism. In 1858 and in 1860 he was the Whig candidate for
governor of Massachusetts. Till the very outbreak of the Civil War he
was a "law and order" man, and he did his best to secure the adoption of
the Crittenden compromise; but he took an active part in drilling
troops, and in 1862 he raised a battalion of cavalry which became the
2nd Massachusetts Regiment of Cavalry, of which Charles Russell Lowell
was colonel. Lawrence was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church
and built (1873-1880) Lawrence hall, Cambridge, for the Episcopal
theological school, of which he was treasurer. In 1857-1862 he was
treasurer of Harvard college, and in 1879-1885 was an overseer. He died
in Nahant, Mass., on the 22nd of August 1886.
See William Lawrence, _Life of Amos A. Lawrence, with Extracts from
his Diary and Correspondence_ (Boston, 1888).
His son, WILLIAM LAWRENCE (1850- ), graduated in 1871 at Harvard, and
in 1875 at the Episcopal theological school, where, after being rector
of Grace Church, Lawrence, Mass., in 1876-1884, he was professor of
homiletics and natural theology in 1884-1893 and dean in 1888-1893. In
1893 he succeeded Phillips Brooks as Protestant Episcopal bishop of
Massachusetts. He wrote _A Life of Roger Wolcott, Governor of
Massachusetts_ (1902).
LAWRENCE, GEORGE ALFRED (1827-1876), English novelist, was born at
Braxted, Essex, on the 25th of March 1827, and was educated at Rugby and
at Balliol college, Oxford. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple
in 1852, but soon abandoned the law for literature. In 1857 he
published, anonymously, his first novel, _Guy Livingstone, or Thorough_.
The book achieved a very large sale, and had nine or ten successors of a
similar type, the best perhaps being _Sword and Gown_ (1859). Lawrence
may be regarded as the originator in English fiction of the _beau
sabreur_ type of hero, great in sport and love and war. He died at
Edinburgh on the 23rd of September 1876.
LAWRENCE, SIR HENRY MONTGOMERY (1806-1857), British soldier and
statesman in India, brother of the 1st Lord Lawrence (q.v.), was born at
Matara, Ceylon, on the 28th of June 1806. He inherited his father's
stern devotion to duty and Celtic impulsiveness, tempered by his
mother's gentleness and power of organization. Early in 1823 he joined
the Bengal Artillery at the Calcutta suburb of Dum Dum, where also Henry
Havelock was stationed about the same time. The two officers pursued a
very similar career, and developed the same Puritan character up to the
time that both died at Lucknow in 1857. In the first Burmese War Henry
Lawrence and his battery formed part of the Chittagong column which
General Morrison led over the jungle-covered hills of Arakan, till fever
decimated the officers and men, and Lawrence found himself at home
again, wasted by a disease which never left him. On his return to India
with his younger brother John in 1829 he was appointed revenue surveyor
by Lord William Bentinck. At Gorakhpur the wonderful personal influence
which radiated from the young officer formed a school of attached
friends and subordinates who were always eager to serve under him. After
some years spent in camp, during which he had married his cousin Honoria
Marshall, and had surveyed every village in four districts, each larger
than Yorkshire, he was recalled to a brigade by the outbreak of the
first Afghan War towards the close of 1838. As assistant to Sir George
Clerk, he now added to his knowledge of the people political experience
in the management of the district of Ferozepore; and when disaster came
he was sent to Peshawar in order to push up supports for the relief of
Sale and the garrison of Jalalabad. The war had been begun under the
tripartite treaty signed at Lahore on the 20th of June 1838. But the
Sikhs were slow to play their part after the calamities in Afghanistan.
No one but Henry Lawrence could manage the disorderly contingent which
they reluctantly supplied to Pollock's avenging army in 1842. He helped
to force the Khyber Pass on the 5th of April, playing his guns from the
heights, for 8 and 20 m. In recognition of his services Lord
Ellenborough appointed him to the charge of the valley of Dehra Dun and
its hill stations, Mussoorie and Landour, where he first formed the idea
of asylums for the children of European soldiers. After a month's
experience there it was discovered that the appointment, was the legal
right of the civil service, and he was transferred, as assistant to the
envoy at Lahore, to Umballa, where he reduced to order the lapsed
territory of Kaithal. Soon he received the office of resident at the
protected court of Nepal, where, assisted by his wife, he began a series
of contributions to the _Calcutta Review_, a selected volume of which
forms an Anglo-Indian classic. There, too, he elaborated his plans which
resulted in the erection and endowment of the noblest philanthropic
establishments in the East--the Lawrence military asylums at Sanawar (on
the road to Simla), at Murree in the Punjab, at Mount Abu in Rajputana,
and at Lovedale on the Madras Nilgiris. From 1844 to his death he
devoted all his income, above a modest pittance for his children, to
this and other forms of charity.
The _Review_ articles led the new governor-general, Lord Hardinge, to
summon Lawrence to his side during the first Sikh War; and not these
articles only. He had published the results of his experience of Sikh
rule and soldiering in a vivid work, the _Adventures of an Officer in
the Service of Ranjit Singh_ (1845), in which he vainly attempted to
disguise his own personality and exploits. After the doubtful triumphs
of Moodkee and Ferozshah Lawrence was summoned from Nepal to take the
place of Major George Broadfoot, who had fallen. Aliwal came; then the
guns of Sobraon chased the demoralized Sikhs across the Sutlej. All
through the smoke Lawrence was at the side of the governor-general. He
gave his voice, not for the rescue of the people from anarchy by
annexation, but for the reconstruction of the Sikh government, and was
himself appointed resident at Lahore, with power "over every department
and to any extent" as president of the council of regency till the
maharaja Dhuleep Singh should come of age. Soon disgusted by the "venal
and selfish durbar" who formed his Sikh colleagues, he summoned to his
side assistants like Nicholson, James Abbott and Edwardes, till they all
did too much for the people, as he regretfully confessed. But "my chief
confidence was in my brother John, ... who gave me always such help as
only a brother could." Wearied out he went home with Lord Hardinge, and
was made K.C.B., when the second Sikh War summoned him back at the end
of 1848 to see the whole edifice of Sikh "reconstruction" collapse. It
fell to Lord Dalhousie to proclaim the Punjab up to the Khyber British
territory on the 29th of March 1849. But still another compromise was
tried. As the best man to reconcile the Sikh chiefs to the inevitable,
Henry Lawrence was made president of the new board of administration
with charge of the political duties, and his brother John was entrusted
with the finances. John could not find the revenue necessary for the
rapid civilization of the new province so long as Henry would, for
political reasons, insist on granting life pensions and alienating large
estates to the needy remnants of Ranjit Singh's court. Lord Dalhousie
delicately but firmly removed Sir Henry Lawrence to the charge of the
great nobles of Rajputana, and installed John as chief commissioner. If
resentment burned in Henry's heart, it was not against his younger
brother, who would fain have retired. To him he said, "If you preserve
the peace of the country and make the people high and low happy, I shall
have no regrets that I vacated the field for you."
In the comparative rest of Rajputana he once more took up the pen as an
army reformer. In March and September 1856 he published two articles,
called forth by conversations with Lord Dalhousie at Calcutta, whither
he had gone as the hero of a public banquet. The governor-general had
vainly warned the home authorities against reducing below 40,000 the
British garrison of India even for the Crimean War, and had sought to
improve the position of the sepoys. Lawrence pointed out the latent
causes of mutiny, and uttered warnings to be too soon justified. In
March 1857 he yielded to Lord Canning's request that he should then take
the helm at Lucknow, but it was too late. In ten days his magic rule put
down administrative difficulties indeed, as he had done at Lahore. But
what could even he effect with only 700 European soldiers, when the
epidemic spread after the Meerut outbreak of mutiny on the 10th of May?
In one week he had completed those preparations which made the defence
of the Lucknow residency for ever memorable. Amid the deepening gloom
Lord Canning ever wrote home of him as "a tower of strength," and he was
appointed provisional governor-general. On the 30th of May mutiny burst
forth in Oudh, and he was ready. On the 29th of June, pressed by fretful
colleagues, and wasted by unceasing toil, he led 336 British soldiers
with 11 guns and 220 natives out of Chinhat to reconnoitre the
insurgents, when the natives joined the enemy and the residency was
besieged. On the 2nd of July, as he lay exhausted by the day's work and
the terrific heat in an exposed room, a shell struck him, and in
forty-eight hours he was no more. A baronetcy was conferred on his son.
A marble statue was placed in St Paul's as the national memorial of one
who has been declared to be the noblest man that has lived and died for
the good of India.
His biography was begun by Sir Herbert Edwardes, and completed (2
vols. 1872) by Herman Merivale. See also J. J. McLeod Innes, _Sir
Henry Lawrence_ ("Rulers of India" series), 1898.
LAWRENCE, JOHN LAIRD MAIR LAWRENCE, 1ST BARON (1811-1879), viceroy and
governor-general of India, was born at Richmond, Yorkshire, on the 24th
of March 1811. His father, Colonel Alexander Lawrence, volunteered for
the forlorn hope at Seringapatam in presence of Baird and of Wellington,
whose friend he became. His mother, Letitia Knox, was a collateral
descendant of John Knox. To this couple were born twelve children, of
whom three became famous in India, Sir George St Patrick, Sir Henry
(q.v.) and Lord Lawrence. Irish Protestants, the boys were trained at
Foyle college, Derry, and at Clifton, and received Indian appointments
from their mother's cousin, John Hudleston, who had been the friend of
Schwartz in Tanjore. In 1829, when only seventeen, John Lawrence landed
at Calcutta as a civilian; he mastered the Persian language at the
college of Fort William, and was sent to Delhi, on his own application,
as assistant to the collector. The position was the most dangerous and
difficult to which a Bengal civilian could be appointed at that time.
The titular court of the pensioner who represented the Great Mogul was
the centre of that disaffection and sensuality which found their
opportunity in 1857. A Mussulman rabble filled the city. The district
around, stretching from the desert of Rajputana to the Jumna, was slowly
recovering from the anarchy to which Lord Lake had given the first blow.
When not administering justice in the city courts or under the village
tree, John Lawrence was scouring the country after the marauding Meos
and Mahommedan freebooters. His keen insight and sleepless energy at
once detected the murderer of his official superior, William Fraser, in
1835, in the person of Shams-uddin Khan, the nawab of Loharu, whose
father had been raised to the principality by Lake, and the assassin was
executed. The first twenty years, from 1829 to 1849, during which John
Lawrence acted as the magistrate and land revenue collector of the most
turbulent and backward portion of the Indian empire as it then was,
formed the period of the reforms of Lord William Bentinck. To what
became the lieutenant-governorship of the North-Western (now part of the
United) Provinces Lord Wellesley had promised the same permanent
settlement of the land-tax which Lord Cornwallis had made with the large
landholders or zemindars of Bengal. The court of directors, going to the
opposite extreme, had sanctioned leases for only five years, so that
agricultural progress was arrested. In 1833 Merttins Bird and James
Thomason introduced the system of thirty years' leases based on a
careful survey of every estate by trained civilians, and on the mapping
of every village holding by native subordinates. These two revenue
officers created a school of enthusiastic economists who rapidly
registered and assessed an area as large as that of Great Britain, with
a rural population of twenty-three millions. Of that school John
Lawrence proved the most ardent and the most renowned. Intermitting his
work at Delhi, he became land revenue settlement officer in the district
of Etawah, and there began, by buying out or getting rid of the
talukdars, to realize the ideal which he did much to create throughout
the rest of his career--a country "thickly cultivated by a fat contented
yeomanry, each man riding his own horse, sitting under his own fig-tree,
and enjoying his rude family comforts." This and a quiet persistent
hostility to the oppression of the people by their chiefs formed the two
features of his administrative policy throughout life.
It was fortunate for the British power that, when the first Sikh War
broke out, John Lawrence was still collector of Delhi. The critical
engagements at Ferozeshah, following Moodkee, and hardly redeemed by
Aliwal, left the British army somewhat exhausted at the gate of the
Punjab, in front of the Sikh entrenchments on the Sutlej. For the first
seven weeks of 1846 there poured into camp, day by day, the supplies and
munitions of war which this one man raised and pushed forward, with all
the influence acquired during fifteen years of an iron yet sympathetic
rule in the land between the Jumna and the Sutlej. The crowning victory
of Sobraon was the result, and at thirty-five Lawrence became
commissioner of the Jullundur Doab, the fertile belt of hill and dale
stretching from the Sutlej north to the Indus. The still youthful
civilian did for the newly annexed territory what he had long before
accomplished in and around Delhi. He restored it to order, without one
regular soldier. By the fascination of his personal influence he
organized levies of the Sikhs who had just been defeated, led them now
against a chief in the upper hills and now to storm the fort of a raja
in the lower, till he so welded the people into a loyal mass that he was
ready to repeat the service of 1846 when, three years after, the second
Sikh War ended in the conversion of the Punjab up to Peshawar into a
British province.
Lord Dalhousie had to devise a government for a warlike population now
numbering twenty-three millions, and covering an area little less than
that of the United Kingdom. The first results were not hopeful; and it
was not till John Lawrence became chief commissioner, and stood alone
face to face with the chiefs and people and ring fence of still untamed
border tribes, that there became possible the most successful experiment
in the art of civilizing turbulent millions which history presents. The
province was mapped out into districts, now numbering thirty-two, in
addition to thirty-six tributary states, small and great. To each the
thirty years' leases of the north-west settlement were applied, after a
patient survey and assessment by skilled officials ever in the saddle or
the tent. The revenue was raised on principles so fair to the peasantry
that Ranjit Singh's exactions were reduced by a fourth, while
agricultural improvements were encouraged. For the first time in its
history since the earliest Aryan settlers had been overwhelmed by
successive waves of invaders, the soil of the Punjab came to have a
marketable value, which every year of British rule has increased. A
stalwart police was organized; roads were cut through every district,
and canals were constructed. Commerce followed on increasing cultivation
and communications, courts brought justice to every man's door, and
crime hid its head. The adventurous and warlike spirits, Sikh and
Mahommedan, found a career in the new force of irregulars directed by
the chief commissioner himself, while the Afghan, Dost Mahommed, kept
within his own fastnesses, and the long extent of frontier at the foot
of the passes was patrolled.
Seven years of such work prepared the lately hostile and always anarchic
Punjab under such a pilot as John Lawrence not only to weather the storm
of 1857 but to lead the older provinces into port. On the 12th of May
the news of the tragedies at Meerut and Delhi reached him at Rawalpindi.
The position was critical in the last degree, for of 50,000 native
soldiers 38,000 were Hindustanis of the very class that had mutinied
elsewhere, and the British troops were few and scattered. For five days
the fate of the Punjab hung upon a thread, for the question was, "Could
the 12,000 Punjabis be trusted and the 38,000 Hindustanis be disarmed?"
Not an hour was lost in beginning the disarming at Lahore; and, as one
by one the Hindustani corps succumbed to the epidemic of mutiny, the
sepoys were deported or disappeared, or swelled the military rabble in
and around the city of Delhi. The remembrance of the ten years' war
which had closed only in 1849, a bountiful harvest, the old love of
battle, the offer of good pay, but, above all, the personality of
Lawrence and his officers, raised the Punjabi force into a new army of
59,000 men, and induced the non-combatant classes to subscribe to a 6%
loan. Delhi was invested, but for three months the rebel city did not
fall. Under John Nicholson, Lawrence sent on still more men to the
siege, till every available European and faithful native soldier was
there, while a movable column swept the country, and the border was kept
by an improvised militia. At length, when even in the Punjab confidence
became doubt, and doubt distrust, and that was passing into
disaffection, John Lawrence was ready to consider whether we should not
give up the Peshawar valley to the Afghans as a last resource, and send
its garrison to recruit the force around Delhi. Another week and that
alternative must have been faced. But on the 20th of September the city
and palace of Delhi were again in British hands, and the chief
commissioner and his officers united in ascribing "to the Lord our God
all the praise due for nerving the hearts of our statesmen and the arms
of our soldiers." As Sir John Lawrence, Bart., G.C.B., with the thanks
of parliament, the gratitude of his country, and a life pension of £2000
a year in addition to his ordinary pension of £1000, the "saviour of
India" returned home in 1859. After guarding the interests of India and
its people as a member of the secretary of state's council, he was sent
out again in 1864 as viceroy and governor-general on the death of Lord
Elgin. If no great crisis enabled Lawrence to increase his reputation,
his five years' administration of the whole Indian empire was worthy of
the ruler of the Punjab. His foreign policy has become a subject of
imperial interest, his name being associated with the "close border" as
opposed to the "forward" policy; while his internal administration was
remarkable for financial prudence, a jealous regard for the good of the
masses of the people and of the British soldiers, and a generous
interest in education, especially in its Christian aspects.
When in 1854 Dost Mahommed, weakened by the antagonism of his brothers
in Kandahar, and by the interference of Persia, sent his son to Peshawar
to make a treaty, Sir John Lawrence was opposed to any entangling
relation with the Afghans after the experience of 1838-1842, but he
obeyed Lord Dalhousie so far as to sign a treaty of perpetual peace and
friendship. His ruling idea, the fruit of long and sad experience, was
that _de facto_ powers only should be recognized beyond the frontier.
When in 1863 Dost Mahommed's death let loose the factions of Afghanistan
he acted on this policy to such an extent that he recognized both the
sons, Afzul Khan and Shere Ali, at different times, and the latter fully
only when he had made himself master of all his father's kingdom. The
steady advance of Russia from the north, notwithstanding the Gortchakov
circular of 1864, led to severe criticism of this cautious "buffer"
policy which he justified under the term of "masterly inactivity." But
he was ready to receive Shere Ali in conference, and to aid him in
consolidating his power after it had been established and maintained for
a time, when his term of office came to an end and it fell to Lord Mayo,
his successor, to hold the Umballa conference in 1869. When, nine years
after, the second Afghan War was precipitated, the retired viceroy gave
the last days of his life to an unsparing exposure, in the House of
Lords and in the press, of a policy which he had striven to prevent in
its inception, and which he did not cease to denounce in its course and
consequences.
On his final return to England early in 1869, after forty years'
service in and for India, "the great proconsul of our English Christian
empire" was created Baron Lawrence of the Punjab, and of Grately, Hants.
He assumed the same arms and crest as those of his brother Henry, with a
Pathan and a Sikh trooper as supporters, and took as his motto "Be
ready," his brother's being "Never give in." For ten years he gave
himself to the work of the London school board, of which he was the
first chairman, and of the Church missionary society. Towards the end
his eyesight failed, and on the 27th of June 1879 he died at the age of
sixty-eight. He was buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey, beside
Clyde, Outram and Livingstone. He had married the daughter of the Rev.
Richard Hamilton, Harriette-Katherine, who survived him, and he was
succeeded as 2nd baron by his eldest son, John Hamilton Lawrence (b.
1846).
See Bosworth Smith, _Life of Lord Lawrence_ (1885); Sir Charles
Aitchison, _Lord Lawrence_ ("Rulers of India" series, 1892); L. J.
Trotter, _Lord Lawrence_ (1880); and F. M. Holmes, _Four Heroes of
India_.
LAWRENCE, STRINGER (1697-1775), English soldier, was born at Hereford on
the 6th of March 1697. He seems to have entered the army in 1727 and
served in Gibraltar and Flanders, subsequently taking part in the battle
of Culloden. In 1748, with the rank of major and the reputation of an
experienced soldier, he went out to India to command the East India
Company's troops. Dupleix's schemes for the French conquest of southern
India were on the point of taking effect, and not long after his arrival
at Fort St David, Stringer Lawrence was actively engaged. He
successfully foiled an attempted French surprise at Cuddalore, but
subsequently was captured by a French cavalry patrol at Ariancopang near
Pondicherry and kept prisoner till the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1749
he was in command at the capture of Devicota. On this occasion Clive
served under him and a life-long friendship began. On one occasion, when
Clive had become famous, he honoured the creator of the Indian army by
refusing to accept a sword of honour unless one was voted to Lawrence
also. In 1750 Lawrence returned to England, but in 1752 he was back in
India. Here he found Clive in command of a force intended for the relief
of Trichinopoly. As senior officer Lawrence took over the command, but
was careful to allow Clive every credit for his share in the subsequent
operations, which included the relief of Trichinopoly and the surrender
of the entire French besieging force. In 1752 with an inferior force he
defeated the French at Bahur (Behoor) and in 1753 again relieved
Trichinopoly. For the next seventeen months he fought a series of
actions in defence of this place, finally arranging a three months'
armistice, which was afterwards converted into a conditional treaty. He
had commanded in chief up to the arrival of the first detachment of
regular forces of the crown. In 1757 he served in the operations against
Wandiwash, and in 1758-1759 was in command of Fort St George during the
siege by the French under Lally. In 1759 failing health compelled him to
return to England. He resumed his command in 1761 as major-general and
commander-in-chief. Clive supplemented his old friend's inconsiderable
income by settling on him an annuity of £500 a year. In 1765 he presided
over the board charged with arranging the reorganization of the Madras
army, and he finally retired the following year. He died in London on
the 10th of January 1775. The East India Company erected a monument to
his memory in Westminster Abbey.
See Biddulph, _Stringer Lawrence_ (1901).
LAWRENCE, SIR THOMAS (1769-1830), English painter, was born at Bristol
on the 4th of May 1769. His father was an innkeeper, first at Bristol
and afterwards at Devizes, and at the age of six Thomas was already
shown off to the guests of the Black Boar as an infant prodigy who could
sketch their likenesses and declaim speeches from Milton. In 1779 the
elder Lawrence had to leave Devizes, having failed in business, and the
precocious talent of the son, who had gained a sort of reputation along
the Bath road, became the support of the family. His debut as a crayon
portrait painter was made at Oxford, where he was well patronized, and
in 1782 the family settled in Bath, where the young artist soon found
himself fully employed in taking crayon likenesses of the fashionables
of the place at a guinea or a guinea and a half a head. In 1784 he
gained the prize and silver-gilt palette of the Society of Arts for a
crayon drawing after Raphael's "Transfiguration," and presently
beginning to paint in oil. Throwing aside the idea of going on the stage
which he had for a short time entertained, he came to London in 1787,
was kindly received by Reynolds, and entered as a student at the Royal
Academy. He began to exhibit almost immediately, and his reputation
increased so rapidly that he became an associate of the Academy in 1791.
The death of Sir Joshua in 1792 opened the way to further successes. He
was at once appointed painter to the Dilettanti society, and principal
painter to the king in room of Reynolds. In 1794 he was a Royal
Academician, and he became the fashionable portrait painter of the age,
having as his sitters all the rank, fashion and talent of England, and
ultimately most of the crowned heads of Europe. In 1815 he was knighted;
in 1818 he went to Aix-la-Chapelle to paint the sovereigns and
diplomatists gathered there, and visited Vienna and Rome, everywhere
receiving flattering marks of distinction from princes, due as much to
his courtly manners as to his merits as an artist. After eighteen months
he returned to England, and on the very day of his arrival was chosen
president of the Academy in room of West, who had died a few days
before. This office he held from 1820 to his death on the 7th of January
1830. He was never married.
Sir Thomas Lawrence had all the qualities of personal manner and
artistic style necessary to make a fashionable painter, and among
English portrait painters he takes a high place, though not as high as
that given to him in his lifetime. His more ambitious works, in the
classical style, such as his once celebrated "Satan," are practically
forgotten.
The best display of Lawrence's work is in the Waterloo Gallery of
Windsor, a collection of much historical interest. "Master Lambton,"
painted for Lord Durham at the price of 600 guineas, is regarded as
one of his best portraits, and a fine head in the National Gallery,
London, shows his power to advantage. The _Life and Correspondence of
Sir T. Lawrence_, by D. E. Williams, appeared in 1831.
LAWRENCE, a city and the county-seat of Douglas county, Kansas, U.S.A.,
situated on both banks of the Kansas river, about 40 m. W. of Kansas
City. Pop. (1890) 9997, (1900) 10,862, of whom 2032 were negroes, (1910
census) 12,374. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the
Union Pacific railways, both having tributary lines extending N. and S.
Lawrence is surrounded by a good farming region, and is itself a
thriving educational and commercial centre. Its site slopes up from the
plateau that borders the river to the heights above, from which there is
a view of rare beauty. Among the city's principal public buildings are
the court house and the Y.M.C.A. building. The university of Kansas,
situated on Mount Oread, overlooking the city, was first opened in 1866,
and in 1907-1908 had a faculty of 105 and 2063 students, including 702
women (see KANSAS). Just S. of the city of Lawrence is Haskell institute
(1884), one of the largest Indian schools in the country, maintained for
children of the tribal Indians by the national government. In 1907 the
school had 813 students, of whom 313 were girls; it has an academic
department, a business school and courses in domestic science, in
farming, dairying and gardening, and in masonry, carpentry, painting,
blacksmithing, waggon-making, shoemaking, steam-fitting, printing and
other trades. Among the city's manufactures are flour and grist mill
products, pianos and cement plaster. Lawrence, named in honour of Amos
A. Lawrence, was founded by agents of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid
Company in July 1854, and during the Territorial period was the
political centre of the free-state cause and the principal point against
which the assaults of the pro-slavery party were directed. It was first
known as Wakarusa, from the creek by which it lies. A town association
was organized in September 1854 before any Territorial government had
been established. In the next month some pro-slavery men presented
claims to a part of the land, projected a rival town to be called
Excelsior on the same site, and threatened violence; but when Lawrence
had organized its "regulators" the pro-slavery men retired and later
agreed to a compromise by which the town site was limited to 640 acres.
In December 1855 occurred the "Wakarusa war." A free-state man having
been murdered for his opinions, a friend who threatened retaliation was
arrested by the pro-slavery sheriff, S. J. Jones; he was rescued and
taken to Lawrence; the city disclaimed complicity, but Jones persuaded
Governor Wilson Shannon that there was rebellion, and Shannon authorized
a posse; Missouri responded, and a pro-slavery force marched on
Lawrence. The governor found that Lawrence had not resisted and would
not resist the service of writs; by a written "agreement" with the
free-state leaders he therefore withdrew his sanction from the
Missourians and averted battle. The retreating Missourians committed
some homicides. It was during this "war" that John Brown first took up
arms with the free-state men. Preparations for another attack continued,
particularly after Sheriff Jones, while serving writs in Lawrence, was
wounded. On the 21st of May 1856, at the head of several hundred
Missourians, he occupied the city without resistance, destroyed its
printing offices and the free-state headquarters and pillaged private
houses. In 1855 and again in 1857 the pro-slavery Territorial
legislature passed an Act giving Lawrence a charter, but the people of
Lawrence would not recognize that "bogus" government, and on the 13th of
July 1857, after an application to the Topeka free-state legislature for
a charter had been denied, adopted a city charter of their own. Governor
Walker proclaimed this rebellion against the United States, appeared
before the town in command of 400 United States dragoons and declared it
under martial law; as perfect order prevailed, and there was no overt
resistance to Territorial law, the troops were withdrawn after a few
weeks by order of President Buchanan, and in February 1858 the
legislature passed an Act legalizing the city charter of July 1857. On
the 21st of August 1863 William C. Quantrell and some 400 mounted
Missouri bushrangers surprised the sleeping town and murdered 150
citizens. The city's arms were in storage and no resistance was
possible. This was the most distressing episode in all the turbulence of
territorial days and border warfare in Kansas. A monument erected in
1895 commemorates the dead. After the free-state men gained control of
the Territorial legislature in 1857 the legislature regularly adjourned
from Lecompton, the legal capital, to Lawrence, which was practically
the capital until the choice of Topeka under the Wyandotte constitution.
The first railway to reach Lawrence was the Union Pacific in 1864.
See F. W. Blackmar, "The Annals of an Historic Town," in the _Annual
Report_ of the American Historical Association for 1893 (Washington,
1894).
LAWRENCE, a city, and one of the three county-seats (Salem and
Newburyport are the others) of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on
both sides of the Merrimac river, about 30 m. from its mouth and about
26 m. N.N.W. of Boston. Pop. (1890) 44,654, (1900) 62,559, of whom
28,577 were foreign-born (7058 being Irish, 6999 French Canadians, 5131
English, 2465 German, 1683 English Canadian), and (1910 census) 85,892.
It is served by the Boston & Maine railroad and by electric railways to
Andover, Boston, Lowell, Haverhill and Salem, Massachusetts, and to
Nashua and Salem, New Hampshire. The city's area of 6.54 sq. m. is about
equally divided by the Merrimac, which is here crossed by a great stone
dam 900 ft. long, and, with a fall of 28 ft., supplies about 12,000
horsepower. Water from the river is carried to factories by a canal on
each side of the river and parallel to it; the first canal was built on
the north side in 1845-1847 and is 1 m. long; the canal on the south
side is about ¾ m. long, and was built several years later. There are
large and well-kept public parks, a common (17 acres) with a soldiers'
monument, a free public library, with more than 50,000 volumes in 1907,
a city hall, county and municipal court-houses, a county gaol and house
of correction, a county industrial school and a state armoury.
The value of the city's factory product was $48,036,593 in 1905,
$41,741,980 in 1900. The manufacture of textiles is the most important
industry; in 1905 the city produced worsteds valued at $30,926,964 and
cotton goods worth $5,745,611, the worsted product being greater than
that of any other American city. The Wood worsted mill here is said to
be the largest single mill in the world. The history of Lawrence is
largely the history of its textile mills. The town was formed in 1845
from parts of Andover (S. of the Merrimac) and of Methuen (N. of the
river), and it was incorporated as a town in 1847, being named in honour
of Abbott Lawrence, a director of the Essex company, organized in 1845
(on the same day as the formation of the town) for the control of the
water power and for the construction of the great dam across the
Merrimac. The Bay State woollen mills, which in 1858 became the
Washington mills, and the Atlantic cotton mills were both chartered in
1846. The Pacific mills (1853) introduced from England in 1854 Lister
combs for worsted manufacture; and the Washington mills soon afterward
began to make worsted dress goods. Worsted cloths for men's wear seem to
have been made first about 1870 at nearly the same time in the
Washington mills here, in the Hockanum mills of Rockville, Connecticut,
and in Wanskuck mills, Providence, Rhode Island. The Pemberton mills,
built in 1853, collapsed and afterwards took fire on the 10th of January
1860; 90 were killed and hundreds severely injured. Lawrence was
chartered as a city in 1853, and annexed a small part of Methuen in 1854
and parts of Andover and North Andover in 1879.
See H. A. Wadsworth, _History of Lawrence, Massachusetts_ (Lawrence,
1880).
LAWRENCEBURG, a city and the county-seat of Dearborn county, Indiana,
U.S.A., on the Ohio river, in the S.E. part of the state, 22 m. (by
rail) W. of Cincinnati. Pop. (1890) 4284, (1900) 4326 (413
foreign-born); (1910) 3930. Lawrenceburg is served by the Baltimore &
Ohio South-Western and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis
railways, by the Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg & Aurora electric street
railroad, and by river packets to Louisville and Cincinnati. The city
lies along the river and on higher land rising 100 ft. above
river-level. It formerly had an important river trade with New Orleans,
beginning about 1820 and growing in volume after the city became the
terminus of the Whitewater canal, begun in 1836. The place was laid out
in 1802. In 1846 an "old" and a "new" settlement were united, and
Lawrenceburg was chartered as a city. Lawrenceburg was the birthplace of
James B. Eads, the famous engineer, and of John Coit Spooner (b. 1843),
a prominent Republican member of the United States Senate from Wisconsin
in 1885-1891 and in 1897-1907; and the Presbyterian Church of
Lawrenceburg was the first charge (1837-1839) of Henry Ward Beecher.
LAWSON, CECIL GORDON (1851-1882), English landscape painter, was the
youngest son of William Lawson of Edinburgh, esteemed as a portrait
painter. His mother also was known for her flower pieces. He was born
near Shrewsbury on the 3rd of December 1851. Two of his brothers (one of
them, Malcolm, a clever musician and song-writer) were trained as
artists, and Cecil was from childhood devoted to art with the intensity
of a serious nature. Soon after his birth the Lawsons moved to London.
Lawson's first works were studies of fruit, flowers, &c., in the manner
of W. Hunt; followed by riverside Chelsea subjects. His first exhibit at
the Royal Academy (1870) was "Cheyne Walk," and in 1871 he sent two
other Chelsea subjects. These gained full recognition from
fellow-artists, if not from the public. Among his friends were now
numbered Fred Walker, G. J. Pinwell and their associates. Following
them, he made a certain number of drawings for wood-engraving. Lawson's
Chelsea pictures had been painted in somewhat low and sombre tones; in
the "Hymn to Spring" of 1872 (rejected by the Academy) he turned to a
more joyous play of colour, helped by work in more romantic scenes in
North Wales and Ireland. Early in 1874 he made a short tour in Holland,
Belgium and Paris; and in the summer he painted his large "Hop Gardens
of England." This was much praised at the Academy of 1876. But Lawson's
triumph was with the great luxuriant canvas "The Minister's Garden,"
exhibited in 1878 at the Grosvenor Gallery, and now in the Manchester
Art Gallery. This was followed by several works conceived in a new and
tragic mood. His health began to fail, but he worked on. He married in
1879 the daughter of Birnie Philip, and settled at Haslemere. His later
subjects are from this neighbourhood (the most famous being "The August
Moon," now in the National Gallery of British Art) or from Yorkshire.
Towards the end of 1881 he went to the Riviera, returned in the spring,
and died at Haslemere on the 10th of June 1882. Lawson may be said to
have restored to English landscape the tradition of Gainsborough, Crome
and Constable, infused with an imaginative intensity of his own. Among
English landscape painters of the latter part of the 19th century his is
in many respects the most interesting name.
See E. W. Gosse, _Cecil Lawson, a Memoir_ (1883); Heseltine Owen, "In
Memoriam: Cecil Gordon Lawson," _Magazine of Art_ (1894). (L. B.)
LAWSON, SIR JOHN (d. 1665), British sailor, was born at Scarborough.
Joining the parliamentary navy in 1642, he accompanied Penn to the
Mediterranean in 1650, where he served for some time. In 1652 he served
under Blake in the Dutch War and was present at the first action in the
Downs and the battle of the Kentish Knock. At Portland, early in 1653,
he was vice-admiral of the red, and his ship was severely handled.
Lawson took part in the battles of June and July in the following
summer. In 1654-1655 he commanded in the North Sea and the Channel.
Appointed in January 1655-1656 as Blake's second-in-command, Lawson was
a few weeks later summarily dismissed from his command, probably for
political reasons. He was a Republican and Anabaptist, and therefore an
enemy to Cromwell. It is not improbable that like Penn and others he was
detected in correspondence with the exiled Charles II., who certainly
hoped for his support. In 1657, along with Harrison and others, he was
arrested and, for a short time, imprisoned for conspiring against
Cromwell. Afterwards he lived at Scarborough until the fall of Richard
Cromwell's government. During the troubled months which succeeded that
event Lawson, flying his flag as admiral of the Channel fleet, played a
marked political rôle. His ships escorted Charles to England, and he was
soon afterwards knighted. Sent out in 1661 with Montagu, earl of
Sandwich, to the Mediterranean, Lawson conducted a series of campaigns
against the piratical states of the Algerian coast. Thence summoned to a
command in the Dutch War, he was mortally wounded at Lowestoft. He died
on the 29th of June 1665.
See Charnock, _Biographia navalis_, i. 20; Campbell, _Lives of the
Admirals_, ii. 251; Penn, _Life of Sir William Penn_; Pepys, _Diary_.
LAWSON, SIR WILFRID, Bart. (1829-1906), English politician and
temperance leader, son of the 1st baronet (d. 1867), was born on the 4th
of September 1829. He was always an enthusiast in the cause of total
abstinence, and in parliament, to which he was first elected in 1859 for
Carlisle, he became its leading spokesman. In 1864 he first introduced
his Permissive Bill, giving to a two-thirds majority in any district a
veto upon the granting of licences for the sale of intoxicating liquors;
and though this principle failed to be embodied in any act, he had the
satisfaction of seeing a resolution on its lines accepted by a majority
in the House of Commons in 1880, 1881 and 1883. He lost his seat for
Carlisle in 1865, but in 1868 was again returned as a supporter of Mr
Gladstone, and was member till 1885; though defeated for the new
Cockermouth division of Cumberland in 1885, he won that seat in 1886,
and he held it till the election of 1900, when his violent opposition to
the Boer War caused his defeat, but in 1903 he was returned for the
Camborne division of Cornwall and at the general election of 1906 was
once more elected for his old constituency in Cumberland. During all
these years he was the champion of the United Kingdom Alliance (founded
1853), of which he became president. An extreme Radical, he also
supported disestablishment, abolition of the House of Lords, and
disarmament. Though violent in the expression of his opinions, Sir
Wilfrid Lawson remained very popular for his own sake both in and out of
the House of Commons; he became well known for his humorous vein, his
faculty for composing topical doggerel being often exercised on
questions of the day. He died on the 1st of July 1906.
LAY, a word of several meanings. Apart from obsolete and dialectical
usages, such as the East Anglian word meaning "pond," possibly cognate
with Lat. _lacus_, pool or lake, or its use in weaving for the batten of
a loom, where it is a variant form of "lath," the chief uses are as
follows: (1) A song or, more accurately, a short poem, lyrical or
narrative, which could be sung or accompanied by music; such were the
romances sung by minstrels. Such an expression as the "Lay of the
Nibelungen" is due to mistaken association of the word with Ger. _Lied_,
song, which appears in Anglo-Saxon as _léoð_. "Lay" comes from O. Fr.
_lai_, of which the derivation is doubtful. The _New English Dictionary_
rejects Celtic origins sometimes put forward, such as Ir. _laoidh_,
Welsh _llais_, and takes O. Mid. and High Ger. _leich_ as the probable
source. (2) "Non-clerical" or "unlearned." In this sense "lay" comes
directly from Fr. _lai_ (_laïque_, the learned form nearer to the Latin,
is now used) from Lat. _laicus_, Gr. [Greek: laikos], of or belonging to
the people ([Greek: laos], Attic [Greek: leôs]). The word is now
specially applied to persons who are not in orders, and more widely to
those who do not belong to other learned professions, particularly the
law and medicine. The _New English Dictionary_ quotes two examples from
versions of the Bible. In the Douai version of 1 Sam. xxi. 4, Ahimelech
tells David that he has "no lay bread at hand but only holy bread"; here
the Authorized Version has "common bread," the Vulgate _laicos panes_.
In Coverdale's version of Acts iv. 13, the high priest and his kindred
marvel at Peter and John as being "unlearned and lay people"; the
Authorized Version has "unlearned and ignorant men." In a cathedral of
the Church of England "lay clerks" and "lay vicars" sing such portions
of the service as may be performed by laymen and clergy in minor orders.
"Lay readers" are persons who are granted a commission by the bishop to
perform certain religious duties in a particular parish. The commission
remains in force until it is revoked by the bishop or his successors, or
till there is a new incumbent in the parish, when it has to be renewed.
In a religious order a "lay brother" is freed from duties at religious
services performed by the other members, and from their studies, but is
bound by vows of obedience and chastity and serves the order by manual
labour. For "lay impropriator" see APPROPRIATION, and for "lay rector"
see RECTOR and TITHES; see further LAYMEN, HOUSE OF. (3) "Lay" as a verb
means "to make to lie down," "to place upon the ground," &c. The past
tense is "laid"; it is vulgarly confused with the verb "to lie," of
which the past is "lay." The common root of both "lie" and "lay" is
represented by O. Teut. _leg_; cf. Dutch _leggen_, Ger. _legen_, and
Eng. "ledge."[1] (4) "Lay-figure" is the name commonly given to
articulated figures of human beings or animals, made of wood,
papier-maché or other materials; draped and posed, such figures serve as
models for artists (see MODELS, ARTISTS). The word has no connexion with
"to lay," to place in position, but is an adaptation of the word
"layman," commonly used with this meaning in the 18th century. This was
adapted from Dutch _leeman_ (the older form is _ledenman_) and meant an
"articulated or jointed man" from _led_, now _lid_, a joint; cf. Ger.
_Gliedermann_.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The verb "to lie," to speak falsely, to tell a falsehood, is in
O. Eng. _léogan_; it appears in most Teutonic languages, e.g. Dutch
_lugen_, Ger. _lügen_.
LAYA, JEAN LOUIS (1761-1833), French dramatist, was born in Paris on the
4th of December 1761 and died in August 1833. He wrote his first comedy
in collaboration with Gabriel M. J. B. Legouvé in 1785, but the piece,
though accepted by the Comédie Française, was never represented. In 1789
he produced a plea for religious toleration in the form of a five-act
tragedy in verse, _Jean Calas_; the injustice of the disgrace cast on a
family by the crime of one of its members formed the theme of _Les
Dangers de l'opinion_ (1790); but it is by his _Ami des lois_ (1793)
that Laya is remembered. This energetic protest against mob-rule, with
its scarcely veiled characterizations of Robespierre as Nomophage and of
Marat as Duricrâne, was an act of the highest courage, for the play was
produced at the Théâtre Français (temporarily Théâtre de la Nation) only
nineteen days before the execution of Louis XVI. Ten days after its
first production the piece was prohibited by the commune, but the public
demanded its representation; the mayor of Paris was compelled to appeal
to the convention, and the piece was played while some 30,000 Parisians
guarded the hall. Laya went into hiding, and several persons convicted
of having a copy of the obnoxious play in their possession were
guillotined. At the end of the Terror Laya returned to Paris. In 1813 he
replaced Delille in the Paris chair of literary history and French
poetry; he was admitted to the Academy in 1817. Laya produced in 1797
_Les Deux Stuarts_, and in 1799 _Falkland_, the title-rôle of which
provided Talma with one of his finest opportunities. Laya's works, which
chiefly owe their interest to the circumstances attending their
production, were collected in 1836-1837.
See _Notice biographique sur J. L. Laya_ (1833); Ch. Nodier, _Discours
de réception_, 26th December (1833); Welschinger, _Théâtre de la
révolution_ (1880).
LAYAMON, early English poet, was the author of a chronicle of Britain
entitled _Brut_, a paraphrase of the _Brut d'Angleterre_ by Wace, a
native of Jersey, who is also known as the author of the _Roman de Rou_.
The excellent edition of Layamon by Sir F. Madden (Society of
Antiquaries, London, 1847) should be consulted. All that is known
concerning Layamon is derived from two extant MSS., which present texts
that often vary considerably, and it is necessary to understand their
comparative value before any conclusions can be drawn. The older text
(here called the A-text) lies very near the original text, which is
unfortunately lost, though it now and then omits lines which are
absolutely necessary to the sense. The later text (here called the
B-text) represents a later recension of the original version by another
writer who frequently omits couplets, and alters the language by the
substitution of better-known words for such as seemed to be obsolescent;
e.g. _harme_ (harm) in place of _balewe_ (bale), and _dead_ in place of
_feie_ (fated to die, or dead). Hence little reliance can be placed on
the B-text, its chief merit being that it sometimes preserves couplets
which seem to have been accidentally omitted in A; besides which, it
affords a valuable commentary on the original version.
We learn from the brief prologue that Layamon was a priest among the
people, and was the son of Leovenath (a late spelling of A.-S.
Leofnoth); also, that he lived at Ernley, at a noble church on Severn
bank, close by Radstone. This is certainly Areley Regis, or Areley
Kings, close by Redstone rock and ferry, 1 m. to the S. of Stourport in
Worcestershire. The B-text turns Layamon into the later form Laweman,
i.e. Law-man, correctly answering to Chaucer's "Man of Lawe," though
here apparently used as a mere name. It also turns Leovenath into Leuca,
i.e. Leofeca, a diminutive of Leofa, which is itself a pet-name for
Leofnoth; so that there is no real contradiction. But it absurdly
substitutes "with the good knight," which is practically meaningless,
for "at a noble church."
We know no more about Layamon except that he was a great lover of books;
and that he procured three books in particular which he prized above
others, "turning over the leaves, and beholding them lovingly." These
were: the English book that St Beda made; another in Latin that St Albin
and St Austin made; whilst the third was made by a French clerk named
Wace, who (in 1155) gave a copy to the noble Eleanor, who was queen of
the high king Henry (i.e. Henry II.).
The first of these really means the Anglo-Saxon translation of Beda's
_Ecclesiastical History_, which begins with the words: "Ic Beda, Cristes
theow," i.e. "I, Beda, Christ's servant." The second is a strange
description of the original of the translation, i.e. Albinus Beda's own
Latin book, the second paragraph of which begins with the words: "Auctor
ante omnes atque adiutor opusculi huius Albinus Abba reverentissimus vir
per omnia doctissimus extitit"; which Layamon evidently misunderstood.
As to the share of St Augustine in this work, see Book I., chapters
23-34, and Book II., chapters 1 and 2, which are practically all
concerned with him and occupy more than a tenth of the whole work. The
third book was Wace's poem, _Brut d'Angleterre_. But we find that
although Layamon had ready access to all three of these works, he soon
settled down to the translation of the third, without troubling much
about the others. His chief obligation to Beda is for the well-known
story about Pope Gregory and the English captives at Rome; see Layamon,
vol. iii. 180.
It is impossible to enter here upon a discussion of the numerous points
of interest which a proper examination of this vast and important work
would present to any careful inquirer. Only a few bare results can be
here enumerated. The A-text may be dated about 1205, and the B-text
(practically by another writer) about 1275. Both texts, the former
especially, are remarkably free from admixture with words of French
origin; the lists that have been given hitherto are inexact, but it may
be said that the number of French words in the A-text can hardly exceed
100, or in the B-text 160. Layamon's work is largely original; Wace's
_Brut_ contains 15,300 lines, and Layamon's 32,240 lines of a similar
length; and many of Layamon's additions to Wace are notable, such as his
story "regarding the fairy elves at Arthur's birth, and his
transportation by them after death in a boat to Avalon, the abode of
Argante, their queen"; see Sir F. Madden's pref. p. xv. Wace's _Brut_ is
almost wholly a translation of the Latin chronicle concerning the early
history of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who said that he obtained
his materials from a manuscript written in Welsh. The name Brut is the
French form of Brutus, who was the fabulous grandson of Ascanius, and
great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, the hero of Virgil's _Aeneid_. After
many adventures, this Brutus arrived in England, founded Troynovant or
New Troy (better known as London), and was the progenitor of a long line
of British kings, among whom were Locrine, Bladud, Leir, Gorboduc,
Ferrex and Porrex, Lud, Cymbeline, Constantine, Vortigern, Uther and
Arthur; and from this mythical Brutus the name Brut was transferred so
as to denote the entire chronicle of this British history. Layamon gives
the whole story, from the time of Brutus to that of Cadwalader, who may
be identified with the Caedwalla of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_,
baptized by Pope Sergius in the year 688. Both texts of Layamon are in a
south-western dialect; the A-text in particular shows the Wessex dialect
of earlier times (commonly called Anglo-Saxon) in a much later form, and
we can hardly doubt that the author, as he intimates, could read the old
version of Beda intelligently. The remarks upon the B-text in Sir F.
Madden's preface are not to the point; the peculiar spellings to which
he refers (such as _same_ for _shame_) are by no means due to any
confusion with the Northumbrian dialect, but rather to the usual
vagaries of a scribe who knew French better than English, and had some
difficulty in acquiring the English pronunciation and in representing it
accurately. At the same time, he was not strong in English grammar, and
was apt to confuse the plural form with the singular in the tenses of
verbs; and this is the simple explanation of most of the examples of
so-called "nunnation" in this poem (such as the use of _wolden_ for
_wolde_), which only existed in writing and must not be seriously
considered as representing real spoken sounds. The full proof of this
would occupy too much space; but it should be noticed that, in many
instances, "this pleonastic _n_ has been struck out or erased by a
second hand." In other instances it has escaped notice, and that is all
that need be said. The peculiar metre of the poem has been sufficiently
treated by J. Schipper. An abstract of the poem has been given by Henry
Morley; and good general criticisms of it by B. ten Brink and others.
See _Layamon's Brut, or a Chronicle of Britain; a Poetical Semi-Saxon
Paraphrase of the Brut of Wace; ..._ by Sir F. Madden (1847); B. ten
Brink, _Early English Literature_, trans. by H. M. Kennedy (in Bonn's
Standard Library, 1885); H. Morley, _English Writers_, vol. iii.
(1888); J. Schipper, _Englische Metrik_, i. (Bonn, 1882), E. Guest, _A
History of English Rhythms_ (new ed. by W. W. Skeat, 1882), Article
"Layamon," in the _Dict. Nat. Biog.; Six Old English Chronicles_,
including Gildas, Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth (in Bohn's
Antiquarian Library); _Le Roux de Lincy, Le Roman de Brut, par Wace,
avec un commentaire et des notes_ (Rouen, 1836-1838), E. Mätzner,
_Altenglische Sprachproben_ (Berlin, 1867). (W. W. S.)
LAYARD, SIR AUSTEN HENRY (1817-1894), British author and diplomatist,
the excavator of Nineveh, was born in Paris on the 5th of March 1817.
The Layards were of Huguenot descent. His father, Henry P. J. Layard, of
the Ceylon Civil Service, was the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of
Bristol, and grandson of Daniel Peter Layard, the physician. Through his
mother, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate, he
inherited Spanish blood. This strain of cosmopolitanism must have been
greatly strengthened by the circumstances of his education. Much of his
boyhood was spent in Italy, where he received part of his schooling, and
acquired a taste for the fine arts and a love of travel; but he was at
school also in England, France and Switzerland. After spending nearly
six years in the office of his uncle, Benjamin Austen, a solicitor, he
was tempted to leave England for Ceylon by the prospect of obtaining an
appointment in the civil service, and he started in 1839 with the
intention of making an overland journey across Asia. After wandering for
many months, chiefly in Persia, and having abandoned his intention of
proceeding to Ceylon, he returned in 1842 to Constantinople, where he
made the acquaintance of Sir Stratford Canning, the British ambassador,
who employed him in various unofficial diplomatic missions in European
Turkey. In 1845, encouraged and assisted by Canning, Layard left
Constantinople to make those explorations among the ruins of Assyria
with which his name is chiefly associated. This expedition was in
fulfilment of a design which he had formed, when, during his former
travels in the East, his curiosity had been greatly excited by the ruins
of Nimrud on the Tigris, and by the great mound of Kuyunjik, near Mosul,
already partly excavated by Botta. Layard remained in the neighbourhood
of Mosul, carrying on excavations at Kuyunjik and Nimrud, and
investigating the condition of various tribes, until 1847; and,
returning to England in 1848, published _Nineveh and its Remains: with
an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the
Yezidis, or Devil-worshippers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts
of the Ancient Assyrians_ (2 vols., 1848-1849). To illustrate the
antiquities described in this work he published a large folio volume of
_Illustrations of the Monuments of Nineveh_ (1849). After spending a few
months in England, and receiving the degree of D.C.L. from the
university of Oxford, Layard returned to Constantinople as attaché to
the British embassy, and, in August 1849, started on a second
expedition, in the course of which he extended his investigations to the
ruins of Babylon and the mounds of southern Mesopotamia. His record of
this expedition, _Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon_,
which was illustrated by another folio volume, called _A Second Series
of the Monuments of Nineveh_, was published in 1853. During these
expeditions, often in circumstances of great difficulty, Layard
despatched to England the splendid specimens which now form the greater
part of the collection of Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum.
Apart from the archaeological value of his work in identifying Kuyunjik
as the site of Nineveh, and in providing a great mass of materials for
scholars to work upon, these two books of Layard's are among the
best-written books of travel in the language.
Layard now turned to politics. Elected as a Liberal member for Aylesbury
in 1852, he was for a few weeks under-secretary for foreign affairs, but
afterwards freely criticized the government, especially in connexion
with army administration. He was present in the Crimea during the war,
and was a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the conduct
of the expedition. In 1855 he refused from Lord Palmerston an office not
connected with foreign affairs, was elected lord rector of Aberdeen
university, and on 15th June moved a resolution in the House of Commons
(defeated by a large majority) declaring that in public appointments
merit had been sacrificed to private influence and an adherence to
routine. After being defeated at Aylesbury in 1857, he visited India to
investigate the causes of the Mutiny. He unsuccessfully contested York
in 1859, but was elected for Southwark in 1860, and from 1861 to 1866
was under-secretary for foreign affairs in the successive
administrations of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell. In 1866 he
was appointed a trustee of the British Museum, and in 1868 chief
commissioner of works in W. E. Gladstone's government and a member of
the Privy Council. He retired from parliament in 1869, on being sent as
envoy extraordinary to Madrid. In 1877 he was appointed by Lord
Beaconsfield ambassador at Constantinople, where he remained until
Gladstone's return to power in 1880, when he finally retired from public
life. In 1878, on the occasion of the Berlin conference, he received the
grand cross of the Bath. Layard's political life was somewhat stormy.
His manner was brusque, and his advocacy of the causes which he had at
heart, though always perfectly sincere, was vehement to the point
sometimes of recklessness. Layard retired to Venice, where he devoted
much of his time to collecting pictures of the Venetian school, and to
writing on Italian art. On this subject he was a disciple of his friend
G. Morelli, whose views he embodied in his revision of F. Kugler's
_Handbook of Painting, Italian Schools_ (1887). He wrote also an
introduction to Miss Ffoulkes's translation of Morelli's _Italian
Painters_ (1892-1893), and edited that part of Murray's _Handbook of
Rome_ (1894) which deals with pictures. In 1887 he published, from notes
taken at the time, a record of his first journey to the East, entitled
_Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana and Babylonia_. An abbreviation of
this work, which as a book of travel is even more delightful than its
predecessors, was published in 1894, shortly after the author's death,
with a brief introductory notice by Lord Aberdare. Layard also from time
to time contributed papers to various learned societies, including the
Huguenot Society, of which he was first president. He died in London on
the 5th of July 1894. (A. Gl.)
LAYMEN, HOUSES OF, deliberative assemblies of the laity of the Church of
England, one for the province of Canterbury, and the other for the
province of York. That of Canterbury was formed in 1886, and that of
York shortly afterwards. They are merely consultative bodies, and the
primary intention of their foundation was to associate the laity in the
deliberations of convocation. They have no legal status. The members are
elected by the various diocesan conferences, which are in turn elected
by the laity of their respective parishes or rural deaneries. Ten
members are appointed for the diocese of London, six for each of the
dioceses of Winchester, Rochester, Lichfield and Worcester; and four for
each of the remaining dioceses. The president of each house has the
discretionary power of appointing additional laymen, not exceeding ten
in number.
LAYNEZ (or LAINEZ), DIEGO (1512-1565), the second general of the Society
of Jesus, was born in Castile, and after studying at Alcala joined
Ignatius of Loyola in Paris, being one of the six who with Loyola in
August 1534 took the vow of missionary work in Palestine in the
Montmartre church. This plan fell through, and Laynez became professor
of scholastic theology at Sapienza. After the order had been definitely
established (1540) Laynez was sent to Germany. He was one of the pope's
theologians at the council of Trent (q.v.), where he played a weighty
and decisive part. When Loyola died in 1556 Laynez acted as vicar of the
society, and two years later became general. Before his death at Rome,
on the 19th of January 1565, he had immensely strengthened the despotic
constitution of the order and developed its educational activities (see
JESUITS).
His _Disputationes Tridentinae_ were published in 2 volumes in 1886.
Lives by Michel d'Esne (Douai, 1597) and Pet. Ribadeneira (Madrid,
1592; Lat. trans. by A. Schott, Antwerp, 1598). See also H. Müller,
_Les Origines de la Compagnie de Jésus: Ignace et Lainez_ (1898).
LAZAR, one afflicted with the disease of leprosy (q.v.). The term is an
adaptation in medieval Latin of the name of Lazarus (q.v.), in Luke xvi.
20, who was supposed to be a leper. The word was not confined to persons
suffering from leprosy; thus Caxton (_The Life of Charles the Great_,
37), "there atte laste were guarysshed and heled viij lazars of the
palesey."
LAZARETTO or LAZAR-HOUSE is a hospital for the reception of poor persons
suffering from the plague, leprosy or other infectious or contagious
diseases. A peculiar use of "lazaretto" is found in the application of
the term, now obsolete, to a place in the after-part of a merchant
vessel for the storage of provisions, &c. _Lazzarone_, a name now often
applied generally to beggars, is an Italian term, particularly used of
the poorest class of Neapolitans, who, without any fixed abode, live by
odd jobs and fishing, but chiefly by begging.
LAZARITES (LAZARISTS or LAZARIANS), the popular names of the
"Congregation of Priests of the Mission" in the Roman Catholic Church.
It had its origin in the successful mission to the common people
conducted by St Vincent de Paul (q.v.) and five other priests on the
estates of the Gondi family. More immediately it dates from 1624, when
the little community acquired a permanent settlement in the collège des
Bons Enfans in Paris. Archiepiscopal recognition was obtained in 1626;
by a papal bull of the 12th of January 1632, the society was constituted
a congregation, with St Vincent de Paul at its head. About the same time
the canons regular of St Victor handed over to the congregation the
priory of St Lazarus (formerly a lazar-house) in Paris, whence the name
of Lazarites or Lazarists. Within a few years they had acquired another
house in Paris and set up other establishments throughout France;
missions were also sent to Italy (1638), Tunis (1643), Algiers and
Ireland (1646), Madagascar (1648) and Poland (1651). A fresh bull of
Alexander VII. in April 1655 further confirmed the society; this was
followed by a brief in September of the same year, regulating its
constitution. The rules then adopted, which were framed on the model of
those of the Jesuits, were published at Paris in 1668 under the title
_Regulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis_. The
special objects contemplated were the religious instruction of the lower
classes, the training of the clergy and foreign missions. During the
French Revolution the congregation was suppressed and St Lazare
plundered by the mob; it was restored by Napoleon in 1804 at the desire
of Pius VII., abolished by him in 1809 in consequence of a quarrel with
the pope, and again restored in 1816. The Lazarites were expelled from
Italy in 1871 and from Germany in 1873. The Lazarite province of Poland
was singularly prosperous; at the date of its suppression in 1796 it
possessed thirty-five establishments. The order was permitted to return
in 1816, but is now extinct there. In Madagascar it had a mission from
1648 till 1674. In 1783 Lazarites were appointed to take the place of
the Jesuits in the Levantine and Chinese missions; they still have some
footing in China, and in 1874 their establishments throughout the
Turkish empire numbered sixteen. In addition, they established branches
in Persia, Abyssinia, Mexico, the South American republics, Portugal,
Spain and Russia, some of which have been suppressed. In the same year
they had fourteen establishments in the United States of America. The
total number of Lazarites throughout the world is computed at about
3000. Amongst distinguished members of the congregation may be
mentioned: P. Collet (1693-1770), writer on theology and ethics; J. de
la Grive (1689-1757), geographer; E. Boré (d. 1878), orientalist; P.
Bertholon (1689-1757), physician; and Armand David, Chinese missionary
and traveller.
See _Regulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis_
(Paris, 1668); _Mémoires de la congrégation de la mission_ (1863);
_Congrégation de la mission. Répertoire historique_ (1900); _Notices
bibliographiques sur les écrivains de la congrégation de la mission_
(Angoulême, 1878); P. Hélyot, _Dict. des ordres religieux_, viii.
64-77; M. Heimbrecher, _Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen
Kirche_, ii. (1897); C. Stork in Wetzer and Welte's _Kirchenlexikon_
(Catholic), vii.; E. Bougaud, _History of St Vincent de Paul_ (1908).
LAZARUS (a contracted form of the Heb. name Eleazar, "God has helped,"
Gr. [Greek: Lazaros]), a name which occurs in the New Testament in two
connexions.
1. LAZARUS OF BETHANY, brother of Martha and Mary. The story that he
died and after four days was raised from the dead is told by John (xi.,
xii.) only, and is not mentioned by the Synoptists. By many this is
regarded as the greatest of Christ's miracles. It produced a great
effect upon many Jews; the _Acta Pilati_ says that Pilate trembled when
he heard of it, and, according to Bayle's _Dictionary_, Spinoza declared
that if he were persuaded of its truth he would become a Christian. The
story has been attacked more vigorously than any other portion of the
Fourth Gospel, mainly on two grounds, (i.) the fact that, in spite of
its striking character, it is omitted by the Synoptists, and (ii.) its
unique significance. The personality of Lazarus in John's account, his
relation to Martha and Mary, and the possibility that John reconstructed
the story by the aid of inferences from the story of the supper in Luke
x. 40, and that of the anointing of Christ in Bethany given by Mark and
Matthew, are among the chief problems. The controversy has given rise to
a great mass of literature, discussions of which will be found in the
lives of Christ, the biblical encyclopaedias and the commentaries on St
John.
2. LAZARUS is also the name given by Luke (xvi. 20) to the beggar in the
parable known as that of "Lazarus and Dives,"[1] illustrating the misuse
of wealth. There is little doubt that the name is introduced simply as
part of the parable, and not with any idea of identifying the beggar
with Lazarus of Bethany. It is curious, not only that Luke's story does
not appear in the other gospels, but also that in no other of Christ's
parables is a name given to the central character. Hence it was in early
times thought that the story was historical, not allegorical (see
LAZAR).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The English Bible does not use Lat. _Dives_ (rich) as a proper
name, saying merely "a certain rich man." The idea that Dives was a
proper name arose from the Vulgate _quidam dives_, whence it became a
conventional name for a rich man.
LAZARUS, EMMA (1849-1887), American Jewish poetess, was born in New
York. When the Civil War broke out she was soon inspired to lyric
expression. Her first book (1867) included poems and translations which
she wrote between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. As yet her models
were classic and romantic. At the age of twenty-one she published
_Admetus and other Poems_ (1871). _Admetus_ is inscribed to Emerson, who
greatly influenced her, and with whom she maintained a regular
correspondence for several years. She led a retired life, and had a
modest conception of her own powers. Much of her next work appeared in
_Lippincott's Magazine_, but in 1874 she published a prose romance
(_Alide_) based on Goethe's autobiography, and received a generous
letter of admiration from Turgeniev. Two years later she visited Concord
and made the acquaintance of the Emerson circle, and while there read
the proof-sheets of her tragedy _The Spagnoletto_. In 1881 she published
her excellent translations of Heine's poems. Meanwhile events were
occurring which appealed to her Jewish sympathies and gave a new turn to
her feeling. The Russian massacres of 1880-1881 were a trumpet-call to
her. So far her Judaism had been latent. She belonged to the oldest
Jewish congregation of New York, but she had not for some years taken a
personal part in the observances of the synagogue. But from this time
she took up the cause of her race, and "her verse rang out as it had
never rung before, a clarion note, calling a people to heroic action and
unity; to the consciousness and fulfilment of a grand destiny." Her
poems, "The Crowing of the Red Cock" and "The Banner of the Jew" (1882)
stirred the Jewish consciousness and helped to produce the new Zionism
(q.v.). She now wrote another drama, the _Dance to Death_, the scene of
which is laid in Nordhausen in the 14th century; it is based on the
accusation brought against the Jews of poisoning the wells and thus
causing the Black Death. The _Dance to Death_ was included (with some
translations of medieval Hebrew poems) in _Songs of a Semite_ (1882),
which she dedicated to George Eliot. In 1885 she visited Europe. She
devoted much of the short remainder of her life to the cause of Jewish
nationalism. In 1887 appeared _By the waters of Babylon_, which consists
of a series of "prose poems," full of prophetic fire. She died in New
York on the 19th of November 1887. A sonnet by Emma Lazarus is engraved
on a memorial tablet on the colossal Bartholdi statue of Liberty, New
York.
See article in the _Century Magazine_, New Series, xiv. 875 (portrait
p. 803), afterwards prefixed as a _Memoir_ to the collected edition of
_The poems of Emma Lazarus_ (2 vols., 1889). (I. A.)
LAZARUS, HENRY (1815-1895), British clarinettist, was born in London on
the 1st of January 1815, and was a pupil of Blizard, bandmaster of the
Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, and subsequently of Charles Godfrey,
senior, bandmaster of the Coldstream Guards. He made his first
appearance as a soloist at a concert of Mme Dulcken's, in April 1838,
and in that year he was appointed as second clarinet to the Sacred
Harmonic Society. From Willman's death in 1840 Lazarus was principal
clarinet at the opera, and all the chief festivals and orchestral
concerts. His beautiful tone, excellent phrasing and accurate execution
were greatly admired. He was professor of the clarinet at the Royal
Academy of Music from 1854 until within a short time of his death, and
was appointed to teach his instrument at the Military School of Music,
Kneller Hall, in 1858. His last public appearance was at a concert for
his benefit in St James's Hall, in June 1892, and he died on the 6th of
March 1895.
LAZARUS, MORITZ (1824-1903), German philosopher, was born on the 15th of
September 1824 at Filehne, Posen. The son of a rabbinical scholar, he
was educated in Hebrew literature and history, and subsequently in law
and philosophy at the university of Berlin. From 1860 to 1866 he was
professor in the university of Berne, and subsequently returned to
Berlin as professor of philosophy in the kriegsakademie (1868) and later
in the university of Berlin (1873). On the occasion of his seventieth
birthday he was honoured with the title of _Geheimrath_. The fundamental
principle of his philosophy was that truth must be sought not in
metaphysical or a priori abstractions but in psychological
investigation, and further that this investigation cannot confine itself
successfully to the individual consciousness, but must be devoted
primarily to society as a whole. The psychologist must study mankind
from the historical or comparative standpoint, analysing the elements
which constitute the fabric of society, with its customs, its
conventions and the main tendencies of its evolution. This
_Völkerpsychologie_ (folk- or comparative psychology) is one of the
chief developments of the Herbartian theory of philosophy; it is a
protest not only against the so-called scientific standpoint of natural
philosophers, but also against the individualism of the positivists. In
support of his theory he founded, in combination with H. Steinthal, the
_Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft_ (1859). His
own contributions to this periodical were numerous and important. His
chief work was _Das Leben der Seele_ (Berlin, 1855-1857; 3rd edition,
1883). Other philosophical works were:--_Ueber den Ursprung der Sitten_
(1860 and 1867), _Ueber die Ideen in der Geschichte_ (1865 and 1872);
_Zur Lehre von den Sinnestäuschungen_ (1867); _Ideale Fragen_ (1875 and
1885), _Erziehung und Geschichte_ (1881); _Unser Standpunkt_ (1881);
_Ueber die Reize des Spiels_ (1883). Apart from the great interest of
his philosophical work, Lazarus was pre-eminent among the Jews of the
so-called Semitic domination in Germany. Like Heine, Auerbach and
Steinthal, he rose superior to the narrower ideals of the German Jews,
and took a leading place in German literature and thought. He protested
against the violent anti-Semitism of the time, and, in spite of the
moderate tone of his publications, drew upon himself unqualified
censure. He wrote in this connexion a number of articles collected in
1887 under the title _Treu und Frei. Reden und Vorträge über Juden und
Judenthum_. In 1869 and 1871 he was president of the first and second
Jewish Synods at Leipzig and Augsburg.
See R. Flint, _The Philosophy of History in Europe_; M. Brasch,
_Gesammelte Essays und Characterköpfe zur neuen Philos. und
Literatur_; E. Berliner, _Lazarus und die öffentliche Meinung_; M.
Brasch, "Der Begründer de Völkerpsychologie," in _Nord et Sud_,
(September 1894).
LAZARUS, ST, ORDER OF, a religious and military order founded in
Jerusalem about the middle of the 12th century. Its primary object was
the tending of the sick, especially lepers, of whom Lazarus (see LAZAR)
was regarded as the patron. From the 13th century, the order made its
way into various countries of Europe--Sicily, Lower Italy and Germany
(Thuringia); but its chief centre of activity was France, where Louis
IX. (1253) gave the members the lands of Boigny near Orleans and a
building at the gates of Paris, which they turned into a lazar-house for
the use of the lepers of the city. A papal confirmation was obtained
from Alexander IV. in 1255. The knights were one hundred in number, and
possessed the right of marrying and receiving pensions charged on
ecclesiastical benefices. An eight-pointed cross was the insignia of
both the French and Italian orders. The gradual disappearance of
leprosy combined with other causes to secularize the order more and
more. In Savoy in 1572 it was merged by Gregory XIII. (at the instance
of Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy) in the order of St Maurice (see
KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY: _Orders of Knighthood, Italy_). The chief task
of this branch was the defence of the Catholic faith, especially against
the Protestantism of Geneva. It continued to exist till the second half
of the 19th century. In 1608 it was in France united by Henry IV. with
the order of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel. It was treated with especial
favour by Louis XIV., and the most brilliant period of its existence was
from 1673 to 1691, under the marquis de Louvois. From that time it began
to decay. It was abolished at the Revolution, reintroduced during the
Restoration, and formally abolished by a state decree of 1830.
See L. Mainbourg, _Hist. des croisades_ (1682; Eng. trans. by Nalson,
1686); P. Hélyot, _Hist. des ordres monastiques_ (1714), pp. 257, 386;
J. G. Uhlhorn, _Die christliche Liebesthätigkeit im Mittelalter_
(Stuttgart, 1884); articles in Herzog-Hauck's _Realencyklopädie für
protestantische Theologie_, xi. (1902) and Wetzer and Welte's
(Catholic) _Kirchenlexikon_, vii. (1891).
LEA, HENRY CHARLES (1825-1909), American historian, was born at
Philadelphia on the 19th of September 1825. His father was a publisher,
whom in 1843 he joined in business, and he retained his connexion with
the firm till 1880. Weak health, however, caused him from early days to
devote himself to research, mainly on church history in the later middle
ages, and his literary reputation rests on the important books he
produced on this subject. These are: _Superstition and Force_
(Philadelphia, 1866, new ed. 1892); _Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal
Celibacy_ (Philadelphia, 1867); _History of the Inquisition of the
Middle Ages_ (New York, 1888); _Chapters from the religious history of
Spain connected with the Inquisition_ (Philadelphia, 1890); _History of
auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin Church_ (3 vols.,
London, 1896); _The Moriscos of Spain_ (Philadelphia, 1901), and
_History of the Inquisition of Spain_ (4 vols., New York and London,
1906-1907). He also edited a _Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary in the
13th century_ (Philadelphia, 1892), and in 1908 was published his
_Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies_. As an authority on the
Inquisition he stood in the highest rank of modern historians, and
distinctions were conferred on him by the universities of Harvard,
Princeton, Pennsylvania, Giessen and Moscow. He died at Philadelphia on
the 24th of October 1909.
LEAD (pronounced _leed_), a city of Lawrence county, South Dakota,
U.S.A., situated in the Black Hills, at an altitude of about 5300 ft., 3
m. S.W. of Deadwood. Pop. (1890) 2581, (1900) 6210, of whom 2145 were
foreign-born, (1905) 8217, (1910) 8392. In 1905 it was second in
population among the cities of the state. It is served by the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago & North-Western, and the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St Paul railways. Lead has a hospital, the Hearst Free
Library and the Hearst Free Kindergarten, and is the see of a Roman
Catholic bishopric. It is the centre of the mining interests of the
Black Hills, and the Homestake Gold Mine here contains perhaps the
largest and most easily worked mass of low-grade ore and one of the
largest mining plants (1000 stamps) in the world; it has also three
cyanide mills. From 1878 to 1906 the value of the gold taken from this
mine amounted to about $58,000,000, and the net value of the product of
1906 alone was approximately $5,313,516. For two months in the spring of
1907 the mine was rendered idle by a fire (March 25), which was so
severe that it was necessary to flood the entire mine. Mining tools and
gold jewelry are manufactured. The first settlement was made here by
mining prospectors in July 1876. Lead was chartered as a city in 1890
and became a city of the first class in 1904.
LEAD, a metallic chemical element; its symbol is Pb (from the Lat.
_plumbum_), and atomic weight 207.10 (O = 16). This metal was known to
the ancients, and is mentioned in the Old Testament. The Romans used it
largely, as it is still used, for the making of water pipes, and
soldered these with an alloy of lead and tin. Pliny treats of these two
metals as _plumbum nigrum_ and _plumbum album_ respectively, which seems
to show that at his time they were looked upon as being only two
varieties of the same species. In regard to the ancients' knowledge of
lead compounds, we may state that the substance described by Dioscorides
as [Greek: molybdaina] was undoubtedly litharge, that Pliny uses the
word minium in its present sense of red lead, and that white lead was
well known to Geber in the 8th century. The alchemists designated it by
the sign of Saturn [symbol].
_Occurrence._--Metallic lead occurs in nature but very rarely and then
only in minute amount. The chief lead ores are galena and cerussite; of
minor importance are anglesite, pyromorphite and mimetesite (qq.v.).
Galena (q.v.), the principal lead ore, has a world-wide distribution,
and is always contaminated with silver sulphide, the proportion of noble
metal varying from about 0.01 or less to 0.3%, and in rare cases coming
up to ½ or 1%. Fine-grained galena is usually richer in silver than the
coarse-grained. Galena occurs in veins in the Cambrian clay-slate,
accompanied by copper and iron pyrites, zinc-blende, quartz, calc-spar,
iron-spar, &c.; also in beds or nests within sandstones and rudimentary
limestones, and in a great many other geological formations. It is
pretty widely diffused throughout the earth's crust. The principal
English lead mines are in Derbyshire; but there are also mines at
Allandale and other parts of western Northumberland, at Alston Moor and
other parts of Cumberland, in the western parts of Durham, in Swaledale
and Arkendale and other parts of Yorkshire, in Salop, in Cornwall, in
the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire, and in the Isle of Man. The Welsh
mines are chiefly in Flint, Cardigan and Montgomery shires; the Scottish
in Dumfries, Lanark and Argyll; and the Irish in Wicklow, Waterford and
Down. Of continental mines we may mention those in Saxony and in the
Harz, Germany; those of Carinthia, Austria; and especially those of the
southern provinces of Spain. It is widely distributed in the United
States, and occurs in Mexico and Brazil; it is found in Tunisia and
Algeria, in the Altai Mountains and India, and in New South Wales,
Queensland, and in Tasmania.
The native carbonate or cerussite (q.v.) occasionally occurs in the pure
form, but more frequently in a state of intimate intermixture with clay
("lead earth," _Bleierde_), limestone, iron oxides, &c. (as in the ores
of Nevada and Colorado), and some times also with coal ("black lead
ore"). All native carbonate of lead seems to be derived from what was
originally galena, which is always present in it as an admixture. This
ore, metallurgically, was not reckoned of much value, until immense
quantities of it were discovered in Nevada and in Colorado (U.S.). The
Nevada mines are mostly grouped around the city of Eureka, where the ore
occurs in "pockets" disseminated at random through limestone. The crude
ore contains about 30% lead and 0.2 to 0.3% silver. The Colorado lead
district is in the Rocky Mountains, a few miles from the source of the
Arkansas river. It forms gigantic deposits of almost constant thickness,
embedded between a floor of limestone and a roof of porphyry. Stephens's
discovery of the ore in 1877 was the making of the city of Leadville,
which, in 1878, within a year of its foundation, had over 10,000
inhabitants. The Leadville ore contains from 24 to 42% lead and 0.1 to
2% silver. In Nevada and Colorado the ore is worked chiefly for the sake
of the silver. Deposits are also worked at Broken Hill, New South Wales.
Anglesite, or lead sulphate, PbSO4, is poor in silver, and is only
exceptionally mined by itself; it occurs in quantity in France, Spain,
Sardinia and Australia. Of other lead minerals we may mention the basic
sulphate lanarkite, PbO·PbSO4; leadhillite, PbSO4·3PbCO3; the basic
chlorides matlockite, PbO·PbCl2, and mendipite, PbCl2·2PbO; the
chloro-phosphate pyromorphite, PbCl2·3Pb3(PO4)2, the chloro-arsenate
mimetesite, PbCl2·3Pb3(AsO4)2; the molybdate wulfenite, PbMoO4; the
chromate crocoite or crocoisite, PbCrO4; the tungstate stolzite, PbWO4.
_Production._--At the beginning of the 19th century the bulk of the
world's supply of lead was obtained from England and Spain, the former
contributing about 17,000 tons and the latter 10,000 tons annually.
Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Russia and the United States began
to rank as producers during the second and third decades; Belgium
entered in about 1840; Italy in the 'sixties; Mexico, Canada, Japan
and Greece in the 'eighties; while Australia assumed importance in
1888 with a production of about 18,000 tons, although it had
contributed small and varying amounts for many preceding decades. In
1850 England headed the list of producers with about 66,000 tons; this
amount had declined in 1872 to 61,000 tons. Since this date, it has,
on the whole, diminished, although large outputs occurred in isolated
years, for instance, a production of 40,000 tons in 1893 was followed
by 60,000 tons in 1896 and 40,000 in 1897. The output in 1900 was
35,000 tons, and in 1905, 25,000 tons. Spain ranked second in 1850
with about 47,000 tons; this was increased in 1863, 1876 and in 1888
to 84,000, 127,000 and 187,000 tons respectively; but the maximum
outputs mentioned were preceded and succeeded by periods of
depression. In 1900 the production was 176,000 tons, and in 1905,
179,000 tons. The United States, which ranked third with a production
of 20,000 tons in 1850, maintained this annual yield, until 1870, when
it began to increase; the United States now ranks as the chief
producer; in 1900 the output was 253,000 tons, and in 1905, 319,744
tons. Germany has likewise made headway; an output of 12,000 tons in
1850 being increased to 120,000 tons in 1900 and to 152,590 in 1905.
This country now ranks third, having passed England in 1873. Mexico
increased its production from 18,000 tons in 1883 to 83,000 tons in
1900 and about 88,000 tons in 1905. The Australian production of
18,000 tons in 1888 was increased to 58,000 tons in 1891, a value
maintained until 1893, when a depression set in, only 21,000 tons
being produced in 1897; prosperity then returned, and in 1898 the
yield was 68,000 tons, and in 1905, 120,000 tons. Canada became
important in 1895 with a production of 10,000 tons; this increased to
28,654 tons in 1900; and in 1905 the yield was 25,391 tons. Italy has
been a fairly steady producer; the output in 1896 was 20,000 tons, and
in 1905, 25,000 tons.
_Metallurgy._
The extraction of the metal from pure (or nearly pure) galena is the
simplest of all metallurgical operations. The ore is roasted (i.e.
heated in the presence of atmospheric oxygen) until all the sulphur is
burned away and the lead left. This simple statement, however, correctly
formulates only the final result. The first effect of the roasting is
the elimination of sulphur as sulphur-dioxide, with formation of oxide
and sulphate of lead. In practice this oxidation process is continued
until the whole of the oxygen is as nearly as possible equal in weight
to the sulphur present as sulphide or as sulphate, i.e. in the ratio S :
O2. The heat is then raised in (relative) absence of air, when the two
elements named unite into sulphur-dioxide, while a regulus of molten
lead remains. Lead ores are smelted in the reverberatory furnace, the
ore-hearth, and the blast-furnace. The use of the first two is
restricted, as they are suited only for galena ores or mixtures of
galena and carbonate, which contain not less than 58% lead and not more
than 4% silica; further, ores to be treated in the ore-hearth should run
low in or be free from silver, as the loss in the fumes is excessive. In
the blast-furnace all lead ores are successfully smelted. Blast-furnace
treatment has therefore become more general than any other.
Three types of reverberatory practice are in vogue--the English,
Carinthian and Silesian. In Wales and the south of England the process
is conducted in a reverberatory furnace, the sole of which is paved
with slags from previous operations, and has a depression in the
middle where the metal formed collects to be let off by a tap-hole.
The dressed ore is introduced through a "hopper" at the top, and
exposed to a moderate oxidizing flame until a certain proportion of
ore is oxidized, openings at the side enabling the workmen to stir up
the ore so as to constantly renew the surface exposed to the air. At
this stage as a rule some rich slags of a former operation are added
and a quantity of quicklime is incorporated, the chief object of which
is to diminish the fluidity of the mass in the next stage, which
consists in this, that, with closed air-holes, the heat is raised so
as to cause the oxide and sulphate on the one hand and the sulphide on
the other to reduce each other to metal. The lead produced runs into
the hollow and is tapped off. The roasting process is then resumed, to
be followed by another reduction, and so on.
A similar process is used in Carinthia; only the furnaces are smaller
and of a somewhat different form. They are long and narrow; the sole
is plane, but slopes from the fire-bridge towards the flue, so that
the metal runs to the latter end to collect in pots placed _outside_
the furnace. In Carinthia the oxidizing process from the first is
pushed on so far that metallic lead begins to show, and the oxygen
introduced predominates over the sulphur left. The mass is then
stirred to liberate the lead, which is removed as _Rührblei_. Charcoal
is now added, and the heat urged on to obtain _Pressblei_, an inferior
metal formed partly by the action of the charcoal on the oxide of
lead. The fuel used is fir-wood.
The Silesian furnace has an oblong hearth sloping from the fire-bridge
to the flue-bridge. This causes the lead to collect at the coolest
part of the hearth, whence it is tapped, &c., as in the English
furnace. While by the English and Carinthian processes as much lead as
possible is extracted in the furnace, with the Silesian method a very
low temperature is used, thus taking out about one-half of the lead
and leaving very rich slags (50% lead) to be smelted in the
blast-furnace, the ultimate result being a very much higher yield than
by either of the other processes. The loss in lead by the combined
reverberatory and blast-furnace treatment is only 3.2%.
In Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and latterly the United States,
the reverberatory furnace is used only for roasting the ore, and the
oxidized ore is then reduced by fusion in a low, square blast-furnace
(a "Scottish hearth furnace") lined with cast iron, as is also the
inclined sole-plate which is made to project beyond the furnace, the
outside portion (the "work-stone") being provided with grooves guiding
any molten metal that may be placed on the "stone" into a cast iron
pot; the "tuyère" for the introduction of the wind was, in the earlier
types, about half way down the furnace.
As a preliminary to the melting process, the "browse" left in the
preceding operation (half-fused and imperfectly reduced ore) is
introduced with some peat and coal, and heated with the help of the
blast. It is then raked out on the work-stone and divided into a very
poor "grey" slag which is put aside, and a richer portion, which goes
back into the furnace. Some of the roasted ore is strewed upon it,
and, after a quarter of an hour's working, the whole is taken out on
the work-stone, where the lead produced runs off. The "browse," after
removal of the "grey" slag, is reintroduced, ore added, and, after a
quarter of an hour's heating, the mass again placed on the work-stone,
&c.
In the more recent form of the hearth process the blocks of cast iron
forming the sides and back of the Scottish furnace are now generally
replaced in the United States by water-cooled shells (water-jackets)
of cast iron. In this way continuous working has been rendered
possible, whereas formerly operations had to be stopped every twelve
or fifteen hours to allow the over-heated blocks and furnace to cool
down. A later improvement (which somewhat changes the mode of working)
is that by Moffett. While he also prevents interruption of the
operation by means of water-jackets, he uses hot-blast, and produces,
besides metallic lead, large volumes of lead fumes which are drawn off
by fans through long cooling tubes, and then forced through suspended
bags which filter off the dust, called "blue powder." Thus, a mixture
of lead sulphate (45%) and oxide (44%) with some sulphide (8%), zinc
and carbonaceous matter, is agglomerated by a heap-roast and then
smelted in a slag-eye furnace with grey slag from the ore-hearth. The
furnace has, in addition to the usual tuyères near the bottom, a
second set near the throat in order to effect a complete oxidation of
all combustible matter. Much fume is thus produced. This is drawn off,
cooled and filtered, and forms a white paint of good body, consisting
of about 65% lead sulphate, 26% lead oxide, 6% zinc oxide and 3% other
substances. Thus in the Moffett method it is immaterial whether metal
or fume is produced, as in either case it is saved and the price is
about the same.
In smelting at once in the same blast-furnace ores of different
character, the old use of separate processes of precipitation,
roasting and reduction, and general reduction prevailing in the Harz
Mountains, Freiberg and other places, to suit local conditions, has
been abandoned. Ores are smelted raw if the fall of matte (metallic
sulphide) does not exceed 5%; otherwise they are subjected to a
preliminary oxidizing roast to expel the sulphur, unless they run too
high in silver, say 100 oz. to the ton, when they are smelted raw. The
leading reverberatory furnace for roasting lead-bearing sulphide ores
has a level hearth 14-16 ft. wide and 60-80 ft. long. It puts through
9-12 tons of ore in twenty-four hours, reducing the percentage of
sulphur to 2-4%, and requires four to six men and about 2 tons of
coal. In many instances it has been replaced by mechanical furnaces,
which are now common in roasting sulphide copper ores (see SULPHURIC
ACID). A modern blast-furnace is oblong in horizontal section and
about 24 ft. high from furnace floor to feed floor. The shaft, resting
upon arches supported by four cast iron columns about 9 ft. high, is
usually of brick, red brick on the outside, fire-brick on the inside;
sometimes it is made of wrought iron water-jackets. The smelting zone
always has a bosh and a contracted tuyère section. It is enclosed by
water-jackets, which are usually cast iron, sometimes mild steel. The
hearth always has an Arents siphon tap. This is an inclined channel
running through the side-wall, beginning near the bottom of the
crucible and ending at the top of the hearth, where it is enlarged
into a basin. The crucible and the channel form the two limbs of an
inverted siphon. While the furnace is running the crucible and channel
remain filled with lead; all the lead reduced to the metallic state in
smelting collects in the crucible, and rising in the channel,
overflows into the basin, whence it is removed. The slag and matte
formed float upon the lead in the crucible and are tapped, usually
together, at intervals into slag-pots, where the heavy matter settles
on the bottom and the light slag on the top. When cold they are
readily separated by a blow from a hammer. The following table gives
the dimensions of some well-known American lead-furnaces.
_Lead Blast-Furnace._
+----------------------+------+----------+--------------+
| Locality. | Year.| Tuyère |Height, Tuyère|
| | | Section. | to Throat. |
+----------------------+------+----------+--------------+
| | | In. | Ft. |
| Leadville, Colorado | 1880 | 33 × 84 | 14 |
| Denver, " | 1880 | 36 × 100 | 17 |
| Durango, " | 1882 | 36 × 96 | 12.6 |
| Denver, " | 1892 | 42 × 100 | 16 |
| Leadville, " | 1892 | 42 × 120 | 18 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | 1895 | 45 × 140 | 20 |
+----------------------+------+----------+--------------+
A furnace, 42 by 120 in. at the tuyères, with a working height of
17-20 ft., will put through in twenty-four hours, with twelve men, 12%
coke and 2 lb. blast-pressure, 85-100 tons average charge, i.e. one
that is a medium coarse, contains 12-15% lead, not over 5% zinc, and
makes under 5% matte. In making up a charge, the ores and fluxes,
whose chemical compositions have been determined, are mixed so as to
form out of the components not to be reduced to the metallic or
sulphide state, typical slags (silicates of ferrous and calcium
oxides, incidentally of aluminium oxide, which have been found to do
successful work). Such slags contain SiO2 = 30-33%, Fe(Mn)O = 27-50%,
Ca(Mg, Ba)O = 12-28%, and retain less than 1% lead and 1 oz. silver to
the ton. The leading products of the blast-furnace are argentiferous
lead (base bullion), matte, slag and flue-dust (fine particles of
charge and volatilized metal carried out of the furnace by the
ascending gas current). The base bullion (assaying 300 ± oz. per ton)
is desilverized (see below); the matte (Pb = 8-12%, Cu = 3-4%, Ag =
(1/3)-(1/5) of the assay-value of the base bullion, rest Fe and S) is
roasted and resmelted, when part of the argentiferous lead is
recovered as base bullion, while the rest remains with the copper,
which becomes concentrated in a copper-matte (60% copper) to be worked
up by separate processes. The slag is a waste product, and the
flue-dust, collected by special devices in dust-chambers, is
briquetted by machinery, with lime as a bond, and then resmelted with
the ore-charge. The yield in lead is over 90%, in silver over 97% and
in gold 100%. The cost of smelting a ton of ore in Colorado in a
single furnace, 42 by 120 in. at the tuyères, is about $3.
Refining.
The lead produced in the reverberatory furnace and the ore-hearth is
of a higher grade than that produced in the blast-furnace, as the ores
treated are purer and richer, and the reducing action is less
powerful. The following analysis of blast-furnace lead of Freiberg,
Saxony, is from an exceptionally impure lead: Pb = 95.088, Ag = 0.470,
Bi = 0.019, Cu = 0.225, As = 1.826, Sb = 0.958, Sn = 1.354, Fe =
0.007, Zn = 0.002, S = 0.051. Of the impurities, most of the copper,
nickel and copper, considerable arsenic, some antimony and small
amounts of silver are removed by liquation. The lead is melted down
slowly, when the impurities separate in the form of a scum (dross),
which is easily removed. The purification by liquation is assisted by
poling the lead when it is below redness. A stick of green wood is
forced into it, and the vapours and gases set free expose new surfaces
to the air, which at this temperature has only a mildly oxidizing
effect. The pole, the use of which is awkward, has been replaced by
dry stream, which has a similar effect. To remove tin, arsenic and
antimony, the lead has to be brought up to a bright-red heat, when the
air has a strongly oxidizing effect. Tin is removed mainly as a
powdery mixture of stannate of lead and lead oxide, arsenic and
antimony as a slagged mixture of arsenate and antimonate of lead and
lead oxide. They are readily withdrawn from the surface of the lead,
and are worked up into antimony (arsenic)--tin-lead and antimony-lead
alloys. Liquation, if not followed by poling, is carried on as a rule
in a reverberatory furnace with an oblong, slightly trough-shaped
inclined hearth; if the lead is to be poled it is usually melted down
in a cast-iron kettle. If the lead is to be liquated and then brought
to a bright-red heat, both operations are carried on in the same
reverberatory furnace. This has an oblong, dish-shaped hearth of acid
or basic fire-brick built into a wrought-iron pan, which rests on
transverse rails supported by longitudinal walls. The lead is melted
down at a low temperature and drossed. The temperature is then raised,
and the scum which forms on the surface is withdrawn until pure
litharge forms, which only takes place after all the tin, arsenic and
antimony have been eliminated.
Desilverizing.
Silver is extracted from lead by means of the process of cupellation.
Formerly all argentiferous lead had to be cupelled, and the resulting
litharge then reduced to metallic lead. In 1833 Pattinson invented his
process by means of which practically all the silver is concentrated
in 13% of the original lead to be cupelled, while the rest becomes
market lead. In 1842 Karsten discovered that lead could be
desilverized by means of zinc. His invention, however, only took
practical form in 1850-1852 through the researches of Parkes, who
showed how the zinc-silver-lead alloy formed could be worked and the
desilverized lead freed from the zinc it had taken up. In the Parkes
process only 5% of the original lead need be cupelled. Thus, while
cupellation still furnishes the only means for the final separation of
lead and silver, it has become an auxiliary process to the two methods
of concentration given. Of these the Pattinson process has become
subordinate to the Parkes process, as it is more expensive and leaves
more silver and impurities in the market lead. It holds its own,
however, when base bullion contains bismuth in appreciable amounts, as
in the Pattinson process bismuth follows the lead to be cupelled,
while in the Parkes process it remains with the desilverized lead
which goes to market, and lead of commerce should contain little
bismuth. At Freiberg, Saxony, the two processes have been combined.
The base bullion is imperfectly Pattinsonized, giving lead rich in
silver and bismuth, which is cupelled, and lead low in silver, and
especially so in bismuth, which is further desilverized by the Parkes
process.
The effect of the two processes on the purity of the market lead is
clearly shown by the two following analyses by Hampe, which represent
lead from Lautenthal in the Harz Mountains, where the Parkes process
replaced that of Pattinson, the ores and smelting process remaining
practically the same:--
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Process. | Pb. | Cu. | Sb. | As. | Bi. | Ag. | Fe. | Zn. | Ni. |
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Pattinson| 99.966200 | 0.015000 | 1.010000 | none | 0.000600 | 0.002200 | 0.004000 | 0.001000 | 1.001000 |
| Parkes | 99.983139 | 0.001413 | 0.005698 | none | 0.005487 | 0.000460 | 0.002289 | 0.000834 | 0.000680 |
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
Cupelling.
The reverberatory furnace commonly used for cupelling goes by the name
of the English cupelling furnace. It is oblong, and has a fixed roof
and a movable iron hearth (test). Formerly the test was lined with
bone-ash; at present the hearth material is a mixture of crushed
limestone and clay (3:1) or Portland cement, either alone or mixed
with crushed fire-brick; in a few instances the lining has been made
of burnt magnesite. In the beginning of the operation enough
argentiferous lead is charged to fill the cavity of the test. After it
has been melted down and brought to a red heat, the blast, admitted at
the back, oxidizes the lead and drives the litharge formed towards the
front, where it is run off. At the same time small bars of
argentiferous lead, inserted at the back, are slowly pushed forward,
so that in melting down they may replace the oxidized lead. Thus the
level of the lead is kept approximately constant, and the silver
becomes concentrated in the lead. In large works the silver-lead alloy
is removed when it contains 60-80% silver, and the cupellation of the
rich bullion from several concentration furnaces is finished in a
second furnace. At the same time the silver is brought to the required
degree of fineness, usually by the use of nitre. In small works the
cupellation is finished in one furnace, and the resulting low-grade
silver fined in a plumbago crucible, either by overheating in the
presence of air, or by the addition of silver sulphate to the melted
silver, when air or sulphur trioxide and oxygen oxidize the
impurities. The lead charged contains about 1.5% lead if it comes from
a Pattinson plant, from 5-10% if from a Parkes plant. In a test 7 ft.
by 4 ft. 10 in. and 4 in. deep, about 6 tons of lead are cupelled in
twenty-four hours. A furnace is served by three men, working in
eight-hour shifts, and requires about 2 tons of coal, which
corresponds to about 110 gallons reduced oil, air being used as
atomizer. The loss in lead is about 5%. The latest cupelling furnaces
have the general form of a reverberatory copper-smelting furnace. The
working door through which the litharge is run off lies under the flue
which carries off the products of combustion and the lead fumes, the
lead is charged and the blast is admitted near the fire-bridge.
Pattinson process.
In the _Pattinson_ process the argentiferous lead is melted down in
the central cast iron kettle of a series 8-15, placed one next to the
other, each having a capacity of 9-15 tons and a separate fire-place.
The crystals of impoverished lead which fall to the bottom, upon
coaling the charge, are taken out with a skimmer and discharged into
the neighbouring kettle (say to the right) until about two-thirds of
the original charge has been removed; then the liquid enriched lead is
ladled into the kettle on the opposite side. To the kettle, two-thirds
full of crystals of lead, is now added lead of the same tenor in
silver, the whole is liquefied, and the cooling, crystallizing,
skimming and ladling are repeated. The same is done with the kettle
one-third filled with liquid lead, and so on until the first kettle
contains market lead, the last cupelling lead. The intervening kettles
contain leads with silver contents ranging from above market to below
cupelling lead. The original Pattinson process has been in many cases
replaced by the Luce-Rozan process (1870), which does away with
arduous labour and attains a more satisfactory crystallization. The
plant consists of two tilting oval metal pans (capacity 7 tons), one
cylindrical crystallizing pot (capacity 22 tons), with two discharging
spouts and one steam inlet opening, two lead moulds (capacity 3½
tons), and a steam crane. Pans and pot are heated from separate
fire-places. Supposing the pot to be filled with melted lead to be
treated, the fire is withdrawn beneath and steam introduced. This
cools and stirs the lead when crystals begin to form. As soon as
two-thirds of the lead has separated in the form of crystals, the
steam is shut off and the liquid lead drained off through the two
spouts into the moulds. The fire underneath the pot is again started,
the crystals are liquefied, and one of the two pans, filled with
melted lead, is tilted by means of the crane and its contents poured
into the pot. In the meantime the lead in the moulds, which has
solidified, is removed with the crane and stacked to one side, until
its turn comes to be raised and charged into one of the pans. The
crystallization proper lasts one hour, the working of a charge four
hours, six charges being run in twenty-four hours.
Parkes process.
It is absolutely necessary for the success of the _Parkes_ process
that the zinc and lead should contain only a small amount of impurity.
The spelter used must therefore be of a good grade, and the lead is
usually first refined in a reverberatory furnace (the softening
furnace). The capacity of the furnace must be 10% greater than that of
the kettle into which the softened lead is tapped, as the dross and
skimmings formed amount to about 10% of the weight of the lead
charged. The kettle is spherical, and is suspended over a fire-place
by a broad rim resting on a wall; it is usually of cast iron. Most
kettles at present hold 30 tons of lead; some, however, have double
that capacity. When zinc is placed on the lead (heated to above the
melting-point of zinc), liquefied and brought into intimate contact
with the lead by stirring, gold, copper, silver and lead will combine
with the zinc in the order given. By beginning with a small amount of
zinc, all the gold and copper and some silver and lead will be alloyed
with the zinc to a so-called gold--or copper--crust, and the residual
lead saturated with zinc. By removing from the surface of the lead
this first crust and working it up separately (liquating, retorting
and cupelling), doré silver is obtained. By the second addition of
zinc most of the silver will be collected in a saturated
zinc-silver-lead crust, which, when worked up, gives fine silver. A
third addition becomes necessary to remove the rest of the silver,
when the lead will assay only 0.1 oz. silver per ton. As this complete
desilverization is only possible by the use of an excess of zinc, the
unsaturated zinc-silver-lead alloy is put aside to form part of the
second zincking of the next following charge. In skimming the crust
from the surface of the lead some unalloyed lead is also drawn off,
and has to be separated by an additional operation (liquation), as,
running lower in silver than the crust, it would otherwise reduce its
silver content and increase the amount of lead to be cupelled. A
zincking takes 5-6 hours; 1.5-2.5% zinc is required for desilverizing.
The liquated zinc-silver-lead crust contains 5-10% silver, 30-40% zinc
and 65-50% lead. Before it can be cupelled it has to be freed from
most of the zinc, which is accomplished by distilling in a retort made
of a mixture similar to that of the plumbago crucible. The retort is
pear-shaped, and holds 1000-1500 lb of charge, consisting of liquated
crust mixed with 1-3% of charcoal. The condenser commonly used is an
old retort. The distillation of 1000 lb. charge lasts 5-6 hours,
requires 500-600 lb. coke or 30± gallons reduced oil, and yields about
10% metallic zinc and 1% blue powder--a mixture of finely-divided
metallic zinc and zinc oxide. About 60% of the zinc used in
desilverizing is recovered in a form to be used again. One man serves
2-4 retorts. The desilverized lead, which retains 0.6-0.7% zinc, has
to be refined before it is suited for industrial use. The operation is
carried on in a reverberatory furnace or in a kettle. In the
reverberatory furnace, similar to the one used in softening, the lead
is brought to a bright-red heat and air allowed to have free access.
The zinc and some lead are oxidized; part of the zinc passes off with
the fumes, part is dissolved by the litharge, forming a melted mixture
which is skimmed off and reduced in a blast-furnace or a reverberatory
smelting furnace. In the kettle covered with a hood the zinc is
oxidized by means of dry steam, and incidentally some lead by the air
which cannot be completely excluded. A yellowish powdery mixture of
zinc and lead oxides collects on the lead; it is skimmed off and sold
as paint. From the reverberatory furnace or the kettle the refined
lead is siphoned off into a storage (market) kettle after it has
cooled somewhat, and from this it is siphoned off into moulds placed
in a semi-circle on the floor. In the process the yield in metal,
based upon the charge in the kettle, is lead 99%, silver 100+%, gold
98-100%. The plus-silver is due to the fact that in assaying the base
bullion by cupellation, the silver lost by volatilization and
cupel-absorption is neglected. In the United States the cost of
desilverizing a ton base bullion is about $6.
_Properties of Lead._--Pure lead is a feebly lustrous bluish-white
metal, endowed with a characteristically high degree of softness and
plasticity, and almost entirely devoid of elasticity. Its breaking
strain is very small: a wire (1/10)th in. thick is ruptured by a charge
of about 30 lb. The specific gravity is 11.352 for ingot, and from
11.354 to 11.365 for sheet lead (water of 4°C. = 1). The expansion of
unit-length from 0°C. to to 100°C. is .002948 (Fizeau). The conductivity
for heat (Wiedemann and Franz) or electricity is 8.5, that of silver
being taken as 100. It melts at 327.7°C. (H. L. Callendar); at a
bright-red heat it perceptibly vapourizes, and boils at a temperature
between 1450° and 1600°. The specific heat is .0314 (Regnault). Lead
exposed to ordinary air is rapidly tarnished, but the thin dark film
formed is very slow in increasing. When kept fused in the presence of
air lead readily takes up oxygen, with the formation at first of a
dark-coloured scum, and then of monoxide PbO, the rate of oxidation
increasing with the temperature.
Water when absolutely pure has no action on lead, but in the presence of
air the lead is quickly attacked, with formation of the hydrate,
Pb(OH)2, which is appreciably soluble in water forming an alkaline
liquid. When carbonic acid is present the dissolved oxide is soon
precipitated as basic carbonate, so that the corrosion of the lead
becomes continuous. Since all soluble lead compounds are strong
cumulative poisons, danger is involved in using lead cisterns or pipes
in the distribution of _pure_ waters. The word "pure" is emphasized
because experience shows that the presence in a water of even small
proportions of calcium bicarbonate or sulphate prevents its action on
lead. All impurities do not act in a similar way. Ammonium nitrate and
nitrite, for instance, intensify the action of a water on lead. Even
pure waters, however, such as that of Loch Katrine (which forms the
Glasgow supply), act so slowly, at least on such lead pipes as have
already been in use for some time, that there is no danger in using
short lead service pipes even for them, if the taps are being constantly
used. Lead cisterns must be unhesitatingly condemned.
The presence of carbonic acid in a water does not affect its action on
lead. Aqueous non-oxidizing acids generally have little or no action on
lead in the absence of air. Dilute sulphuric acid (say an acid of 20%
H2SO4 or less) has no action on lead even when air is present, nor on
boiling. Strong acid does act, the more so the greater its concentration
and the higher its temperature. Pure lead is far more readily corroded
than a metal contaminated with 1% or even less of antimony or copper.
Boiling concentrated sulphuric acid converts lead into sulphate, with
evolution of sulphur dioxide. Dilute nitric acid readily dissolves the
metal, with formation of nitrate Pb(NO3)2.
_Lead Alloys._--Lead, unites readily with almost all other metals;
hence, and on account of its being used for the extraction of (for
instance) silver, its alchemistic name of _saturnus_. Of the alloys the
following may be named:--
_With Antimony._--Lead contaminated with small proportions of antimony
is more highly proof against sulphuric acid than the pure metal. An
alloy of 83 parts of lead and 17 of antimony is used as type metal;
other proportions are used, however, and other metals added besides
antimony (e.g. tin, bismuth) to give the alloy certain properties.
_Arsenic_ renders lead harder. An alloy made by addition of about
(1/56)th of arsenic has been used for making shot.
_Bismuth and Antimony._--An alloy consisting of 9 parts of lead, 2 of
antimony and 2 of bismuth is used for stereotype plates.
_Bismuth and Tin._--These triple alloys are noted for their low fusing
points. An alloy of 5 of lead, 8 of bismuth and 3 of tin fuses at
94.4°C, i.e. below the boiling-point of water (Rose's metal). An alloy
of 15 parts of bismuth, 8 of lead, 4 of tin and 3 of cadmium (Wood's
alloy) melts below 70°C.
_Tin_ unites with lead in any proportion with slight expansion, the
alloy fusing at a lower temperature than either component. It is used
largely for soldering.
"Pewter" (q.v.) may be said to be substantially an alloy of the same
two metals, but small quantities of copper, antimony and zinc are
frequently added.
_Compounds of Lead._
Lead generally functions as a divalent element of distinctly metallic
character, yielding a definite series of salts derived from the oxide
PbO. At the same time, however, it forms a number of compounds in which
it is most decidedly tetravalent; and thus it shows relations to carbon,
silicon, germanium and tin.
_Oxides._--Lead combines with oxygen to form five oxides, viz. Pb2O,
PbO, PbO2, Pb2O3 and Pb3O4. The _suboxide_, Pb2O, is the first product
of the oxidation of lead, and is also obtained as a black powder by
heating lead oxalate to 300° out of contact with air. It ignites when
heated in air with the formation of the monoxide; dilute acids convert
it into metallic lead and lead monoxide, the latter dissolving in the
acid. The _monoxide_, PbO, occurs in nature as the mineral _lead
ochre_. This oxide is produced by heating lead in contact with air and
removing the film of oxide as formed. It is manufactured in two forms,
known as "massicot" and "litharge." The former is produced at
temperatures below, the latter at temperatures above the fusing-point
of the oxide. The liquid litharge when allowed to cool solidifies into
a hard stone-like mass, which, however, when left to itself, soon
crumbles up into a heap of resplendent dark yellow scales known as
"flake litharge." "Buff" or "levigated litharge" is prepared by
grinding the larger pieces under water. Litharge is much used for the
preparation of lead salts, for the manufacture of oil varnishes, of
certain cements, and of lead plaster, and for other purposes. Massicot
is the raw material for the manufacture of "red lead" or "minium."
Lead monoxide is dimorphous, occurring as cubical dodecahedra and as
rhombic octahedra. Its specific gravity is about 9; it is sparingly
soluble in water, but readily dissolves in acids and molten alkalis. A
yellow and red modification have been described (_Zeit. anorg. Chem._,
1906, 50, p. 265). The corresponding _hydrate_, Pb(OH)2, is obtained
as a white crystalline precipitate by adding ammonia to a solution of
lead nitrate or acetate. It dissolves in an excess of alkali to form
_plumbites_ of the general formula Pb(OM)2. It absorbs carbon dioxide
from the air when moist. A hydrated oxide, 2PbO·H2O, is obtained when
a solution of the monoxide in potash is treated with carbon dioxide.
_Lead dioxide_, PbO2, also known as "puce oxide," occurs in nature as
the mineral plattnerite, and may be most conveniently prepared by
heating mixed solutions of lead acetate and bleaching powder until the
original precipitate blackens. The solution is filtered, the
precipitate well washed, and, generally, is put up in the form of a
paste in well-closed vessels. It is also obtained by passing chlorine
into a suspension of lead oxide or carbonate, or of magnesia and lead
sulphate, in water; or by treating the sesquioxide or red oxide with
nitric acid. The formation of lead dioxide by the electrolysis of a
lead solution, the anode being a lead plate coated with lead oxide or
sulphate and the cathode a lead plate, is the fundamental principle of
the storage cell (see ACCUMULATOR). Heating or exposure to sunlight
reduces it to the red oxide; it fires when ground with sulphur, and
oxidizes ammonia to nitric acid, with the simultaneous formation of
ammonium nitrate. It oxidizes a manganese salt (free from chlorine) in
the presence of nitric acid to a permanganate; this is a very delicate
test for manganese. It forms crystallizable salts with potassium and
calcium hydrates, and functions as a weak acid forming salts named
plumbates. The Kassner process for the manufacture of oxygen depends
upon the formation of calcium plumbate, Ca2PbO4, by heating a mixture
of lime and litharge in a current of air, decomposing this substance
into calcium carbonate and lead dioxide by heating in a current of
carbon dioxide, and then decomposing these compounds with the
evolution of carbon dioxide and oxygen by raising the temperature.
_Plumbic acid_, PbO(OH)2, is obtained as a bluish-black, lustrous body
of electrolysing an alkaline solution of lead sodium tartrate.
_Tetravalent Lead._--If a suspension of lead dichloride in
hydrochloric acid be treated with chlorine gas, a solution of lead
tetrachloride is obtained; by adding ammonium chloride ammonium
plumbichloride, (NH4)2PbCl6, is precipitated, which on treatment with
strong sulphuric acid yields _lead tetrachloride_, PbCl4, as a
translucent, yellow, highly refractive liquid. It freezes at -15° to a
yellowish crystalline mass; on heating it loses chlorine and forms
lead dichloride. With water it forms a hydrate, and ultimately
decomposes into lead dioxide and hydrochloric acid. It combines with
alkaline chlorides--potassium, rubidium and caesium--to form
crystalline _plumbichlorides_; it also forms a crystalline compound
with quinoline. By dissolving red lead, Pb3O4, in glacial acetic acid
and crystallizing the filtrate, colourless monoclinic prisms of lead
tetracetate, Pb(C2H3O2)4, are obtained. This salt gives the
corresponding chloride and fluoride with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric
acids, and the phosphate, Pb(HPO4)2, with phosphoric acid.
These salts are like those of tin; and the resemblance to this metal
is clearly enhanced by the study of the alkyl compounds. Here
compounds of divalent lead have not yet been obtained; by acting with
zinc ethide on lead chloride, _lead tetraethide_, Pb(C2H3)4, is
obtained, with the separation of metallic lead.
_Lead sesquioxide_, Pb2O3, is obtained as a reddish-yellow amorphous
powder by carefully adding sodium hypochlorite to a cold potash
solution of lead oxide, or by adding very dilute ammonia to a solution
of red lead in acetic acid. It is decomposed by acids into a mixture
of lead monoxide and dioxide, and may thus be regarded as lead
metaplumbate, PbPbO3. _Red lead_ or _triplumbic tetroxide_, Pb3O4, is
a scarlet crystalline powder of specific gravity 8.6-9.1, obtained by
roasting very finely divided pure massicot or lead carbonate; the
brightness of the colour depends in a great measure on the roasting.
Pliny mentions it under the name of _minium_, but it was confused with
cinnabar and the red arsenic sulphide; Dioscorides mentions its
preparation from white lead or lead carbonate. On heating it assumes a
finer colour, but then turns violet and finally black; regaining,
however, its original colour on cooling. On ignition, it loses oxygen
and forms litharge. Commercial red lead is frequently contaminated
with this oxide, which may, however, be removed by repeated digestion
with lead acetate. Its common adulterants are iron oxides, powdered
barytes and brick dust. Acids decompose it into lead dioxide and
monoxide, and the latter may or may not dissolve to form a salt; red
lead may, therefore, be regarded as _lead orthoplumbate_, Pb2PbO4. It
is chiefly used as a pigment and in the manufacture of flint glass.
_Lead chloride_, PbCl2, occurs in nature as the mineral cotunnite,
which crystallizes in the rhombic system, and is found in the
neighbourhood of volcanic craters. It is artificially obtained by
adding hydrochloric acid to a solution of lead salt, as a white
precipitate, little soluble in cold water, less so in dilute
hydrochloric acid, more so in the strong acid, and readily soluble in
hot water, from which on cooling, the excess of dissolved salt
separates out in silky rhombic needles. It melts at 485° and
solidifies on cooling to a translucent, horn-like mass; an early name
for it was _plumbum corneum_, horn lead. A basic chloride, Pb(OH)Cl,
was introduced in 1849 by Pattinson as a substitute for white lead.
Powdered galena is dissolved in hot hydrochloric acid, the solution
allowed to cool and the deposit of impure lead chloride washed with
cold water to remove iron and copper. The residue is then dissolved in
hot water, filtered, and the clear solution is mixed with very thin
milk of lime so adjusted that it takes out one-half of the chlorine of
the PbCl2. The oxychloride comes down as an amorphous white
precipitate. Another oxychloride, PbCl2·7PbO, known as "Cassel
yellow," was prepared by Vauquelin by fusing pure oxide, PbO, with
one-tenth of its weight of sal ammoniac. "Turner's yellow" or "patent
yellow" is another artificially prepared oxychloride, used as a
pigment. Mendipite and matlockite are mineral oxychlorides.
_Lead, fluoride_, PbF2, is a white powder obtained by precipitating a
lead salt with a soluble fluoride; it is sparingly soluble in water
but readily dissolves in hydrochloric and nitric acids. A
chloro-fluoride, PbClF, is obtained by adding sodium fluoride to a
solution of lead chloride. Lead bromide, PbBr2, a white solid, and
lead iodide, PbI2, a yellow solid, are prepared by precipitating a
lead salt with a soluble bromide or iodide; they resemble the chloride
in solubility.
_Lead carbonate_, PbCO3, occurs in nature as the mineral cerussite
(q.v.). It is produced by the addition of a solution of lead salt to
an excess of ammonium carbonate, as an almost insoluble white
precipitate. Of greater practical importance is a basic carbonate,
substantially 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2, largely used as a white pigment under
the name of "white lead." This pigment is of great antiquity;
Theophrastus called it [Greek: psimythion], and prepared it by acting
on lead with vinegar, and Pliny, who called it _cerussa_, obtained it
by dissolving lead in vinegar and evaporating to dryness. It thus
appears that white lead and sugar of lead were undifferentiated. Geber
gave the preparation in a correct form, and T. O. Bergman proved its
composition. This pigment is manufactured by several methods. In the
old Dutch method, pieces of sheet lead are suspended in stoneware pots
so as to occupy the upper two-thirds of the vessels. A little vinegar
is poured into each pot; they are then covered with plates of sheet
lead, buried in horse-dung or spent tanner's bark, and left to
themselves for a considerable time. By the action of the acetic acid
and atmospheric oxygen, the lead is converted superficially into a
basic acetate, which is at once decomposed by the carbon dioxide, with
formation of white lead and acetic acid, which latter then acts _de
novo_. After a month or so the plates are converted to a more or less
considerable depth into crusts of white lead. These are knocked off,
ground up with water, freed from metal-particles by elutriation, and
the paste of white lead is allowed to set and dry in small conical
forms. The German method differs from the Dutch inasmuch as the lead
is suspended in a large chamber heated by ordinary means, and there
exposed to the simultaneous action of vapour of aqueous acetic acid
and of carbon dioxide. Another process depends upon the formation of
lead chloride by grinding together litharge with salt and water, and
then treating the alkaline fluid with carbon dioxide until it is
neutral. White lead is an earthy, amorphous powder. The inferior
varieties of commercial "white lead" are produced by mixing the
genuine article with more or less of finely powdered heavy spar or
occasionally zinc-white (ZnO). Venetian white, Hamburg white and Dutch
white are mixtures of one part of white lead with one, two and three
parts of barium sulphate respectively.
_Lead sulphide_, PbS, occurs in nature as the mineral galena (q.v.),
and constitutes the most valuable ore of lead. It may be artificially
prepared by leading sulphur vapour over lead, by fusing litharge with
sulphur, or, as a black precipitate, by passing sulphuretted hydrogen
into a solution of a lead salt. It dissolves in strong nitric acid
with the formation of the nitrate and sulphate, and also in hot
concentrated hydrochloric acid.
_Lead sulphate_, PbSO4, occurs in nature as the mineral anglesite
(q.v.), and may be prepared by the addition of sulphuric acid to
solutions of lead salts, as a white precipitate almost insoluble in
water (1 in 21,739), less soluble still in dilute sulphuric acid (1 in
36,504) and insoluble in alcohol. Ammonium sulphide blackens it, and
it is coluble in solution of ammonium acetate, which distinguishes it
from barium sulphate. Strong sulphuric acid dissolves it, forming an
acid salt, Pb(HSO4)2, which is hydrolysed by adding water, the normal
sulphate being precipitated; hence the milkiness exhibited by samples
of oil of vitriol on dilution.
_Lead nitrate_, Pb(NO3)2, is obtained by dissolving the metal or oxide
in aqueous nitric acid; it forms white crystals, difficultly soluble
in cold water, readily in hot water and almost insoluble in strong
nitric acid. It was mentioned by Libavius, who named it _calx plumb
dulcis_. It is decomposed by heat into oxide, nitrogen peroxide and
oxygen; and is used for the manufacture of fusees and other
deflagrating compounds, and also for preparing mordants in the dyeing
and calico-printing industries. Basic nitrates, e.g. Pb(NO3)OH,
Pb3O(OH)2(NO3)2, Pb3O2(OH)NO3, &c., have been described.
_Lead Phosphates._--The normal ortho-phosphate, Pb3(PO4)2, is a white
precipitate obtained by adding sodium phosphate to lead acetate; the
acid phosphate, PbHPO4, is produced by precipitating a boiling
solution of lead nitrate with phosphoric acid; the pyrophosphate and
meta-phosphate are similar white precipitates.
_Lead Borates._--By fusing litharge with boron trioxide, glasses of a
composition varying with the proportions of the mixture are obtained;
some of these are used in the manufacture of glass. The borate,
Pb2B6O11·4H2O, is obtained as a white precipitate by adding borax to a
lead salt; this on heating with strong ammonia gives PbB2O4·H2·O,
which, in turn, when boiled with a solution of boric acid, gives
PbB4O7·4H2O.
_Lead silicates_ are obtained as glasses by fusing litharge with
silica; they play a considerable part in the manufacture of the lead
glasses (see GLASS).
_Lead chromate_, PbCrO4, is prepared industrially as a yellow pigment,
chrome yellow, by precipitating sugar of lead solution with potassium
bichromate. The beautiful yellow precipitate is little soluble in
dilute nitric acid, but soluble in caustic potash. The vermilion-like
pigment which occurs in commerce as "chrome-red" is a basic chromate,
Pb2CrO5, prepared by treating recently precipitated normal chromate
with a properly adjusted proportion of caustic soda, or by boiling it
with normal (yellow) potassium chromate.
_Lead acetate_, Pb(C2H3O2)2·3H2O (called "sugar" of lead, on account
of its sweetish taste), is manufactured by dissolving massicot in
aqueous acetic acid. It forms colourless transparent crystals, soluble
in one and a half parts of cold water and in eight parts of alcohol,
which on exposure to ordinary air become opaque through absorption of
carbonic acid, which forms a crust of basic carbonate. An aqueous
solution readily dissolves lead oxide, with formation of a strongly
alkaline solution containing basic acetates (_Acetum Plumbi_ or
_Saturni_). When carbon dioxide is passed into this solution the whole
of the added oxide, and even part of the oxide of the normal salt, is
precipitated as a basic carbonate chemically similar, but not quite
equivalent as a pigment, to white lead.
_Analysis._--When mixed with sodium carbonate and heated on charcoal in
the reducing flame lead salts yield malleable globules of metal and a
yellow oxide-ring. Solutions of lead salts (colourless in the absence of
coloured acids) are characterized by their behaviour to hydrochloric
acid, sulphuric acid and potassium chromate. But the most delicate
precipitant for lead is sulphuretted hydrogen, which produces a black
precipitate of lead sulphide, insoluble in cold dilute nitric acid, less
so in cold hydrochloric, and easily decomposed by hot hydrochloric acid
with formation of the characteristic chloride. The atomic weight,
determined by G. P. Baxter and J. H. Wilson (_J. Amer. Chem. Soc._,
1908, 30, p. 187) by analysing the chloride, is 270.190 (O = 16).
_Pharmacology and Therapeutics._
The metal itself is not used in medicine. The chief pharmacopoeial salts
are: (1) _Plumbi oxidum_ (lead oxide), litharge. It is not used
internally, but from it is made _Emplastrum Plumbi_ (diachylon plaster),
which is an oleate of lead and is contained in emplastrum hydrargeri,
emplastrum plumbi iodidi, emplastrum resinae, emplastrum saponis. (2)
_Plumbi Acetas_ (sugar of lead), dose 1 to 5 grains. From this salt are
made the following preparations: (a) _Pilula Plumbi cum Opio_, the
strength of the opium in it being 1 in 8, dose 2 to 4 grains; (b)
_Suppositoria Plumbi composita_, containing lead acetate, opium and oil
of theobroma, there being one grain of opium in each suppository; (c)
_Unguentum Plumbi Acetatis_; (d) _Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Fortior_,
Goulard's extract, strength 24% of the subacetate; this again has a
sub-preparation, the _Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutis_, called
Goulard's water or Goulard's lotion, containing 1 part in 80 of the
strong extract; (e) _Glycerinum Plumbi Subacetatis_, from which is made
the _Unguentum Glycerini Plumbi Subacetatis_. (3) _Plumbi Carbonas_,
white lead, a mixture of the carbonate and the hydrate, a heavy white
powder insoluble in water; it is not used internally, but from it is
made _Unguentum Plumbi Carbonatis_, strength 1 in 10 parts of paraffin
ointment. (4) _Plumbi Iodidium_, a heavy bright yellow powder not used
internally. From it are made (a) _Emplastrum Plumbi Iodidi_, and (b)
_Unguentum Plumbi Iodidi_. The strength of each is 1 in 10.
Applied externally lead salts have practically no action upon the
unbroken skin, but applied to sores, ulcers or any exposed mucous
membranes they coagulate the albumen in the tissues themselves and
contract the small vessels. They are very astringent, haemostatic and
sedative; the strong solution of the subacetate is powerfully caustic
and is rarely used undiluted. Lead salts are applied as lotions in
conditions where a sedative astringent effect is desired, as in weeping
eczema; in many varieties of chronic ulceration; and as an injection for
various inflammatory discharges from the vagina, ear and urethra, the
Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutum being the one employed. The sedative
effect of lead lotion in pruritus is well known. Internally lead has an
astringent action on the mucous membranes, causing a sensation of
dryness; the dilute solution of the subacetate forms an effective gargle
in tonsillitis. The chief use of the preparations of lead, however, is
as an astringent in acute diarrhoea, particularly if ulceration be
present, when it is usefully given in combination with opium in the form
of the Pilula Plumbi cum Opio. It is useful in haemorrhage from a
gastric ulcer or in haemorrhage from the intestine. Lead salts usually
produce constipation, and lead is an active ecbolic. Lead is said to
enter the blood as an albuminate in which form it is deposited in the
tissues. As a rule the soluble salts if taken in sufficient quantities
produce acute poisoning, and the insoluble salts chronic plumbism. The
symptoms of acute poisoning are pain and diarrhoea, owing to the setting
up of an active gastro-enteritis, the foeces being black (due to the
formation of a sulphide of lead), thirst, cramps in the legs and
muscular twitchings, with torpor, collapse, convulsions and coma. The
treatment is the prompt use of emetics, or the stomach should be washed
out, and large doses of sodium or magnesium sulphate given in order to
form an insoluble sulphate. Stimulants, warmth and opium may be
required. For an account of chronic plumbism see LEAD POISONING.
AUTHORITIES.--For the history of lead see W. H. Pulsifer, _Notes for a
History of Lead_ (1888); B. Neumann, _Die Metalle_ (1904); A. Rossing,
_Geschichte der Metalle_ (1901). For the chemistry see H. Roscoe and
C. Schorlemmer, _Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry_, vol. ii. (1897); H.
Moissan, _Traité de chimie minerale_; O. Dammer, _Handbuch der
anorganischen Chemie_. For the metallurgy see J. Percy, _The
Metallurgy of Lead_ (London, 1870); H. F. Collins, _The Metallurgy of
Lead and Silver_ (London, 1899), part i. "Lead"; H. O. Hofmann, _The
Metallurgy of Lead_ (6th ed., New York, 1901); W. R. Ingalls, _Lead
Smelting and Refining_ (1906); A. G. Betts, _Lead Refining by
Electrolysis_ (1908); M. Eissler, _The Metallurgy of Argentiferous
Silver_. _The Mineral Industry_, begun in 1892, annually records the
progress made in lead smelting.
LEADER, BENJAMIN WILLIAMS (1831- ), English painter, the son of E.
Leader Williams, an engineer, received his art education first at the
Worcester School of Design and later in the schools of the Royal
Academy. He began to exhibit at the Academy in 1854, was elected A.R.A.
in 1883 and R.A. in 1898, and became exceedingly popular as a painter of
landscape. His subjects are attractive and skilfully composed. He was
awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1889, and was made a
knight of the Legion of Honour. One of his pictures, "The Valley of the
Llugwy," is in the National Gallery of British Art.
See _The Life and Work of B. W. Leader, R.A._, by Lewis Lusk, _Art
Journal_ Office (1901).
LEADHILLITE, a rare mineral consisting of basic lead sulphato-carbonate,
Pb4SO4(CO3)2(OH)2. Crystals have usually the form of six-sided plates
(fig. 1) or sometimes of acute rhombohedra (fig. 2); they have a perfect
basal cleavage (parallel to P in fig. 1) on which the lustre is strongly
pearly; they are usually white and translucent. The hardness is 2.5 and
the sp. gr. 6.26-6.44. The crystallographic and optical characters point
to the existence of three distinct kinds of leadhillite, which are,
however, identical in external appearance and may even occur intergrown
together in the same crystal: (a) monoclinic with an optic axial angle
of 20°; (b) rhombohedral (fig. 2) and optically uniaxial; (c)
orthorhombic (fig. 1) with an optic axial angle of 72¾°. The first of
these is the more common kind, and the second has long been known under
the name susannite. The fact that the published analyses of leadhillite
vary somewhat from the formula given above suggests that these three
kinds may also be chemically distinct.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Leadhillite is a mineral of secondary origin, occurring with cerussite,
anglesite, &c., in the oxidized portions of lead-bearing lodes; it has
also been found in weathered lead slags left by the Romans. It has been
found most abundantly in the Susanna mine at Leadhills in Scotland
(hence the names leadhillite and susannite). Good crystals have also
been found at Red Gill in Cumberland and at Granby in Missouri. Crystals
from Sardinia have been called maxite. (L. J. S.)
LEADHILLS, a village of Lanarkshire, Scotland, 5¾ m. W.S.W. of Elvanfoot
station on the Caledonian Railway Company's main line from Glasgow to
the south. Pop. (1901) 835. It is the highest village in Scotland, lying
1301 ft. above sea-level, near the source of Glengonner Water, an
affluent of the Clyde. It is served by a light railway. Lead and silver
have been mined here and at Wanlockhead, 1½ m. S.W., for many
centuries--according to some authorities even in Roman days. Gold was
discovered in the reign of James IV., but though it is said then to have
provided employment for 300 persons, its mining has long ceased to be
profitable. The village is neat and well built, and contains a masonic
hall and library, the latter founded by the miners about the middle of
the 18th century. Allan Ramsay, the poet, and William Symington
(1763-1831), one of the earliest adaptors of the steam engine to the
purposes of navigation, were born at Leadhills.
LEAD POISONING, or PLUMBISM, a "disease of occupations," which is itself
the cause of organic disease, particularly of the nervous and urinary
systems. The workpeople affected are principally those engaged in
potteries where lead-glaze is used; but other industries in which health
is similarly affected are file-making, house-painting and glazing,
glass-making, copper-working, coach-making, plumbing and gasfitting,
printing, cutlery, and generally those occupations in which lead is
concerned.
The symptoms of chronic lead poisoning vary within very wide limits,
from colic and constipation up to total blindness, paralysis,
convulsions and death. They are thus described by Dr J. T. Arlidge
(_Diseases of Occupations_):--
The poison finds its way gradually into the whole mass of the
circulating blood, and exerts its effects mainly on the nervous
system, paralysing nerve-force and with it muscular power. Its victims
become of a sallow-waxy hue; the functions of the stomach and bowels
are deranged, appetite fails and painful colic with constipation
supervenes. The loss of power is generally shown first in the fingers,
hands and wrists, and the condition known as "wrist-drop" soon
follows, rendering the victim useless for work. The palsy will extend
to the shoulders, and after no long time to the legs also. Other
organs frequently involved are the kidneys, the tissue of which
becomes permanently damaged; whilst the sight is weakened or even
lost.
Dr M'Aldowie, senior physician to the North Staffordshire Infirmary, has
stated that "in the pottery trade lead is very slow in producing serious
effects compared with certain other industries." In his experience the
average period of working in lead before serious lesions manifest
themselves is 18 years for females and 22½ years for males. But some
individuals fall victims to the worst forms of plumbism after a few
months' or even weeks' exposure to the danger. Young persons are more
readily affected than those of mature age, and women more than men. In
addition, there seems to be an element of personal susceptibility, the
nature of which is not understood. Some persons "work in the lead" for
twenty, forty or fifty years without the slightest ill effects; others
have attacks whenever they are brought into contact with it. Possibly
the difference is due to the general state of health; robust persons
resist the poison successfully, those with impoverished blood and feeble
constitution are mastered by it. Lead enters the body chiefly through
the nose and mouth, being inspired in the form of dust or swallowed with
food eaten with unwashed hands. It is very apt to get under the nails,
and is possibly absorbed in this way through the skin. Personal care and
cleanliness are therefore of the greatest importance. A factory surgeon
of great experience in the English Potteries has stated that seventeen
out of twenty cases of lead-poisoning in the china and earthenware
industry are due to carelessness (_The Times_, 8th October 1898).
The Home Office in England has from time to time made special rules for
workshops and workpeople, with the object of minimizing or preventing
the occurrence of lead-poisoning; and in 1895 notification of cases was
made compulsory. The health of workpeople in the Potteries was the
subject of a special inquiry by a scientific committee in 1893. The
committee stated that "the general truth that the potteries occupation
is one fraught with injury to health and life is beyond dispute," and
that "the ill effects of the trade are referable to two chief
causes--namely, dust and the poison of lead." Of these the inhalation of
clay and flint dust was the more important. It led to bronchitis,
pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumonia, which were the most prevalent
disorders among potters, and responsible for 70% of the mortality. That
from lead the committee did not attempt to estimate, but they found that
plumbism was less prevalent than in past times, and expressed the
opinion "that a large part of the mortality from lead poisoning is
avoidable; although it must always be borne in mind that no arrangements
or rules, with regard to the work itself, can entirely obviate the
effects of the poison to which workers are exposed, because so much
depends upon the individual and the observance of personal care and
cleanliness." They recommended the adoption of certain special rules in
the workshops, with the objects of protecting young persons from the
lead, of minimizing the evils of dust, and of promoting cleanliness,
particularly in regard to meals. Some of these recommendations were
adopted and applied with good results. With regard to the suggestion
that "only leadless glazes should be used on earthenware," they did not
"see any immediate prospect of such glazes becoming universally
applicable to pottery manufacture," and therefore turned their attention
to the question of "fritting" the lead.
It may be explained that lead is used in china and earthenware to give
the external glaze which renders the naturally porous ware watertight.
Both "white" and "red" lead are used. The lead is added to other
ingredients, which have been "fritted" or fused together and then
ground very fine in water, making a thick creamy liquid into which the
articles are dipped. After dipping the glaze dries quickly, and on
being "fired" in the kiln it becomes fused by the heat into the
familiar glassy surface. In the manufacture of ware with enamelled
colours, glaze is mixed with the pigment to form a flux, and such
colours are used either moist or in the form of a dry powder.
"Fritting" the lead means mixing it with the other ingredients of the
glaze beforehand and fusing them all together under great heat into a
kind of rough glass, which is then ground to make the glaze. Treated
in this way the lead combines with the other ingredients and becomes
less soluble, and therefore less dangerous, than when added afterwards
in the raw state. The committee (1893) thought it "reasonable to
suppose that the fritting of lead might ultimately be found
universally practicable," but declared that though fritting "no doubt
diminishes the danger of lead-poisoning," they "could not regard all
fritts as equally innocuous."
In the annual report of the chief inspector of factories for 1897, it
was stated that there had been "material improvement in dust conditions"
in the potting industry, but "of lead-poisoning unfortunately the same
could not be said, the number of grave cases reported, and particularly
cases of blindness, having ominously increased of late." This appears to
have been largely due to the erroneous inclusion among potting processes
of "litho-transfer making," a colour industry in which girls are
employed. New special rules were imposed in 1899 prohibiting the
employment of persons under fifteen in the dangerous processes, ordering
a monthly examination of all women and young persons working in lead by
the certifying surgeon, with power to suspend those showing symptoms of
poisoning, and providing for the more effectual removal of dust and the
better enforcement of cleanliness. At the same time a scientific inquiry
was ordered into the practicability of dispensing with lead in glazes or
of substituting fritted compounds for the raw carbonate. The scientific
experts reported in 1899, recommending that the use of raw lead should
be absolutely prohibited, and expressing the opinion that the greater
amount of earthenware could be successfully glazed without any lead.
These views were in advance of the opinions held by practical potters,
and met with a good deal of opposition. By certain manufacturers
considerable progress had been made in diminishing the use of raw lead
and towards the discovery of satisfactory leadless glazes; but it is a
long step from individual experiments to the wholesale compulsory
revolution of the processes of manufacture in so large and varied an
industry, and in the face of foreign competitors hampered by no such
regulations. The materials used by each manufacturer have been arrived
at by a long process of experience, and they are such as to suit the
particular goods he supplies for his particular market. It is therefore
difficult to apply a uniform rule without jeopardizing the prosperity of
the industry, which supports a population of 250,000 in the Potteries
alone. However, the bulk of the manufacturers agreed to give up the use
of raw lead, and to fritt all their glazes in future, time being allowed
to effect the change of process; but they declined to be bound to any
particular composition of glaze for the reasons indicated.
In 1901 the Home Office brought forward a new set of special rules. Most
of these were framed to strengthen the provisions for securing
cleanliness, removing dust, &c., and were accepted with a few
modifications. But the question of making even more stringent
regulations, even to the extent of making the use of lead-glaze illegal
altogether, was still agitated; and in 1906 the Home Office again
appointed an expert committee to reinvestigate the subject. They
reported in 1910, and made various recommendations in detail for
strengthening the existing regulations; but while encouraging the use of
leadless glaze in certain sorts of common ceramic ware, they pointed out
that, without the use of lead, certain other sorts could either not be
made at all or only at a cost or sacrifice of quality which would entail
the loss of important markets.
In 1908 Dr Collis made an inquiry into the increase of plumbism in
connexion with the smelting of metals, and he considered the increase
in the cases of poisoning reported to be due to the third schedule of
the Workmen's Compensation Act, (1) by causing the prevalence of
pre-existing plumbism to come to light, (2) by the tendency this
fostered to replace men suspected of lead impregnation by new hands
amongst whom the incidence is necessarily greater.
LEADVILLE, a city and the county seat of Lake county, Colorado, U.S.A.,
one of the highest (mean elevation c. 10,150 ft.) and most celebrated
mining "camps" of the world. Pop. (1900) 12,455, of whom 3802 were
foreign-born; (1910 census) 7508. It is served by the Denver & Rio
Grande, the Colorado & Southern and the Colorado Midland railways. It
lies amid towering mountains on a terrace of the western flank of the
Mosquito Range at the head of the valley of the Arkansas river, where
the river cuts the valley between the Mosquito and the Sawatch
(Saguache) ranges. Among the peaks in the immediate environs are Mt.
Massive (14,424 ft., the highest in the state) and Elbert Peak (14,421
ft.). There is a United States fish hatchery at the foot of Mt. Massive.
In the spring of 1860 placer gold was discovered in California Gulch,
and by July 1860 Oro City had probably 10,000 inhabitants. In five years
the total yield was more than $5,000,000; then it diminished, and Oro
City shrank to a few hundred inhabitants. This settlement was within the
present limits of Leadville. In 1876 the output of the mines was about
$20,000. During sixteen years "heavy sands" and great boulders that
obstructed the placer fields had been moved thoughtlessly to one side.
These boulders were from enormous lead carbonate deposits extremely rich
in silver. The discovery of these deposits was made on the hills at the
edge of Leadville. The first building was erected in June 1877; in
December there were several hundred miners, in January the town was
organized and named; at the end of 1879 there were, it is said, 35,000
inhabitants. Leadville was already a chartered city, with the usual
organization and all public facilities. In 1880 it was reached by the
Denver & Rio Grande railway. In early years Leadville was one of the
most turbulent, picturesque and in all ways extraordinary, of the mining
camps of the West. The value of the output from 1879 to 1889 totalled
$147,834,186, including one-fifth of the silver production and a third
of the lead consumption of the country. The decline in the price of
silver, culminating with the closing of the India mints and the repeal
of the Sherman Law in 1893, threatened Leadville's future. But the
source of the gold of the old placers was found in 1892. From that year
to 1899 the gold product rose from $262,692 to $2,183,332. From 1879 to
1900 the camp yielded $250,000,000 (as compared with $48,000,000 of gold
and silver in five years from the Comstock, Nevada, lode; and
$60,000,000 and 225,000 tons of lead, in fourteen years, from the
Eureka, Nevada, mines). Before 1898 the production of zinc was
unimportant, but in 1906 it was more valuable than that of silver and
gold combined. This increased output is a result of the establishment of
concentrating mills, in which the zinc content is raised from 18 or 20%
in the raw ores to 25 or 45% in the concentrates. In 1904, per ton of
Lake county ore, zinc was valued at $6.93, silver at $4.16, lead at
$3.85, gold at $1.77 and copper at $.66. The copper mined at Leadville
amounted to about one-third the total mined in the state in 1906. Iron
and manganese have been produced here, and in 1906 Leadville was the
only place in the United States known to have produced bismuth. There
were two famous labour strikes in the "diggings" in 1879 and 1896. The
latter attracted national attention; it lasted from the 19th of June
1896 to the 9th of March 1897, when the miners, being practically
starved out, declared the strike off. There had been a riot on the 21st
of September 1896 and militia guarded the mines for months afterwards.
In January 1897 the mines on Carbonate Hill were flooded after the
removal of their pumps. This strike closed many mines, which were not
opened for several years. Leadville stocks are never on the exchange,
and "flotation" and "promotion" have been almost unknown.
The ores of the Leadville District occur in a blue limestone formation
overlaid by porphyry, and are in the form of heavy sulphides,
containing copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc; oxides containing
iron, manganese and small amounts of silver and lead; and siliceous
ores, containing much silver and a little lead and gold. The best
grade of ores usually consists of a mixture of sulphides, with some
native gold. Nowhere have more wonderful advances in mining been
apparent--in the size and character of furnaces and pumps; the
development of local smelter supplies; the fall in the cost of coal,
of explosives and other mine supplies; the development of railways and
diminution of freight expenses; and the general improvement of
economic and scientific methods--than at Leadville since 1880. The
increase of output more than doubled from 1890 to 1900, and many ores
once far too low in grade for working now yield sure profits. The
Leadville smelters in 1900 had a capacity of 35,000 tons monthly;
about as much more local ore being treated at Denver, Pueblo and other
places.
See S. F. Emmons, _Geology and Mining Industry of Leadville,
Colorado_, monograph United States Geological Survey, vol. 12 (1886),
and with J. D. Irving, _The Downtown District of Leadville, Colorado_,
Bulletin 320, United States Geological Survey (1907), particularly for
the discussion of the origin of the ores of the region.
LEAF (O. Eng. _léaf_, cf. Dutch _loof_, Ger. _Laub_, Swed. _löf_, &c.;
possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. [Greek: lepein], to
peel, strip), the name given in popular language to all the green
expanded organs borne upon an axis, and so applied to similar objects,
such as a thin sheet of metal, a hinged flap of a table, the page of a
book, &c. Investigation has shown that many other parts of a plant which
externally appear very different from ordinary leaves are, in their
essential particulars, very similar to them, and are in fact their
morphological equivalents. Such are the scales of a bulb, and the
various parts of the flower, and assuming that the structure ordinarily
termed a leaf is the typical form, these other structures were
designated changed or metamorphosed leaves, a somewhat misleading
interpretation. All structures morphologically equivalent with the leaf
are now included under the general term _phyllome_ (leaf-structure).
[Illustration: From Strasburger's Lehrbuch der Botanik by permission of
Gustav Fischer.
FIG. 1.--Apex of a shoot showing origin of leaves: f, leaf rudiment; g,
rudiment of an axillary bud.]
Leaves are produced as lateral outgrowths of the stem in definite
succession below the apex. This character, common to all leaves,
distinguishes them from other organs. In the higher plants we can easily
recognize the distinction between stem and leaf. Amongst the lower
plants, however, it is found that a demarcation into stem and leaf is
impossible, but that there is a structure which partakes of the
characters of both--such is a _thallus_. The leaves always arise from
the outer portion of the primary meristem of the plant, and the tissues
of the leaf are continuous with those of the stem. Every leaf originates
as a simple cellular papilla (fig. 1), which consists of a development
from the cortical layers covered by epidermis; and as growth proceeds,
the fibro-vascular bundles of the stem are continued outwards, and
finally expand and terminate in the leaf. The increase in length of the
leaf by growth at the apex is usually of a limited nature. In some
ferns, however, there seems to be a provision for indefinite terminal
growth, while in others this growth is periodically interrupted. It not
unfrequently happens, especially amongst Monocotyledons, that after
growth at the apex has ceased, it is continued at the base of the leaf,
and in this way the length may be much increased. Amongst Dicotyledons
this is very rare. In all cases the dimensions of the leaf are enlarged
by interstitial growth of its parts.
Structure of leaves.
The simplest leaf is found in some mosses, where it consists of a single
layer of cells. The typical foliage leaf consists of several layers, and
amongst vascular plants is distinguishable into an outer layer
(_epidermis_) and a central tissue (_parenchyma_) with fibro-vascular
bundles distributed through it.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Section of a Melon leaf, perpendicular to the
surface.
es, Upper epidermis.
ei, Lower epidermis.
p, Hairs.
st, Stomata.
ps, Upper (palisade) layers of parenchymatous cells.
pi, Lower (spongy) layers of parenchymatous cells.
m, Air-spaces connected with stomata.
l, Air-spaces between the loose cells in the spongy parenchyma.
fv, Bundles of fibro-vascular tissue.]
The _epidermis_ (fig. 2, es, ei), composed of cells more or less
compressed, has usually a different structure and aspect on the two
surfaces of the leaf. The cells of the epidermis are very closely
united laterally and contain no green colouring matter (chlorophyll)
except in the pair of cells--guard-cells--which bound the stomata. The
outer wall, especially of the upper epidermis, has a tough outer layer
or cuticle which renders it impervious to water. The epidermis is
continuous except where stomata or spaces bounded by specialized cells
communicate with intercellular spaces in the interior of the leaf. It
is chiefly on the epidermis of the lower surface (fig. 2, ei) that
stomata, st, are produced, and it is there also that hairs, p, usually
occur. The lower epidermis is often of a dull or pale-green colour,
soft and easily detached. The upper epidermis is frequently smooth and
shining, and sometimes becomes very hard and dense. Many tropical
plants present on the upper surface of their leaves several layers of
compressed cells beneath the epidermis which serve for storage of
water and are known as aqueous tissue. In leaves which float upon the
surface of the water, as those of the water-lily, the upper epidermis
alone possesses stomata.
The _parenchyma_ of the leaf is the cellular tissue enclosed within
the epidermis and surrounding the vessels (fig. 2, ps, pi). It is
known as _mesophyll_, and is formed of two distinct series of cells,
each containing the green chlorophyll-granules, but differing in form
and arrangement. Below the epidermis of the upper side of the leaf
there are one or two layers of cells, elongated at right angles to the
leaf surface (fig. 2, ps), and applied so closely to each other as to
leave only small intercellular spaces, except where stomata happen to
be present (fig. 2, m); they form the palisade tissue. On the other
side of the leaf the cells are irregular, often branched, and are
arranged more or less horizontally (fig. 2, pi), leaving air-spaces
between them, l, which communicate with stomata; on this account the
tissue has received the name of spongy. In leaves having a very firm
texture, as those of Coniferae and Cycadaceae, the cells of the
parenchyma immediately beneath the epidermis are very much thickened
and elongated in a direction parallel to the surface of the leaf, so
as to be fibre-like. These constitute a hypodermal layer, beneath
which the chlorophyll cells of the parenchyma are densely packed
together, and are elongated in a direction vertical to the surface of
the leaf, forming the palisade tissue. The form and arrangement of the
cells, however, depend much on the nature of the plant, and its
exposure to light and air. Sometimes the arrangement of the cells on
both sides of the leaf is similar, as occurs in leaves which have
their edges presented to the sky. In very succulent plants the cells
form a compact mass, and those in the centre are often colourless. In
some cases the cellular tissue is deficient at certain points, giving
rise to distinct holes in the leaf, as in _Monstera Adansonii_. The
fibro-vascular system in the leaf constitutes the _venation_. The
fibro-vascular bundles from the stem bend out into the leaf, and are
there arranged in a definite manner. In _skeleton leaves_, or leaves
in which the parenchyma is removed, this arrangement is well seen. In
some leaves, as in the barberry, the veins are hardened, producing
spines without any parenchyma. The hardening of the extremities of the
fibro-vascular tissue is the cause of the spiny margin of many leaves,
such as the holly, of the sharp-pointed leaves of madder, and of
mucronate leaves, or those having a blunt end with a hard projection
in the centre.
The form and arrangement of the parts of a typical foliage leaf are
intimately associated with the part played by the leaf in the life of
the plant. The flat surface is spread to allow the maximum amount of
sunlight to fall upon it, as it is by the absorption of energy from the
sun's rays by means of the chlorophyll contained in the cells of the
leaf that the building up of plant food is rendered possible; this
process is known as photo-synthesis; the first stage is the combination
of carbon dioxide, absorbed from the air taken in through the stomata
into the living cells of the leaf, with water which is brought into the
leaf by the wood-vessels. The wood-vessels form part of the
fibro-vascular bundles or veins of the leaf and are continuous
throughout the leaf-stalk and stem with the root by which water is
absorbed from the soil. The palisade layers of the mesophyll contain the
larger number of chlorophyll grains (or corpuscles) while the absorption
of carbon dioxide is carried on chiefly through the lower epidermis
which is generally much richer in stomata. The water taken up by the
root from the soil contains nitrogenous and mineral salts which combine
with the first product of photo-synthesis--a carbohydrate--to form more
complicated nitrogen-containing food substances of a proteid nature;
these are then distributed by other elements of the vascular bundles
(the _phloem_) through the leaf to the stem and so throughout the plant
to wherever growth or development is going on. A large proportion of the
water which ascends to the leaf acts merely as a carrier for the other
raw food materials and is got rid of from the leaf in the form of water
vapour through the stomata--this process is known as _transpiration_.
Hence the extended surface of the leaf exposing a large area to light
and air is eminently adapted for the carrying out of the process of
photo-synthesis and transpiration. The arrangement of the leaves on the
stem and branches (see _Phyllotaxy_, below) is such as to prevent the
upper leaves shading the lower, and the shape of the leaf serves towards
the same end--the disposition of leaves on a branch or stem is often
seen to form a "mosaic," each leaf fitting into the space between
neighbouring leaves and the branch on which they are borne without
overlapping.
Submerged leaves, or leaves which are developed under water, differ in
structure from aerial leaves. They have usually no fibro-vascular
system, but consist of a congeries of cells, which sometimes become
elongated and compressed so as to resemble veins. They have a layer of
compact cells on their surface, but no true epidermis, and no stomata.
Their internal structure consists of cells, disposed irregularly, and
sometimes leaving spaces which are filled with air for the purpose of
floating the leaf. When exposed to the air these leaves easily part with
their moisture, and become shrivelled and dry. In some cases there is
only a network of filament-like cells, the spaces between which are not
filled with parenchyma, giving a skeleton appearance to the leaf, as in
_Ouvirandra fenestralis_ (Lattice plant).
A leaf, whether aerial or submerged, generally consists of a flat
expanded portion, called the _blade_, or _lamina_, of a narrower portion
called the _petiole_ or _stalk_, and sometimes of a portion at the base
of the petiole, which forms a _sheath_ or _vagina_ (fig. 5, s), or is
developed in the form of outgrowths, called _stipules_ (fig. 24, s).
All these portions are not always present. The sheathing or stipulary
portion is frequently wanting. When a leaf has a distinct stalk it is
_petiolate_; when it has none, it is _sessile_, and if in this case it
embraces the stem it is said to be _amplexicaul_. The part of the leaf
next the petiole or the axis is the _base_, while the opposite extremity
is the _apex_. The leaf is usually flattened and expanded horizontally,
i.e. at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the shoot, so that the
upper face is directed towards the heavens, and the lower towards the
earth. In some cases leaves, as in Iris, or leaf-like petioles, as in
Australian acacias and eucalypti, have their plane of expansion parallel
to the axis of the shoot, there is then no distinction into an upper and
a lower face, but the two sides are developed alike; or the leaf may
have a cylindrical or polyhedral form, as in mesembryanthemum. The upper
angle formed between the leaf and the stem is called its _axil_; it is
there that leaf-buds are normally developed. The leaf is sometimes
articulated with the stem, and when it falls off a _scar_ remains; at
other times it is continuous with it, and then decays, while still
attached to the axis. In their early state all leaves are continuous
with the stem, and it is only in their after growth that articulations
are formed. When leaves fall off annually they are called _deciduous_;
when they remain for two or more years they are _persistent_, and the
plant is _evergreen_. The laminar portion of a leaf is occasionally
articulated with the petiole, as in the orange, and a joint at times
exists between the vaginal or stipulary portion and the petiole.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Leaf of Elm (_Ulmus_). Reticulated venation;
primary veins going to the margin, which is serrated. Leaf unequal at
the base.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Multicostate leaf of Castor-oil plant (_Ricinus
communis_). It is palmately-cleft, and exhibits seven lobes at the
margin. The petiole is inserted a little above the base, and hence the
leaf is called peltate or shield-like.]
Venation.
The arrangement of the fibro-vascular system in the lamina constitutes
the _venation_ or _nervation_. In an ordinary leaf, as that of the
elm, there is observed a large central vein running from the base to
the apex of the leaf, this is the _midrib_ (fig. 3); it gives off
veins laterally (_primary veins_). A leaf with only a single midrib is
said to be _unicostate_ and the venation is described as pinnate or
feather-veined. In some cases, as sycamore or castor oil (fig. 4), in
place of there being only a single midrib there are several large
veins (_ribs_) of nearly equal size, which diverge from the point
where the blade joins the petiole or stem, giving off lateral veins.
The leaf in this case is _multicostate_ and the venation palmate. The
primary veins give off secondary veins, and these in their turn give
off tertiary veins, and so on until a complete network of vessels is
produced, and those veins usually project on the under surface of the
leaf. To a distribution of veins such as this the name of
_reticulated_ or _netted_ venation has been applied. In the leaves of
some plants there exists a midrib with large veins running nearly
parallel to it from the base to the apex of the lamina, as in grasses
(fig. 5); or with veins diverging from the base of the lamina in more
or less parallel lines, as in fan palms (fig. 6), or with veins
coming off from it throughout its whole course, and running parallel
to each other in a straight or curved direction towards the margin of
the leaf, as in plantain and banana. In these cases the veins are
often united by cross veinlets, which do not, however, form an angular
network. Such leaves are said to be _parallel-veined_. The leaves of
Monocotyledons have generally this kind of venation, while reticulated
venation most usually occurs amongst Dicotyledons. Some plants, which
in most points of their structure are monocotyledonous, yet have
reticulated venation; as in _Smilax_ and _Dioscorea_. In vascular
acotyledonous plants there is frequently a tendency to fork exhibited
by the fibro-vascular bundles in the leaf; and when this is the case
we have _fork-veined_ leaves. This is well seen in many ferns. The
distribution of the system of vessels in the leaf is usually easily
traced, but in the case of succulent plants, as _Hoya_, agave,
stonecrop and mesembryanthemum, the veins are obscure. The function of
the veins which consist of vessels and fibres is to form a rigid
framework for the leaf and to conduct liquids.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Stem of a Grass (_Poa_) with leaf. The sheaths
ending in a process l, called a ligule; the blade of the leaf, f.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Leaf of a Fan Palm (_Chamaerops_), showing the
veins running from the base to the margin, and not forming an angular
network.]
In all plants, except Thallophytes, leaves are present at some period of
their existence. In _Cuscuta_ (Dodder) (q.v.), however, we have an
exception. The forms assumed by leaves vary much, not only in different
plants, but in the same plant. It is only amongst the lower classes of
plants--Mosses, Characeae, &c.--that all the leaves on a plant are
similar. As we pass up the scale of plant life we find them becoming
more and more variable. The structures in ordinary language designated
as leaves are considered so _par excellence_, and they are frequently
spoken of as _foliage leaves_. In relation to their production on the
stem we may observe that when they are small they are always produced in
great number, and as they increase in size their number diminishes
correspondingly. The cellular process from the axis which develops into
a leaf is simple and undivided; it rarely remains so, but in progress of
growth becomes segmented in various ways, either longitudinally or
laterally, or in both ways. By longitudinal segmentation we have a leaf
formed consisting of sheath, stalk and blade; or one or other of these
may be absent, and thus stalked, sessile, sheathing, &c., leaves are
produced. Lateral segmentation affects the lamina, producing
indentations, lobings or fissuring of its margins. In this way two
marked forms of leaf are produced--(1) _Simple_ form, in which the
segmentation, however deeply it extends into the lamina, does not
separate portions of the lamina which become articulated with the midrib
or petiole; and (2) _Compound_ form, where portions of the lamina are
separated as detached _leaflets_, which become articulated with the
midrib or petiole. In both simple and compound leaves, according to the
amount of segmentation and the mode of development of the parenchyma and
direction of the fibro-vascular bundles, many forms are produced.
Simple leaves.
_Simple Leaves._--When the parenchyma is developed symmetrically on
each side of the midrib or stalk, the leaf is _equal_; if otherwise,
the leaf is _unequal_ or _oblique_ (fig. 3). If the margins are even
and present no divisions, the leaf is _entire_ (fig. 7); if there are
slight projections which are more or less pointed, the leaf is
_dentate_ or toothed; when the projections lie regularly over each
other, like the teeth of a saw, the leaf is _serrate_ (fig. 3); when
they are rounded the leaf is _crenate_. If the divisions extend more
deeply into the lamina than the margin, the leaf receives different
names according to the nature of the segments; thus, when the
divisions extend about half-way down (fig. 8), it is _cleft_; when the
divisions extend nearly to the base or to the midrib the leaf is
_partite_.
If these divisions take place in a simple _feather-veined_ leaf it
becomes either _pinnatifid_ (fig. 9), when the segments extend to
about the middle, or _pinnatipartite_, when the divisions extend
nearly to the midrib. These primary divisions may be again subdivided
in a similar manner, and thus a feather-veined leaf will become
_bipinnatifid_ or _bipinnatipartite_; still further subdivisions give
origin to _tripinnatifid_ and _laciniated_ leaves. The same kinds of
divisions taking place in a simple leaf with palmate or _radiating_
venation, give origin to _lobed_, _cleft_ and _partite_ forms. The
name _palmate_ or _palmatifid_ (fig. 4) is the general term applied to
leaves with radiating venation, in which there are several lobes
united by a broad expansion of parenchyma, like the palm of the hand,
as in the sycamore, castor-oil plant, &c. The divisions of leaves with
radiating venation may extend to near the base of the leaf, and the
names _bipartite_, _tripartite_, _quinquepartite_, &c., are given
according as the partitions are two, three, five or more. The term
_dissected_ is applied to leaves with radiating venation, having
numerous narrow divisions, as in _Geranium dissectum_.
[Illustration:
FIG. 7.--Ovate acute leaf of _Coriara myrtifolia_. Besides the
midrib there are two intra-marginal ribs which converge to the apex.
The leaf is therefore tricostate.
FIG. 8.--Runcinate leaf of Dandelion. It is a pinnatifid leaf, with
the divisions pointing towards the petiole and a large triangular
apex.
FIG. 9.--Pinnatifid leaf of _Valeriana dioica_.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Five-partite leaf of Aconite.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Pedate leaf of Stinking Hellebore
(_Helleborus foetidus_). The venation is radiating. It is a
palmately-partite leaf, in which the lateral lobes are deeply divided.
When the leaf hangs down it resembles the foot of a bird, and hence
the name.]
When in a radiating leaf there are three primary partitions, and the
two lateral lobes are again cleft, as in hellebore (fig. 11), the leaf
is called _pedate_ or _pedatifid_, from a fancied resemblance to the
claw of a bird. In all the instances already alluded to the leaves
have been considered as flat expansions, in which the ribs or veins
spread out on the same plane with the stalk. In some cases, however,
the veins spread at right angles to the stalk, forming a _peltate_
leaf as in Indian cress (fig. 12).
The form of the leaf shows a very great variety ranging from the
narrow _linear_ form with parallel sides, as in grasses or the
needle-like leaves of pines and firs to more or less rounded or
_orbicular_--descriptions of these will be found in works on
descriptive botany--a few examples are illustrated here (figs. 7, 13,
14, 15). The apex also varies considerably, being rounded, or
_obtuse_, sharp or _acute_ (fig. 7), notched (fig. 15), &c. Similarly
the shape of the base may vary, when rounded lobes are formed, as in
dog-violet, the leaf is cordate or heart-shaped; or kidney-shaped or
_reniform_ (fig. 16), when the apex is rounded as in ground ivy. When
the lobes are prolonged downwards and are acute, the leaf is
_sagittate_ (fig. 17); when they proceed at right angles, as in _Rumex
Acetosella_, the leaf is _hastate_ or halbert-shaped. When a simple
leaf is divided at the base into two leaf-like appendages, it is
called _auriculate_. When the development of parenchyma is such that
it more than fills up the spaces between the veins, the margins become
_wavy_, _crisp_ or _undulated_, as in _Rumex crispus_ and _Rheum
undulatum_. By cultivation the cellular tissue is often much
increased, giving rise to the _curled_ leaves of greens, savoys,
cresses, lettuce, &c.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Peltate leaves of Indian Cress (_Tropaeolum
majus_).]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Lanceolate leaf of a species of Senna.]
Compound leaves.
Compound leaves are those in which the divisions extend to the midrib
or petiole, and the separated portions become each articulated with
it, and receive the name of _leaflets_. The midrib, or petiole, has
thus the appearance of a branch with separate leaves attached to it,
but it is considered properly as one leaf, because in its earliest
state it arises from the axis as a single piece, and its subsequent
divisions in the form of leaflets are all in one plane. The leaflets
are either sessile (fig. 18) or have stalks, called _petiolules_ (fig.
19). Compound leaves are pinnate (fig. 19) or palmate (fig. 18)
according to the arrangement of leaflets. When a pinnate leaf ends in
a pair of pinnae it is _equally_ or _abruptly pinnate_ (paripinnate);
when there is a single terminal leaflet (fig. 19), the leaf is
_unequally pinnate_ (imparipinnate); when the leaflets or pinnae are
placed alternately on either side of the midrib, and not directly
opposite to each other, the leaf is _alternately pinnate_; and when
the pinnae are of different sizes, the leaf is _interruptedly
pinnate_. When the division is carried into the second degree, and the
pinnae of a compound leaf are themselves pinnately compound, a
bipinnate leaf is formed.
[Illustration:
FIG. 14.--Oblong leaf of a species of Senna.
FIG. 15.--Emarginate leaf of a species of Senna. The leaf in its
contour is somewhat obovate, or inversely egg-shaped, and its base
is oblique.
FIG. 16.--Reniform leaf of _Nepeta Glechoma_, margin crenate.
FIG. 17.--Sagittate leaf of Convolvulus.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Palmately compound leaf of the Horse-chestnut
(_Aesculus Hippocastanum_).]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Imparipinnate (unequal pinnate) leaf of
Robinia. There are nine pairs of shortly-stalked leaflets (foliola,
pinnae), and an odd one at the extremity. At the base of the leaf the
spiny stipules are seen.]
Petiole.
The _petiole_ or leaf-stalk is the part which unites the limb or blade
of the leaf to the stem. It is absent in _sessile_ leaves, and this is
also frequently the case when a sheath is present, as in grasses (fig.
5). It consists of the fibro-vascular bundles with a varying amount of
cellular tissue. When the vascular bundles reach the base of the
lamina they separate and spread out in various ways, as already
described under venation. The lower part of the petiole is often
swollen (fig. 20, _p_), forming the _pulvinus_, formed of cellular
tissue, the cells of which exhibit the phenomenon of irritability. In
_Mimosa pudica_ (fig. 20) a sensitiveness is located in the pulvinus
which upon irritation induces a depression of the whole bipinnate
leaf, a similar property exists in the pulvini at the base of the
leaflets which fold upwards. The petiole varies in length, being
usually shorter than the lamina, but sometimes much longer. In some
palms it is 15 or 20 ft. long, and is so firm as to be used for poles
or walking-sticks. In general, the petiole is more or less rounded in
its form, the upper surface being flattened or grooved. Sometimes it
is compressed laterally, as in the aspen, and to this peculiarity the
trembling of the leaves of this tree is due. In aquatic plants the
leaf-stalk is sometimes distended with air, as in _Pontederia_ and
_Trapa_, so as to float the leaf. At other times it is _winged_, and
is either leafy, as in the orange (fig. 21, p), lemon and _Dionaea_,
or pitcher-like, as in _Sarracenia_ (fig. 22). In some Australian
acacias, and in some species of _Oxalis_ and _Bupleurum_, the petiole
is flattened in a vertical direction, the vascular bundles separating
immediately after quitting the stem and running nearly parallel from
base to apex. This kind of petiole (fig. 23, p) has been called a
_phyllode_. In these plants the laminae or blades of the leaves are
pinnate or bipinnate, and are produced at the extremities of the
phyllodes in a horizontal direction; but in many instances they are
not developed, and the phyllode serves the purpose of a leaf. These
phyllodes, by their vertical position and their peculiar form, give a
remarkable aspect to vegetation. On the same acacia there occur leaves
with the petiole and lamina perfect; others having the petiole
slightly expanded or winged, and the lamina imperfectly developed; and
others in which there is no lamina, and the petiole becomes large and
broad. Some petioles are long, slender and sensitive to contact, and
function as tendrils by means of which the plant climbs; as in the
nasturtiums (_Tropaeolum_), clematis and others; and in compound
leaves the midrib and some of the leaflets may similarly be
transformed into tendrils, as in the pea and vetch.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Branch and leaves of the Sensitive plant
(_Mimosa pudica_), showing the petiole in its erect state, a, and in
its depressed state, b; also the leaflets closed, c, and the leaflets
expanded, d. Irritability resides in the pulvinus, p.]
Leaf base.
The leaf base is often developed as a _sheath_ (_vagina_), which
embraces the whole or part of the circumference of the stem (fig. 5).
This sheath is comparatively rare in dicotyledons, but is seen in
umbelliferous plants. It is much more common amongst monocotyledons.
In sedges the sheath forms a complete investment of the stem, whilst
in grasses it is split on one side. In the latter plants there is also
a membranous outgrowth, the _ligule_, at right angles to the median
plane of the leaf from the point where the sheath passes into the
lamina, there being no petiole (fig. 5, _l_).
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Leaf of Orange (_Citrus Aurantium_), showing
a winged leafy petiole p, which is articulated to the lamina l.]
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Pitcher (_ascidium_) of a species of
Side-saddle plant (_Sarracenia purpurea_). The pitcher is formed from
the petiole, which is prolonged.]
In leaves in which no sheath is produced we not infrequently find
small foliar organs, _stipules_, at the base of the petiole (fig. 24,
s). The stipules are generally two in number, and they are important
as supplying characters in certain natural orders. Thus they occur in
the pea and bean family, in rosaceous plants and the family Rubiaceae.
They are not common in dicotyledons with opposite leaves. Plants
having stipules are called _stipulate_; those having none are
_exstipulate_. Stipules may be large or small, entire or divided,
deciduous or persistent. They are not usually of the same form as the
ordinary foliage leaves of the plant, from which they are
distinguished by their lateral position at the base of the petiole. In
the pansy (fig. 24) the true leaves are stalked and crenate, while the
stipules s are large, sessile and pinnatifid. In _Lathyrus Aphaca_ and
some other plants the true pinnate leaves are abortive, the petiole
forms a tendril, and the stipules alone are developed, performing the
office of leaves. When stipulate leaves are opposite to each other, at
the same height on the stem, it occasionally happens that the stipules
on the two sides unite wholly or partially, so as to form an
_interpetiolary_ or _interfoliar_ stipule, as in members of the family
Rubiaceae. In the case of alternate leaves, the stipules at the base
of each leaf are sometimes united to the petiole and to each other, so
as to form an _adnate_, _adherent_ or _petiolary_ stipule, as in the
rose, or an _axillary_ stipule, as in _Houttuynia cordata_. In other
instances the stipules unite together on the side of the stem opposite
the leaf forming an _ocrea_, as in the dock family (fig. 25).
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Leaf of an Acacia (_Acacia heterophylla_),
showing a flattened leaf-like petiole p, called a phyllode, with
straight venation, and a bipinnate lamina.]
In the development of the leaf the stipules frequently play a most
important part. They begin to be formed after the origin of the
leaves, but grow much more rapidly than the leaves, and in this way
they arch over the young leaves and form protective chambers wherein
the parts of the leaf may develop. In the figs, magnolia and pondweeds
they are very large and completely envelop the young leaf-bud. The
stipules are sometimes so minute as to be scarcely distinguishable
without the aid of a lens, and so fugacious as to be visible only in
the very young state of the leaf. They may assume a hard and spiny
character, as in _Robinia Pseudacacia_ (fig. 19), or may be cirrose,
as in _Smilax_, where each stipule is represented by a tendril. At the
base of the leaflets of a compound leaf, small stipules (_stipels_)
are occasionally produced.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Leaf of Pansy. s, Stipules.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Leaf of Polygonum, with part of stem. o,
Ocrea.]
Modifications.
Variations in the structure and forms of leaves and leafstalks are
produced by the increased development of cellular tissue, by the
abortion or degeneration of parts, by the multiplication or repetition
of parts and by adhesion. When cellular tissue is developed to a great
extent, leaves become succulent and occasionally assume a crisp or
curled appearance. Such changes take place naturally, but they are
often increased by the art of the gardener, and the object of many
horticultural operations is to increase the bulk and succulence of
leaves. It is in this way that cabbages and savoys are rendered more
delicate and nutritious. By a deficiency in development of parenchyma
and an increase in the mechanical tissue, leaves are liable to become
hardened and spinescent. The leaves of barberry and of some species of
_Astragalus_, and the stipules of the false acacia (_Robinia_) are
spiny. To the same cause is due the spiny margin of the holly-leaf.
When two lobes at the base of a leaf are prolonged beyond the stem and
unite (fig. 26), the leaf is _perfoliate_, the stem appearing to pass
through it, as in _Bupleurum perfoliatum_ and _Chlora perfoliata_;
when two leaves unite by their bases they become _connate_ (fig. 27),
as in _Lonicera Caprifolium_; and when leaves adhere to the stem,
forming a sort of winged or leafy appendage, they are _decurrent_, as
in thistles. The formation of peltate leaves has been traced to the
union of the lobes of a cleft leaf. In the leaf of the _Victoria
regia_ the transformation may be traced during germination. The first
leaves produced by the young plant are linear, the second are
sagittate and hastate, the third are rounded-cordate and the next are
orbicular. The cleft indicating the union of the lobes remains in the
large leaves. The parts of the leaf are frequently transformed into
_tendrils_, with the view of enabling the plants to twine round others
for support. In Leguminous plants (the pea tribe) the pinnae are
frequently modified to form tendrils, as in _Lathyrus Aphaca_, in
which the stipules perform the function of true leaves. In
_Flagellaria indica_, _Gloriosa superba_ and others, the midrib of the
leaf ends in a tendril. In _Smilax_ there are two stipulary tendrils.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Perfoliate leaf of a species of Hare's-ear
(_Bupleurum rotundifolium_). The two lobes at the base of the leaf are
united, so that the stalk appears to come through the leaf.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Connate leaves of a species of Honeysuckle
(_Lonicera Caprifolium_). Two leaves are united by their bases.]
The vascular bundles and cellular tissue are sometimes developed in
such a way as to form a circle, with a hollow in the centre, and thus
give rise to what are called _fistular_ or hollow leaves, as in the
onion, and to _ascidia_ or _pitchers_. Pitchers are formed either by
petioles or by laminae, and they are composed of one or more leaves.
In _Sarracenia_ (fig. 22) and _Heliamphora_ the pitcher is composed of
the petiole of the leaf. In the pitcher plant, _Nepenthes_, the
pitcher is a modification of the lamina, the petiole often plays the
part of a tendril, while the leaf base is flat and leaf-like (fig.
28).
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Pitcher of a species of pitcher-plant
(_Nepenthes distillatoria_).]
In _Utricularia_ bladder-like sacs are formed by a modification of
leaflets on the submerged leaves.
In some cases the leaves are reduced to mere _scales_--_cataphyllary_
leaves; they are produced abundantly upon underground shoots. In
parasites (_Lathraea_, _Orobanche_) and in plants growing on decaying
vegetable matter (_saprophytes_), in which no chlorophyll is formed,
these scales are the only leaves produced. In _Pinus_ the only leaves
produced on the main stem and the lateral shoots are scales, the
acicular leaves of the tree growing from axillary shoots. In _Cycas_
whorls of scales alternate with large pinnate leaves. In many plants,
as already noticed, phyllodia or stipules perform the function of
leaves. The production of leaf-buds from leaves sometimes occurs as
in _Bryophyllum_, and many plants of the order Gesneraceae. The leaf
of Venus's fly-trap (_Dionaea muscipula_) when cut off and placed in
damp moss, with a pan of water underneath and a bell-glass for a
cover, has produced buds from which young plants were obtained. Some
species of saxifrage and of ferns also produce buds on their leaves
and fronds. In _Nymphaea micrantha_ buds appear at the upper part of
the petiole.
Phyllotaxis.
Leaves occupy various positions on the stem and branches, and have
received different names according to their situation. Thus leaves
arising from the crown of the root, as in the primrose, are called
_radical_; those on the stem are _cauline_; on flower-stalks, _floral_
leaves (see FLOWER). The first leaves developed are known as seed leaves
or _cotyledons_. The arrangement of the leaves on the axis and its
appendages is called _phyllotaxis_.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--A stem with opposite leaves. The pairs are
placed at right angles alternately, or in what is called a decussate
manner. In the lowest pair one leaf is in front and the other at the
back; in the second pair the leaves are placed laterally, and so on.]
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--A stem with alternate leaves, arranged in a
pentastichous or quincuncial manner. The sixth leaf is directly above
the first, and commences the second cycle. The fraction of the
circumference of the stem expressing the divergence of the leaves is
two-fifths.]
In their arrangement leaves follow a definite order. The points on the
stem at which leaves appear are called nodes; the part of the stem
between the nodes is the _internode_. When two leaves are produced at
the same node, one on each side of the stem or axis, and at the same
level, they are _opposite_ (fig. 29); when more than two are produced
they are _verticillate_, and the circle of leaves is then called a
_verticil_ or _whorl_. When leaves are opposite, each successive pair
may be placed at right angles to the pair immediately preceding. They
are then said to _decussate_, following thus a law of alternation
(fig. 29). The same occurs in the verticillate arrangement, the leaves
of each whorl rarely being _superposed_ on those of the whorl next it,
but usually alternating so that each leaf in a whorl occupies the
space between two leaves of the whorl next to it. There are
considerable irregularities, however, in this respect, and the number
of leaves in different whorls is not always uniform, as may be seen in
_Lysimachia vulgaris_. When a single leaf is produced at a node, and
the nodes are separated so that each leaf is placed at a different
height on the stem, the leaves are _alternate_ (fig. 30). A plane
passing through the point of insertion of the leaf in the node,
dividing the leaf into similar halves, is the median plane of the
leaf; and when the leaves are arranged alternately on an axis so that
their median planes coincide they form a straight row or
_orthostichy_. On every axis there are usually two or more
orthostichies. In fig. 31, leaf 1 arises from a node n; leaf 2 is
separated from it by an internode m, and is placed to the right or
left; while leaf 3 is situated directly above leaf 1. In this case,
then, there are two orthostichies, and the arrangement is said to be
_distichous_. When the fourth leaf is directly above the first, the
arrangement is _tristichous_. The same arrangement continues
throughout the branch, so that in the latter case the 7th leaf is
above the 4th, the 10th above the 7th; also the 5th above the 2nd, the
6th above the 3rd and so on. The size of the angle between the median
planes of two consecutive leaves in an alternate arrangement is their
_divergence_; and it is expressed in fractions of the circumference of
the axis which is supposed to be a circle. In a regularly-formed
straight branch covered with leaves, if a thread is passed from one to
the other, turning always in the same direction, a spiral is
described, and a certain number of leaves and of complete turns occur
before reaching the leaf directly above that from which the
enumeration commenced. If this arrangement is expressed by a fraction,
the numerator of which indicates the number of turns, and the
denominator the number of internodes in the spiral cycle, the fraction
will be found to represent the angle of divergence of the consecutive
leaves on the axis. Thus, in fig. 32, a, b, the cycle consists of
five leaves, the 6th leaf being placed vertically over the 1st, the
7th over the 2nd and so on; while the number of turns between the 1st
and 6th leaf is two; hence this arrangement is indicated by the
fraction 2/5. In other words, the distance or divergence between the
first and second leaf, expressed in parts of a circle, is 2/5 of a
circle or 360° × 2/5 = 144°. In fig. 31, a, b, the spiral is ½, i.e.
one turn and two leaves; the third leaf being placed vertically over
the first, and the divergence between the first and second leaf being
one-half the circumference of a circle, 360° × ½ = 180°. Again, in a
tristichous arrangement the number is 1/3, or one turn and three
leaves, the angular divergence being 120°.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Portion of a branch of a Lime tree, with four
leaves arranged in a distichous manner, or in two rows. a, The branch
with the leaves numbered in their order, n being the node and m the
internode; b is a magnified representation of the branch, showing the
points of insertion of the leaves and their spiral arrangement, which
is expressed by the fraction ½, or one turn of the spiral for two
internodes.]
By this means we have a convenient mode of expressing on paper the
exact position of the leaves upon an axis. And in many cases such a
mode of expression is of excellent service in enabling us readily to
understand the relations of the leaves. The divergences may also be
represented diagrammatically on a horizontal projection of the
vertical axis, as in fig. 33. Here the outermost circle represents a
section of that portion of the axis bearing the lowest leaf, the
innermost represents the highest. The broad dark lines represent the
leaves, and they are numbered according to their age and position. It
will be seen at once that the leaves are arranged in orthostichies
marked I.-V., and that these divide the circumference into five equal
portions. But the divergence between leaf 1 and leaf 2 is equal to
(2/5)ths of the circumference, and the same is the case between 2 and
3, 3 and 4, &c. The divergence, then, is 2/5, and from this we learn
that, starting from any leaf on the axis, we must pass twice round the
stem in a spiral through five leaves before reaching one directly over
that with which we started. The line which, winding round an axis
either to the right or to the left, passes through the points of
insertion of all the leaves on the axis is termed the _genetic_ or
_generating spiral_; and that margin of each leaf which is towards the
direction from which the spiral proceeds is the _kathodic_ side, the
other margin facing the point whither the spiral passes being the
_anodic_ side.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Part of a branch of a Cherry with six leaves,
the sixth being placed vertically over the first, after two turns of
the spiral. This is expressed by two-fifths. a, The branch, with the
leaves numbered in order; b, a magnified representation of the
branch, showing the points of insertion of the leaves and their spiral
arrangement.]
In cases where the internodes are very short and the leaves are
closely applied to each other, as in the house-leek, it is difficult
to trace the _generating spiral_. Thus, in fig. 34 there are thirteen
leaves which are numbered in their order, and five turns of the spiral
marked by circles in the centre (5/13 indicating the arrangement); but
this could not be detected at once. So also in fir cones (fig. 35),
which are composed of scales or modified leaves, the generating spiral
cannot be determined easily. But in such cases a series of _secondary
spirals_ or _parastichies_ are seen running parallel with each other
both right and left, which to a certain extent conceal the genetic
spiral.
The spiral is not always constant throughout the whole length of an
axis. The angle of divergence may alter either abruptly or gradually,
and the phyllotaxis thus becomes very complicated. This change may be
brought about by arrest of development, by increased development of
parts or by a torsion of the axis. The former are exemplified in many
Crassulaceae and aloes. The latter is seen well in the screw-pine
(_Pandanus_). In the bud of the screw-pine the leaves are arranged in
three orthostichies with the phyllotaxis 1/3, but by torsion the
developed leaves become arranged in three strong spiral rows running
round the stem. These causes of change in phyllotaxis are also well
exemplified in the alteration of an opposite or verticillate
arrangement to an alternate, and vice versa; thus the effect of
interruption of growth, in causing alternate leaves to become opposite
and verticillate, can be distinctly shown in _Rhododendron ponticum_.
The primitive or generating spiral may pass either from right to left
or from left to right. It sometimes follows a different direction in
the branches from that pursued in the stem. When it follows the same
course in the stem and branches, they are _homodromous_; when the
direction differs, they are _heterodromous_. In different species of
the same genus the phyllotaxis frequently varies.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Diagram of a phyllotaxis represented by the
fraction 2/5.]
All modifications of leaves follow the same laws of arrangement as
true leaves--a fact which is of importance in a morphological point of
view. In dicotyledonous plants the first leaves produced (the
cotyledons) are opposite. This arrangement often continues during the
life of the plant, but at other times it changes, passing into
distichous and spiral forms. Some tribes of plants are distinguished
by their opposite or verticillate, others by their alternate, leaves.
Labiate plants have decussate leaves, while Boraginaceae have
alternate leaves, and Tiliaceae usually have distichous leaves;
Rubiaceae have opposite leaves. Such arrangements as 2/5, 3/8, 5/13
and 8/21 are common in Dicotyledons. The first of these, called a
_quincunx_, is met with in the apple, pear and cherry (fig. 32); the
second, in the bay, holly, _Plantago media_; the third, in the cones
of _Picea alba_ (fig. 35); and the fourth in those of the silver fir.
In monocotyledonous plants there is only one seed-leaf or cotyledon,
and hence the arrangement is at first alternate; and it generally
continues so more or less, rarely being verticillate. Such
arrangements as ½, 1/3 and 2/3 are common in Monocotyledons, as in
grasses, sedges and lilies. It has been found in general that, while
the number 5 occurs in the phyllotaxis of Dicotyledons, 3 is common in
that of Monocotyledons.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Cycle of thirteen leaves placed closely
together so as to form a rosette, as in _Sempervivum_. A is the very
short axis to which the leaves are attached. The leaves are numbered
in their order, from below upwards. The circles in the centre indicate
the five turns of the spiral, and show the insertion of each of the
leaves. The divergence is expressed by the fraction (5/13)ths._]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Cone of _Picea alba_ with the scales or
modified leaves numbered in the order of their arrangement on the axis
of the cone. The lines indicate a rectilinear series of scales and two
lateral secondary spirals, one turning from left to right, the other
from right to left.]
In the axil of previously formed leaves leaf-buds arise. These
leaf-buds contain the rudiments of a shoot, and consist of leaves
covering a growing point. The buds of trees of temperate climates,
which lie dormant during the winter, are protected by scale leaves.
These scales or protective appendages of the bud consist either of the
altered laminae or of the enlarged petiolary sheath, or of stipules,
as in the fig and magnolia, or of one or two of these parts combined.
These are often of a coarse nature, serving a temporary purpose, and
then falling off when the leaf is expanded. They are frequently
covered with a resinous matter, as in balsam-poplar and
horse-chestnut, or by a thick downy covering as in the willow. In
plants of warm climates the buds have often no protective appendages,
and are then said to be _naked_.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Circinate vernation.
FIG. 37.--Transverse section of a conduplicate leaf.
FIG. 38.--Transverse section of a plicate or plaited leaf.
FIG. 39.--Transverse section of a convolute leaf.
FIG. 40.--Transverse section of an involute leaf.
FIG. 41.--Transverse section of a revolute leaf.]
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Transverse section of a bud, in which the
leaves are arranged in an accumbent manner.
FIG. 43.--Transverse section of a bud, in which the leaves are
arranged in an equitant manner.
FIG. 44.--Transverse section of a bud, showing two leaves folded in
an obvolute manner. Each is conduplicate, and one embraces the edge
of the other.
FIG. 45.--Transverse section of a bud, showing two leaves arranged
in a supervolute manner.]
The arrangement of the leaves in the bud is termed _vernation_ or
_prefoliation_. In considering vernation we must take into account
both the manner in which each individual leaf is folded and also the
arrangement of the leaves in relation to each other. These vary in
different plants, but in each species they follow a regular law. The
leaves in the bud are either placed simply in apposition, as in the
mistletoe, or they are folded or rolled up longitudinally or
laterally, giving rise to different kinds of vernation, as delineated
in figs. 36 to 45, where the folded or curved lines represent the
leaves, the thickened part being the midrib. The leaf taken
individually is either folded longitudinally from apex to base, as in
the tulip-tree, and called _reclinate_ or _replicate_; or rolled up in
a circular manner from apex to base, as in ferns (fig. 36), and called
_circinate_; or folded laterally, _conduplicate_ (fig. 37), as in oak;
or it has several folds like a fan, _plicate_ or _plaited_ (fig. 38),
as in vine and sycamore, and in leaves with radiating vernation, where
the ribs mark the foldings; or it is rolled upon itself, _convolute_
(fig. 39), as in banana and apricot; or its edges are rolled inwards,
_involute_ (fig. 40), as in violet; or outwards, _revolute_ (fig. 41),
as in rosemary. The different divisions of a cut leaf may be folded or
rolled up separately, as in ferns, while the entire leaf may have
either the same or a different kind of vernation. The leaves have a
definite relation to each other in the bud, being either opposite,
alternate or verticillate; and thus different kinds of vernation are
produced. Sometimes they are nearly in a circle at the same level,
remaining flat or only slightly convex externally, and placed so as to
touch each other by their edges, thus giving rise to _valvate_
vernation. At other times they are at different levels, and are
applied over each other, so as to be _imbricated_, as in lilac, and in
the outer scales of sycamore; and occasionally the margin of one leaf
overlaps that of another, while it in its turn is overlapped by a
third, so as to be _twisted_, _spiral_ or _contortive_. When leaves
are applied to each other face to face, without being folded or rolled
together, they are _appressed_. When the leaves are more completely
folded they either touch at their extremities and are _accumbent_ or
_opposite_ (fig. 42), or are folded inwards by their margin and become
_induplicate_; or a conduplicate leaf covers another similarly folded,
which in turn covers a third, and thus the vernation is _equitant_
(fig. 43), as in privet; or conduplicate leaves are placed so that the
half of the one covers the half of another, and thus they become
_half-equitant_ or _obvolute_ (fig. 44), as in sage. When in the case
of convolute leaves one leaf is rolled up within the other, it is
_supervolute_ (fig. 45). The scales of a bud sometimes exhibit one
kind of vernation and the leaves another. The same modes of
arrangement occur in the flower-buds.
Leaves, after performing their functions for a certain time, wither
and die. In doing so they frequently change colour, and hence arise
the beautiful and varied tints of the autumnal foliage. This change
of colour is chiefly occasioned by the diminished circulation in the
leaves, and the higher degree of oxidation to which their chlorophyll
has been submitted.
Leaves which are articulated with the stem, as in the walnut and
horse-chestnut, fall and leave a scar, while those which are
continuous with it remain attached for some time after they have lost
their vitality. Most of the trees of Great Britain have deciduous
leaves, their duration not extending over more than a few months,
while in trees of warm climates the leaves often remain for two or
more years. In tropical countries, however, many trees lose their
leaves in the dry season. The period of defoliation varies in
different countries according to the nature of their climate. Trees
which are called evergreen, as pines and evergreen-oak, are always
deprived of a certain number of leaves at intervals, sufficient being
left, however, to preserve their green appearance. The cause of the
fall of the leaf in cold climates seems to be deficiency of light and
heat in winter, which causes a cessation in the functions of the cells
of the leaf. The fall is directly caused by the formation of a layer
of tissue across the base of the leaf-stalk; the cells of this layer
separate from one another and the leaf remains attached only by the
fibres of the veins until it becomes finally detached by the wind or
frost. Before its fall the leaf has become dry owing to loss of water
and the removal of the protoplasm and food substances to the stem for
use next season; the red and yellow colouring matters are products of
decomposition of the chlorophyll. Inorganic and other waste matters
are stored in the leaf-tissue and thus got rid of by the plant. The
leaf scar is protected by a corky change (suberization) in the walls
of the exposed cells. (A. B. R.)
LEAF-INSECT, the name given to orthopterous insects of the family
Phasmidae, referred to the single genus _Phyllium_ and characterized by
the presence of lateral laminae upon the legs and abdomen, which, in
association with an abundance of green colouring-matter, impart a broad
and leaf-like appearance to the whole insect. In the female this
deceptive resemblance is enhanced by the large size and foliaceous form
of the front wings which, when at rest edge to edge on the abdomen,
forcibly suggest in their neuration the midrib and costae of an ordinary
leaf. In this sex the posterior wings are reduced and functionless so
far as flight is concerned; in the male they are ample, membranous and
functional, while the anterior wings are small and not leaf-like. The
freshly hatched young are reddish in colour; but turn green after
feeding for a short time upon leaves. Before death a specimen has been
observed to pass through the various hues of a decaying leaf, and the
spectrum of the green colouring matter does not differ from that of the
chlorophyll of living leaves. Since leaf-insects are purely vegetable
feeders and not predaceous like mantids, it is probable that their
resemblance to leaves is solely for purposes of concealment from
enemies. Their egg capsules are similarly protected by their likeness to
various seeds. Leaf-insects range from India to the Seychelles on the
one side, and to the Fiji Islands on the other. (R. I. P.)
LEAGUE. 1. (Through Fr. _ligue_, Ital. _liga_, from Lat. _ligare_, to
bind), an agreement entered into by two or more parties for mutual
protection or joint attack, or for the furtherance of some common
object, also the body thus joined or "leagued" together. The name has
been given to numerous confederations, such as the Achaean League
(q.v.), the confederation of the ancient cities of Achaia, and
especially to the various holy leagues (_ligues saintes_), of which the
better known are those formed by Pope Julius II. against Venice in 1508,
often known as the League of Cambrai, and against France in 1511. "The
League," in French history, is that of the Catholics headed by the
Guises to preserve the Catholic religion against the Huguenots and
prevent the accession of Henry of Navarre to the throne (see FRANCE:
_History_). "The Solemn League and Covenant" was the agreement for the
establishment of Presbyterianism in both countries entered into by
England and Scotland in 1643 (see COVENANTERS). Of commercial leagues
the most famous is that of the Hanse towns, known as the Hanseatic
League (q.v.). The word has been adopted by political associations, such
as the Anti-Corn Law League, the Irish Land League, the Primrose League
and the United Irish League, and by numerous social organizations.
"League" has also been applied to a special form of competition in
athletics, especially in Association football. In this system clubs
"league" together in a competition, each playing every other member of
the association twice, and the order of merit is decided by the points
gained during the season, a win counting two and a draw one.
2. (From the late Lat. _leuga_, or _leuca_, said to be a Gallic word;
the mod. Fr. _lieue_ comes from the O. Fr. _liue_; the Gaelic _leac_,
meaning a flat stone posted as a mark of distance on a road, has been
suggested as the origin), a measure of distance, probably never in
regular use in England, and now only in poetical or rhetorical language.
It was the Celtic as opposed to the Teutonic unit, and was used in
France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In all the countries it varies with
different localities, and the ancient distance has never been fixed. The
kilometric league of France is fixed at four kilometres. The nautical
league is equal to three nautical miles.
LEAKE, WILLIAM MARTIN (1777-1860), British antiquarian and topographer,
was born in London on the 14th of January 1777. After completing his
education at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and spending four
years in the West Indies as lieutenant of marine artillery, he was sent
by the government to Constantinople to instruct the Turks in this branch
of the service. A journey through Asia Minor in 1800 to join the British
fleet at Cyprus inspired him with an interest in antiquarian topography.
In 1801, after travelling across the desert with the Turkish army to
Egypt, he was, on the expulsion of the French, employed in surveying the
valley of the Nile as far as the cataracts; but having sailed with the
ship engaged to convey the Elgin marbles from Athens to England, he lost
all his maps and observations when the vessel foundered off Cerigo.
Shortly after his arrival in England he was sent out to survey the coast
of Albania and the Morea, with the view of assisting the Turks against
attacks of the French from Italy, and of this he took advantage to form
a valuable collection of coins and inscriptions and to explore ancient
sites. In 1807, war having broken out between Turkey and England, he was
made prisoner at Salonica; but, obtaining his release the same year, he
was sent on a diplomatic mission to Ali Pasha of Iannina, whose
confidence he completely won, and with whom he remained for more than a
year as British representative. In 1810 he was granted a yearly sum of
£600 for his services in Turkey. In 1815 he retired from the army, in
which he held the rank of colonel, devoting the remainder of his life to
topographical and antiquarian studies, the results of which were given
to the world in the following volumes: _Topography of Athens_ (1821);
_Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor_ (1824); _Travels in the Morea_ (1830),
and a supplement, _Peloponnesiaca_ (1846); _Travels in Northern Greece_
(1835); and _Numismata Hellenica_ (1854), followed by a supplement in
1859. A characteristic of the researches of Leake was their
comprehensive minuteness, which was greatly aided by his mastery of
technical details. His _Topography of Athens_, the first attempt at a
scientific treatment of the subject, is still authoritative in regard to
many important points (see ATHENS). He died at Brighton on the 6th of
January 1860. The marbles collected by him in Greece were presented to
the British Museum; his bronzes, vases, gems and coins were purchased by
the university of Cambridge after his death, and are now in the
Fitzwilliam Museum. He was elected F.R.S. and F.R.G.S., received the
honorary D.C.L. at Oxford (1816), and was a member of the Berlin Academy
of Sciences and correspondent of the Institute of France.
See _Memoir_ by J. H. Marsden (1864); the _Architect_ for the 7th of
October 1876; E. Curtius in the _Preussische Jahrbücher_ (Sept.,
1876); J. E. Sandys, _Hist. of Classical Scholarship_, iii. (1908), p.
442.
LEAMINGTON, a municipal borough and health resort of Warwickshire,
England, on the river Leam near its junction with the Avon, 98 m. N.W.
from London, served by the Great Western and London & North Western
railways. Pop. (1901) 26,888. The parliamentary boroughs of Leamington
and Warwick were joined into one constituency in 1885, returning one
member. The centres of the towns are 2 m. apart, Warwick lying to the
west, but they are united by the intermediate parish of New Milverton.
There are three saline springs, and the principal pump-rooms, baths and
pleasant gardens lie on the right bank of the river. The chief public
buildings are the town hall (1884), containing a free library and
school of art; and the Theatre Royal and assembly room. The parish
church of All Saints is modernized, and the other churches are entirely
modern. The S. Warwickshire hospital and Midland Counties Home for
incurables are here. Leamington High School is an important school for
girls. There is a municipal technical school. Industries include iron
foundries and brickworks. The town lies in a well-wooded and picturesque
country, within a few miles of such interesting towns as Warwick,
Kenilworth, Coventry and Stratford-on-Avon. It is a favourite hunting
centre, and, as a health resort, attracts not only visitors but
residents. The town is governed by a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 24
councillors. Area, 2817 acres.
Leamington was a village of no importance until about 1786, when baths
were first erected, though the springs were noticed by Camden, writing
about 1586. The population in 1811 was only 543, The town was
incorporated in 1875. The name in former use was Leamington Priors, in
distinction from Leamington Hastings, a village on the upper Leam. By
royal licence granted in 1838 it was called Royal Leamington Spa.
LÉANDRE, CHARLES LUCIEN (1862- ), French caricaturist and painter, was
born at Champsecret (Orne), and studied painting under Bin and Cabanel.
From 1887 he figured among the exhibitors of the Salon, where he showed
numerous portraits and genre pictures, but his popular fame is due to
his comic drawings and caricatures. The series of the "Gotha des
souverains," published in _Le Rire_, placed him in the front rank of
modern caricaturists. Besides his contributions to _Le Rire_, _Le
Figaro_ and other comic journals, he published a series of albums:
_Nocturnes_, _Le Musée des souverains_, and _Paris et la province_.
Léandre produced admirable work in lithography, and designed many
memorable posters, such as the "Yvette Guilbert." "Les nouveaux mariés,"
"Joseph Prudhomme," "Les Lutteurs," and "La Femme au chien." He was
created a knight of the Legion of Honour.
LEAP-YEAR (more properly known as _bissextile_), the name given to the
year containing 366 days. The astronomers of Julius Caesar, 46 B.C.,
settled the solar year at 365 days 6 hours. These hours were set aside
and at the end of four years made a day which was added to the fourth
year. The English name for the bissextile year is an allusion to the
result of the interposition of the extra day; for after the 29th of
February a date "leaps over" the day of the week on which it would fall
in ordinary years. Thus a birthday on the 10th of June, a Monday, will
in the next year, if a leap-year, be on the 10th of June, a Wednesday.
Of the origin of the custom for women to woo, not be wooed, during
leap-year no satisfactory explanation has ever been offered. In 1288 a
law was enacted in Scotland that "it is statut and ordaint that during
the rein of hir maist blissit Megeste, for ilk yeare knowne as lepe
yeare, ilk mayden ladye of bothe highe and lowe estait shall hae liberte
to bespeke ye man she likes, albeit he refuses to taik hir to be his
lawful wyfe, he shall be mulcted in ye sum ane pundis or less, as his
estait may be; except and awis gif he can make it appeare that he is
betrothit ane ither woman he then shall be free." A few years later a
like law was passed in France, and in the 15th century the custom was
legalized in Genoa and Florence.
LEAR, EDWARD (1812-1888), English artist and humorist, was born in
London on the 12th of May 1812. His earliest drawings were
ornithological. When he was twenty years old he published a brilliantly
coloured selection of the rarer Psittacidae. Its power attracted the
attention of the 13th earl of Derby, who employed Lear to draw his
Knowsley menagerie. He became a permanent favourite with the Stanley
family; and Edward, 15th earl, was the child for whose amusement the
first _Book of Nonsense_ was composed. From birds Lear turned to
landscape, his earlier efforts in which recall the manner of J. D.
Harding; but he quickly acquired a more individual style. About 1837 he
set up a studio at Rome, where he lived for ten years, with summer tours
in Italy and Sicily, and occasional visits to England. During this
period he began to publish his _Illustrated Journals of a Landscape
Painter_: charmingly written reminiscences of wandering, which
ultimately embraced Calabria, the Abruzzi, Albania, Corsica, &c. From
1848-1849 he explored Greece, Constantinople, the Ionian Islands, Lower
Egypt, the wildest recesses of Albania, and the desert of Sinai. He
returned to London, but the climate did not suit him. In 1854-1855 he
wintered on the Nile, and migrated successively to Corfu, Malta and
Rome, finally building himself a villa at San Remo. From Corfu Lear
visited Mount Athos, Syria, Palestine, and Petra; and when over sixty,
by the assistance of Lord Northbrock, then Govenor-General, he saw the
cities and scenery of greatest interest within a large area of India.
From first to last he was, in whatever circumstances of difficulty or
ill-health, an indomitable traveller. Before visiting new lands he
studied their geography and literature, and then went straight for the
mark; and wherever he went he drew most indefatigably and most
accurately. His sketches are not only the basis of more finished works,
but an exhaustive record in themselves. Some defect of technique or
eyesight occasionally left his larger oil painting, though nobly
conceived, crude or deficient in harmony; but his smaller pictures and
more elaborate sketches abound in beauty, delicacy, and truth. Lear
modestly called himself a topographical artist; but he included in the
term the perfect rendering of all characteristic graces of form, colour,
and atmosphere. The last task he set himself was to prepare for popular
circulation a set of some 200 drawings, illustrating from his travels
the scenic touches of Tennyson's poetry; but he did not live to complete
the scheme, dying at San Remo on the 30th of January 1888. Until sobered
by age, his conversation was brimful of humorous fun. The paradoxical
originality and ostentatiously uneducated draughtsmanship of his
numerous nonsense books won him a more universal fame than his serious
work. He had a true artist's sympathy with art under all forms, and
might have become a skilled musician had he not been a painter.
Swainson, the naturalist, praised young Lear's great red and yellow
macaw as "equalling any figure ever painted by Audubon in grace of
design, perspective, and anatomical accuracy." Murchison, examining his
sketches, complimented them as rigorously embodying geological truth.
Tennyson's lines "To E.L. on his Travels in Greece," mark the poet's
genuine admiration of a cognate spirit in classical art. Ruskin placed
the _Book of Nonsense_ first in the list of a hundred delectable volumes
of contemporary literature, a judgment endorsed by English-speaking
children all over the world.
See _Letters of Edward Lear to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford,
and Frances, Countess Waldegrave_ (1907), edited by Lady Strachey,
with an introduction by Henry Strachey. (F. L.*)
LEASE (derived through the Fr. from the Lat. _laxare_, to loosen), a
certain form of tenure, or the contract embodying it, of land, houses,
&c.; see LANDLORD AND TENANT.
LEATHER (a word which appears in all Teutonic languages; cf. Ger.
_Leder_, Dutch _leer_ or _leder_, Swed. _läder_, and in such Celtic
forms as Welsh _llader_), an imputrescible substance prepared from the
hides or skins of living creatures, both cold and warm blooded, by
chemical and mechanical treatment. Skins in the raw and natural moist
state are readily putrescible, and are easily disintegrated by bacterial
or chemical action, and if dried in this condition become harsh, horny
and intractable. The art of the leather manufacturer is principally
directed to overcoming the tendency to putrefaction, securing suppleness
in the material, rendering it impervious to and unalterable by water,
and increasing the strength of the skin and its power to resist wear and
tear.
Leather is made by three processes or with three classes of substances.
Thus we have (1) tanned leather, in which the hides and skins are
combined with tannin or tannic acid; (2) tawed leather, in which the
skins are prepared with mineral salts; (3) chamoised (shamoyed) leather,
in which the skins are rendered imputrescible by treatment with oils and
fats, the decomposition products of which are the actual tanning agents.
Heavy leathers.
_Sources and Qualities of Hides and Skins._--The hides used in heavy
leather manufacture may be divided into three classes: (1) ox and
heifer, (2) cow, (3) bull. Oxen and heifer hides produce the best
results, forming a tough, tight, solid leather. Cow hides are thin, the
hide itself being fibrous, but still compact, and by reason of its
spread or area is used chiefly for dressing purposes in the bag and
portmanteau manufacture and work of a similar description. Bull hides
are fibrous; they are largely used for heel lifts, and for cheap
belting, the thicker hides being used in the iron and steel industry.
A second classification now presents itself, viz. the British home
supply, continental (Europe), British colonial, South American, East
Indian, Chinese, &c.
In the British home supply there are three chief breeds: (1) Shorthorns
(Scotch breed), (2) Herefords (Midland breed), (3) Lowland, or Dutch
class. From a tanner's standpoint, the shorthorns are the best hides
procurable. The cattle are exposed to a variable climate in the
mountainous districts of Scotland, and nature, adapting herself to
circumstances, provides them with a thicker and more compact hide; they
are well grown, have short necks and small heads. The Hereford class are
probably the best English hide; they likewise have small heads and
horns, and produce good solid sole leather. The Lowland hides come
chiefly from Suffolk, Kent and Surrey; the animals have long legs, long
necks and big heads. The hides are usually thin and spready. The hides
of the animals killed for the Christmas season are poor. The animals
being stall-fed for the beef, the hides become distended, thin and
surcharged with fat, which renders them unsuitable for first-class work.
The continental supply may be divided into two classes: (1) Hides from
hilly regions, (2) hides from lowlands. All animals subject to strong
winds and a wide range of temperatures have a very strong hide, and for
this reason those bred in hilly and mountainous districts are best. The
hides coming under heading No. 1 are of this class, and include those
from the Swiss and Italian Alps, Bavarian Highlands and Pyrenees, also
Florence, Oporto and Lisbon hides. They are magnificent hides, thick,
tightly-built, and of smooth grain. The butt is long and the legs short.
A serious defect in some of these hides is a thick place on the neck
caused by the yoke; this part of the hide is absolute waste. Another
defect, specially noticeable in Lisbon and Oporto hides, is goad marks
on the rump, barbed wire scratches and warbles, caused by the gadfly.
Those hides coming under heading No. 2 are Dutch, Rhine valley, Danish,
Swedish, Norwegian, Hungarian, &c. The first three hides are very
similar; they are spready, poorly grown, and are best used for bag and
portmanteau work. Hungarian oxen are immense animals, and supply a very
heavy bend. Swedish and Norwegian hides are evenly grown and of good
texture; they are well flayed, and used a great deal for manufacturing
picker bands, which require an even leather.
New Zealand, Australian and Queensland hides resemble good English. A
small quantity of Canadian steers are imported; these are generally
branded.
Chinese hides are exported dry, and they have generally suffered more or
less from peptonization in the storing and drying; this cannot be
detected until they are in the pits, when they fall to pieces.
Anglos are imported as live-stock, and are killed within forty-eight
hours. They come to Hull, Birkenhead, Avonmouth and Deptford from
various American ports, and usually give a flatter result than English,
the general quality depending largely on whether the ship has had a good
voyage or not.
Among South American hides, Liebig's slaughter supply the best; they are
thoroughly clean and carefully trimmed and flayed. They come to London,
Antwerp and Havre, and except for being branded are of first-class
quality. Second to the Liebig slaughter come the Uruguay hides.
East Indian hides are known as kips, and are supposed to be, and should
be, the hides of yearling cattle. They are now dressed to a large extent
in imitation of box calf, being much cheaper. They come from a small
breed of ox, and have an extremely tight grain; the leather is not so
soft as calf.
Calf-skins are largely supplied by the continent. They are soft and
pliant, and have a characteristically fine grain, are tight in texture
and quite apart from any other kind of skin.
Light leathers.
The most valuable part of a sheepskin is the wool, and the value of the
pelt is inversely as the value of the wool. Pure Leicester and Norfolk
wools are very valuable, and next is the North and South Downs, but the
skins, i.e. the pelts, of these animals are extremely poor. Devon and
Cheviot cross-bred sheep supply a fair pelt, and sometimes these sheep
are so many times crossed that it is quite impossible to tell what the
skin is. Welsh skins also supply a good tough pelt, though small. Indian
and Persian sheepskins are very goaty, the herds being allowed to roam
about together so much. The sheepskin is the most porous and
open-textured skin in existence, as also the most greasy one; it is
flabby and soft, with a tight, compact grain, but an extremely loose
flesh. Stillborn lambs and lambs not over a month old are worth much
more than when they have lived for three months; they are used for the
manufacture of best kid gloves, and must be milk skins. Once the lambs
have taken to grass the skins supply a harsher leather.
The best goat-skins come from the Saxon and Bavarian Highlands, Swiss
Alps, Pyrenees, Turkey, Bosnia, Southern Hungary and the Urals. The
goats being exposed to all winds yield fine skins. A good number come
from Argentina and from Abyssinia, the Cape and other parts of Africa.
Of all light leathers the goat has the toughest and tightest grain; it
is, therefore, especially liked for fancy work. The grain is rather too
bold for glacé work, for which the sheep is largely used.
The seal-skin, used largely for levant work, is the skin of the
yellow-hair seal, found in the Northern seas, the Baltic, Norway and
Sweden, &c. The skin has a large, bold, brilliant grain, and being a
large skin is much used for upholstery and coach work, like the Cape
goat. It is quite distinct from the fur seal.
Porpoise hide is really the hide of the white whale; it is dressed for
shooting, fishing and hunting boots. Horse hide is dressed for light
split and upper work; being so much stall-fed it supplies only a thin,
spready leather. The skins of other Equidae, such as the ass, zebra,
quagga, &c. are also dressed to some small extent, but are not important
sources.
_Structure of Skin._--Upon superficial inspection, the hides and skins
of all mammalia appear to be unlike each other in general structure,
yet, upon closer examination, it is found that the anatomical
structure of most skins is so similar that for all practical purposes
we may assume that there is no distinction (see SKIN AND
EXO-SKELETON). But from the practical point of view, as opposed to the
anatomical, there are great and very important differences, such as
those of texture, thickness, area, &c.; and these differences cause a
great divergence in the methods of tanning used, almost necessitating
a distinct tannage for nearly every class of hide or skin.
The skins of the lower animals, such as alligators, lizards, fish and
snakes, differ to a large extent from those of the mammalia, chiefly
in the epidermis, which is much more horny in structure and forms
scales.
The skin is divided into two distinct layers: (1) the epidermis or
epithelium, i.e. the cuticle, (2) the corium derma, or cutis, i.e. the
true skin. These two layers are not only different in structure, but
are also of entirely distinct origin. The epidermis again divides
itself into two parts, viz. the "horny layer" or surface skin, and the
_rete Malpighi_, named after the Italian anatomist who first drew
attention to its existence. The _rete Malpighi_ is composed of living,
soft, nucleated cells, which multiply by division, and, as they
increase, are gradually pushed to the surface of the skin, becoming
flatter and drier as they near it, until they reach the surface as
dried scales. The epidermis is thus of cellular structure, and more or
less horny or waterproof. It must consequently be removed together
with the hair, wool or bristles before tannage begins, but as it is
very thin compared with the corium, this matters little.
The hair itself does not enter the corium, but is embedded in a sheath
of epidermic structure, which is part of and continuous with the
epidermis. It is of cellular structure, and the fibrous part is
composed of long needle-shaped cells which contain the pigment with
which the hair is coloured. Upon removal of the hair some of these
cells remain behind and colour the skin, and this colour does not
disappear until these cells are removed by scudding. Each hair is
supplied with at least two fat or sebaceous glands, which discharge
into the orifice of the hair sheath; these glands impart to the hair
that natural glossy appearance which is characteristic of good health.
The hair bulb (b, fig. 1) consists of living nucleated cells, which
multiply rapidly, and, like the _rete Malpighi_, cause an upward
pressure, getting harder at the same time, thereby lengthening the
hair.
The hair papilla (a, fig. 1) consists of a globule of the corium or
true skin embedded in the hair bulb, which by means of blood-vessels
feeds and nourishes the hair. Connected with the lower part of each
hair is an oblique muscle known as the arrector or erector pili, seen
at k, fig. 1; this is an involuntary muscle, and is contracted by
sudden cold, heat or shock, with an accompanying tightening of the
skin, producing the phenomenon commonly known as "goose flesh." This
is the outcome of the contracted muscle pulling on the base of the
hair, thereby giving it a tendency to approach the vertical, and
producing the simultaneous effect of making the "hair stand on end."
The sudoriferous or sweat glands (R, fig. 1) consist of long
spiral-like capillaries, formed from the fibres of the connective
tissue of the corium. These glands discharge sometimes directly
through the epidermis, but more often into the orifice of the
hair-sheath.
The epidermis is separated from the corium by a very important and
very fine membrane, termed the "hyaline" or "glassy layer," which
constitutes the actual grain surface of a hide or skin. This layer is
chemically different from the corium, as if it is torn or scratched
during the process of tanning the colour of the underlying parts is
much lighter than that of the grain surface.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
a, Hair papilla.
b, Hair bulb.
c, Hair sheath showing epidermic structure.
d, Dermic coat of hair sheath.
e, Outer root sheath.
f, Inner root sheath.
g, Hair cuticle.
h, Hair.
J, Sebaceous glands.
k, Erector pili.
m, Sweat ducts.
n and _p_, Epidermis.
n, Rete Malpighi.
p, Horny layer.
R, Sweat or sudoriferous gland.
S, Opening at sweat duct.]
The corium, unlike the epidermis, is of fibrous, not cellular
structure; moreover, the fibres do not multiply among themselves, but
are gradually developed as needed from the interfibrillar substance, a
semi-soluble gelatinous modification of the true fibre. This
interfibrillar substance consequently has no structure, and is
prepared at any time on coming into contact with tannin to form
amorphous leather, which fills what would in the absence of this
substance be interfibrillar spaces. The more of this matter there is
present the more completely will the spaces be filled, and the more
waterproof will be the leather. An old bull, as is well known,
supplies a very poor, soft and spongy leather, simply because the hide
lacks interfibrillar substance, which has been sapped up by the body.
The fibres are, therefore, separated by interfibrillar spaces, which
on contact with water absorb it with avidity by capillary attraction.
But a heifer hide or young calf supplies the most tight and waterproof
leather known, because the animals are young, and having plenty of
nourishment do not require to draw upon and sap the interfibrillar
substance with which the skin is full to overflowing.
The corium obtains its food from the body by means of lymph ducts,
with which it is well supplied. It is also provided with nodules of
lymph to nourish the hair, and nodules of grease, which increase in
number as they near the flesh side, until the net skin, _panniculus
adiposus_, or that which separates the corium from meat proper, is
quite full with them.
The corium is coarse in the centre of the skin where the fibres, which
are of the kind known as white connective tissue, and which exist in
bundles bound together with yellow elastic fibres, are loosely woven,
but towards the flesh side they become more compact, and as the
hyaline layer is neared the bundles of fibres get finer and finer, and
are much more tightly interwoven, until finally, next the grain
itself, the fibres no longer exist in bundles, but as individual
fibrils lying parallel with the grain. This layer is known as the
_pars papillaris_. The bundles of fibre interweave one another in
every conceivable direction. The fibrils are extremely minute, and are
cemented together with a medium rather more soluble than themselves.
There are only two exceptions to this general structure which need be
taken into account. Sheep-skin is especially loosely woven in the
centre, so much so that any carelessness in the wet work or sweating
process enables one to split the skin in two by tearing. This
loosely-woven part is full of fatty nodules, and the skin is generally
split at this part, the flesh going for chamois leather and the grain
for skivers. The other notable exception is the horse hide, which has
a third skin over the loins just above the kidneys, known as the crup;
it is very greasy and tight in structure, and is used for making a
very waterproof leather for seamen's and fishermen's boots. Pig-skin,
perhaps, is rather peculiar, in the fact that the bristles penetrate
almost right through the skin.
_Tanning Materials._--Tannin or tannic acid is abundantly formed in a
very large number of plants, and secreted in such diverse organs and
members as the bark, wood, roots, leaves, seed-pods, fruit, &c. The
number of tannins which exists has not been determined, nor has the
constitution of those which do exist been satisfactorily settled. As
used in the tanyard tannin is present both in the free state and
combined with colouring matter and accompanied by decomposition
products, such as gallic acid or phlobaphenes (anhydrides of the
tannins), respectively depending upon the series to which the tannin
belongs. In whatever other points they differ, they all have the
common property of being powerfully astringent, of forming insoluble
compounds with gelatine or gelatinous tissue, of being soluble in
water to a greater or lesser extent, and of forming blacks (greenish
or bluish) with iron. Pyrogallol tannins give a blue-black coloration
or precipitate with ferric salts, and catechol tannins a green-black;
and whereas bromine water gives a precipitate with catechol tannins,
it does not with pyrogallol tannins. There are two distinctive classes
of tannins, viz. catechol and pyrogallol tannins. The materials
belonging to the former series are generally much darker in colour
than those classified with the latter, and moreover they yield reds,
phlobaphenes or tannin anhydrides, which deposit on or in the leather.
Pyrogallol tannins include some of the lightest coloured and best
materials known, and, speaking generally, the leather produced by them
is not so harsh or hard as that produced with catechol tannins. They
decompose, yielding ellagic acid (known technically as "bloom") and
gallic acid; the former has waterproofing qualities, because it fills
the leather, at the same time giving weight.
It has been stated, and perhaps with some truth, that leather cannot
be successfully made with catechol tannins alone; pyrogallol tannins,
however, yield an excellent leather; but the finest results are
obtained by blending the two.
The classification of the chief tanning materials is as follows:--
_Pyrogallols._
Myrobalans (_Terminalia Chebula_).
Chestnut wood (_Castanea vesca_).
Divi-divi (_Caesalpinia Coriaria_).
Algarobilla (_Caesalpinia brevifolia_).
Sumach (_Rhus Coriaria_).
Oakwood (_Quercus family_).
Chestnut oak (_Quercus Prinus_).
Galls (_Quercus Infectoria_).
Willow (_Salix arenaria_).
_Catechols._
Gambier (_Uncaria Gambir_).
Hemlock (_Abies canadensis_).
Quebracho (_Quebracho Colorado_).
Mangrove or Cutch (_Rhizophora Mangle_).
Mimosa or Golden Wattle (_Acacia Pycnantha_).
Larch (_Larix Europaea_).
Canaigre (_Rumer Hymenosepalum_).
Birch (_Betula alba_).
Cutch Catechu (_Acacia Catechu_).
_Subsidiary._
Oakbark (_Quercus Robur_).
Valonia (_Quercus Aegilops_).
Myrobalans are the fruit of an Indian tree. There are several
different qualities, the order of which is as follows, the best being
placed first: Bhimley, Jubbalpore, Rajpore, Fair Coast Madras and
Vingorlas. They are a very light-coloured material, containing from 27
% to 38 % of tannin; they deposit much "bloom," ferment fairly
rapidly, supplying acidity, and yield a mellow leather.
Chestnut comes on the market in the form of crude and decolorized
liquid extracts, containing about 27 % to 31 % of tannin, and yields a
good leather of a light-brown colour.
Oakwood reaches the market in the same form; it is a very similar
material, but only contains 24 % to 27 % of tannin, and yields a
slightly heavier and darker leather.
Divi-divi is the dried seed pods of an Indian tree containing 40 % to
45 % of tannin, and yielding a white leather; it might be valuable but
for the tendency to dangerous fermentation and development of a
dark-red colouring matter.
Algarobilla consists of the seeds of an Indian tree, containing about
45 % of tannin, and in general properties is similar to divi-divi, but
does not discolour so much upon fermentation.
Sumach is perhaps the best and most useful material known. It is the
ground leaves of a Sicilian plant, containing about 28 % of tannin,
and yielding a nearly white and very beautiful leather. It is used
alone for tanning the best moroccos and finer leather, and being so
valuable is much adulterated, the chief adulterant being _Pistacia
lentiscus_ (Stinko or Lentisco), an inferior and light-coloured
catechol tannin. Other but inferior sumachs are also used. There is
Venetian sumach (_Rhus cotinus_) and Spanish sumach (_Colpoon
compressa_); these are used to some extent in the countries bordering
on the Mediterranean. _R. Glabra_ and _R. Copallina_ are also used in
considerable quantities in America, where they are cultivated.
Galls are abnormal growths found upon oaks, and caused by the gall
wasp laying eggs in the plant. They are best harvested just before the
insect escapes. They contain from 50 % to 60 % of tannin, and are
generally used for the commercial supply of tannic acid, and not for
tanning purposes.
Gambier, terra japonica or catechu, is the product of a shrub
cultivated in Singapore and the Malay Archipelago. It is made by
boiling the shrub and allowing the extract to solidify. It is a
peculiar material, and may be completely washed out of a leather
tanned with it. It mellows exceedingly, and keeps the leather fibre
open; it may be said that it only goes in the leather to prepare and
make easy the way for other tannins. Block gambier contains from 35 %
to 40 % and cube gambier from 50 % to 65 % of tannin.
Hemlock generally reaches the market as extract, prepared from the
bark of the American tree. It contains about 22 % of tannin, has a
pine-like odour, but yields a rather dark-coloured red leather.
Quebracho is imported mainly as solid extract, containing 63 % to 70 %
of tannin; it is a harsh, light-red tannage, but darkens rapidly on
exposure to light. It is used for freshening up very mellow liquors,
but is rather wasteful, as it deposits an enormous amount of its
tannin as phlobaphenes.
Mangrove or cutch is a solid extract prepared from the mangrove tree
found in the swamps of Borneo and the Straits Settlements; it contains
upwards of 60 % of a red tannin.
Mimosa is the bark of the Australian golden wattle (_Acacia
pycnantha_), and contains from 36 % to 50 % of tannin. It is a rather
harsh tannage, yielding a flesh-coloured leather, and is useful for
sharpening liquors. This bark is now successfully cultivated in Natal.
The tannin content of this Natal bark is somewhat inferior, but the
colour is superior to the Australian product.
Larch bark contains 9 % to 10 % of light-coloured tannin, and is used
especially for tanning Scotch basils.
Canaigre is the air-dried tuberous roots of a Mexican plant,
containing 25 % to 30 % of tannin and about 8 % of starch. It yields
an orange-coloured leather of considerable weight and firmness. Its
cultivation did not pay well enough, so that it is little used.
Cutch, catechu or "dark catechu," is obtained from the wood of Indian
acacias, and is not to be confounded with mangrove cutch. It contains
60 % of tanning matter and a large proportion of catechin similar to
that contained in gambier, but much redder. It is used for dyeing
browns and blacks with chrome and iron mordants.
The willow and the white birch barks contain, respectively, 12 % to 14
% and 2 % to 5 % of tannin. In combination they are used to produce
the famous Russia leather, whose insect-resisting odour is due to the
birch bark. In America this leather is imitated with the American
black birch bark (_Betula lenta_), and also with the oil obtained from
its dry distillation.
In the list of materials two have been placed in a subsidiary class
because they are a mixture of catechol and pyrogallol tannin. Oak bark
produces the best leather known, proving that a blend of the two
classes of tannins gives the best results. It is the bark of the
coppice oak, and contains 12 % to 14 % of a reddish-yellow tannage.
Valonia is the acorn cup of the Turkish and Greek oak. The Smyrna or
Turkish valonia is best, and contains 32 % to 36 % of an almost white
tannin. Greek valonia is greyer in colour, and contains 26 % to 30 %
of tannin. It yields a tough, firm leather of great weight, due to the
rapid deposition of a large amount of bloom.
_Grinding and Leaching[1] Tanning Materials._--At first sight it would
not seem possible that science could direct such a clumsy process as
the grinding of tanning materials, and yet even here, the "scientific
smashing" of tanning materials may mean the difference between profit
and loss to the tanner. In most materials the tannin exists imprisoned
in cells, and is also to some extent free, but with this latter
condition the science of grinding has nothing to do. If tanning
materials are simply broken by a series of clean cuts, only those
cells directly on the surfaces of the cuts will be ready to yield
their tannin; therefore, if materials are ground by cutting, a
proportion of the total tannin is thrown away. Hence it is necessary
to bruise, break and otherwise sever the walls of all the cells
containing the tannin; so that the machine wanted is one which
crushes, twists and cuts the material at the same time, turning it out
of uniform size and with little dust.
The apparatus in most common use is built on the same principle as the
coffee mill, which consists of a series of segmental cutters; as the
bark works down into the smaller cutters of the mill it is twisted and
cut in every direction. This is a very good form of mill, but it
requires a considerable amount of power and works slowly. The teeth
require constant renewal, and should, therefore, be replaceable in
rows, not, as in some forms, cast on the bell. The disintegrator is
another form of mill, which produces its effect by violent concussion,
obtained by the revolution in opposite directions of from four to six
large metal arms fitted with projecting spikes inside a drum, the
faces of which are also fitted with protruding pieces of metal. The
arms make from 2000 to 4000 revolutions per minute. The chief
objection to this apparatus is that it forms much dust, which is
caught in silken bags fitted to gratings in the drum. The myrobalans
crusher, a very useful machine for such materials as myrobalans and
valonia, consists of a pair of toothed rollers above and a pair of
fluted rollers beneath. The material is dropped upon the toothed
rollers first, where it is broken and crushed; then the crushing is
finished and any sharp corners rounded off in the fluted rollers.
It must not be thought that now the material is ground it is
necessarily ready for leaching. This may or may not be so, depending
upon whether the tanner is making light or heavy leathers. If light
leathers are being considered, it is ready for immediate leaching,
i.e. to be infused with water in preparation of a liquor. If heavy
leathers are in process of manufacture, he would be a very wasteful
tanner who would extract his material raw. It must be borne in mind
that when an infusion is made with fresh tanning material, the liquor
begins to deposit decomposition products after standing a day or two,
and the object of the heavy-leather tanner is to get this material
deposited in the leather, to fill the pores, produce weight and make a
firm, tough product. With this end in view he dusts his hides with
this fresh material in the layers, i.e. he spreads a layer between
each hide as it is laid down, so that the strong liquors penetrate and
deposit in the hides. When most of this power to deposit has been
usefully utilized in the layers, then the material (which is now,
perhaps, half spent) is leached. The light-leather maker does not want
a hard, firm leather, but a soft and pliable product; hence he leaches
his material fresh, and does not trouble as to whether the tannin
deposits in the pits or not.
Whether fresh or partially spent material is leached, the process is
carried out in the same way. There are several methods in vogue; the
best method only will be described, viz. the "press leach" system.
The leaching is carried out in a series of six square pits, each
holding about 3 to 4 tons of material. The method depends upon the
fact that when a weak liquor is forced over a stronger one they do not
mix, by reason of the higher specific gravity of the stronger one; the
weaker liquor, therefore, by its weight forces the stronger liquor
downwards, and as the pit in which it is contained is fitted with a
false bottom and side duct running over into the next pit, the
stronger liquor is forced upwards through this duct on to the next
stronger pit. There the process is repeated, until finally the weak
liquor or water, as the case may be, is run off the last vat as a very
strong infusion. As a concrete example let us take the six pits shown
in the figure.
+-------+-------+-------+
| | | |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | | |
+-------+-------+-------+
| | | |
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
| | | |
+-------+-------+-------+
No. 6 is the last vat, and the liquor, which is very strong, is about
to be run off. No. 1 is spent material, over which all six liquors
have passed, the present liquor having been pumped on as fresh water.
The liquor from No. 6 is run off into the pump well, and liquor No. 1
is pumped over No. 2, thus forcing all liquors one forward and leaving
pit No. 1 empty; this pit is now cast and filled with clean fishings
and perhaps a little new material, clean water is then pumped on No.
2, which is now the weakest pit, and all liquors are thus forced
forward one pit more, making No. 1 the strongest pit. After infusing
for some time this is run off to the pump well, and the process
repeated. It may be noted that the hotter the water is pumped on the
weakest pit, the better will the material be spent, and the nearer the
water is to boiling-point the better; in fact, a well-managed tanyard
should have the spent tan down to between 1% and 2% of tannin,
although this material is frequently thrown away containing up to 10%
and sometimes even more. There is a great saving of time and labour in
this method, since the liquors are self-adjusting.
_Testing Tan Liquors._--The methods by which the tanning value of any
substance may be determined are many, but few are at once capable of
simple application and minute accuracy. An old method of ascertaining
the strength of a tan liquor is by means of a hydrometer standardized
against water, and called a barkometer. It consists of a long
graduated stem fixed to a hollow bulb, the opposite end of which is
weighted. It is placed in the liquor, the weighted end sinks to a
certain depth, and the reading is taken on the stem at that point
which touches "water mark." The graduations are such that if the
specific gravity is multiplied by 1000 and then 1000 is subtracted
from the result, the barkometer strength of the liquor is obtained.
Thus 1029 specific gravity equals 29° barkometer. This method affords
no indication of the amount of tannin present, but is useful to the
man who knows his liquors by frequent analysis.
A factor which governs the quality of the leather quite as much as the
tannin itself is the acidity of the liquors. It is known that gallic
and tannic acids form insoluble calcium salts, and all the other acids
present as acetic, propionic, butyric, lactic, formic, &c., form
comparatively soluble salts, so that an easy method of determining
this important factor is as follows:--
Take a quantity, say 100 c.c., of tan liquor, filter till clear
through paper, then pipette 10 c.c. into a small beaker (about 1½ in.
diameter), place it on some printed paper and note how clear the print
appears through the liquor; now gradually add from a burette a clear
solution of saturated lime water until the liquor becomes just cloudy,
that is until it just loses its brilliancy. Now read off the number of
cubic centimetres required in the graduated stem of the burette, and
either read as degrees (counting each c.c. as one degree), to which
practice at once gives a useful signification, or calculate out in
terms of acetic acid per 100 c.c. of liquor, reckoning saturated lime
water as 1/20 normal.
The methods which deal with the actual testing for tannin itself
depend mostly upon one or other of two processes; either the
precipitation of the tannin by means of gelatin, or its absorption by
means of prepared hide. Sir Humphry Davy was the first to propose a
method for analysing tanning materials, and he precipitated the tannin
by means of gelatin in the presence of alum, then dried and weighed
the precipitate, after washing free from excess of reagents. This
method was improved by Stoddart, but cannot lay claim to much
accuracy. Warington and Müller again modified the method, but their
procedure being tedious and difficult to work could not be regarded as
a great advance. Wagner then proposed precipitation by means of the
alkaloids, with special regard to cinchonine sulphate in the presence
of rosaniline acetate as indicator, but this method also proved
useless. After this many metallic precipitants were tried, used
gravimetrically and volumetrically, but without success. The weighing
of precipitated tannates will never succeed, because the tannins are
such a diverse class of substances that each tannin precipitates
different quantities of the precipitants, and some materials contain
two or three different tannins. Then there are also the difficulties
of incomplete precipitation and the precipitation of colouring matter,
&c. Among this class of methods may be mentioned Garland's, in which
tartar emetic and sal ammoniac were employed. It was improved by
Richards and Palmer.
Another class of methods depends upon the destruction of the tannin by
some oxidizing agent, and the estimation of the amount required.
Terreil rendered the tannin alkaline, and after agitating it with a
known quantity of air, estimated the volume of oxygen absorbed. The
method was slow and subject to many sources of error. Commaille
oxidized with a known quantity of iodic acid and estimated the excess
of iodate. This process also was troublesome, besides oxidizing the
gallic acid (as do all the oxidation processes), and entailing a
separate estimation of them after the removal of the tannin. Ferdinand
Jean (1877) titrated alkaline tannin solution with standard iodine,
but the mixture was so dark that the end reaction with starch could
not be seen; in addition the gallic acid had again to be estimated.
Monier proposed permanganate as an oxidizing agent, and Lowenthal made
a very valuable improvement by adding indigo solution to the tannin
solution, which controlled the oxidation and acted as indicator. This
method also required double titration because of the gallic acid
present, the tanning matters being removed from solution by means of
gelatin and acidified salt.
The indirect gravimetric hide-powder method first took form about
1886. It was published in _Der Gerber_ by Simand and Weiss, other
workers being Eitner and Meerkatz. Hammer, Muntz and Ramspacher did
some earlier work on similar lines, depending upon the specific
gravity of solutions. Professor H. R. Procter perfected this method by
packing a bell, similar in shape to a bottomless bottle of about 2 oz.
(liq.) capacity, with the hide-powder, and siphoning the tan liquor up
through the powder and over into a receiver. This deprives the tan
liquor of tannin, and a portion of this non-tannin solution is
evaporated to dryness and weighed till constant; similarly a portion
of the original solution containing non-tannins and tannins is
evaporated and weighed till constant; then the weight of the
non-tannins subtracted from the weight of the non-tannins and tannins
gives the weight of tannin, which is calculated to percentage on
original solutions. This method was adopted as official by the
International Association of Leather Trades Chemists until September
1906, when its faults were vividly brought before them by Gordon
Parker of London and Bennett of Leeds, working in collaboration,
although other but not so complete work had been previously done to
the same end. The main faults of the method were that the hide-powder
absorbed non-tannins, and therefore registered them as tannins, and
the hide-powder was partially soluble. This difficulty has now been
overcome to a large extent in the present official method of the
I.A.L.T.C.
Meanwhile, Parker and Munro Payne proposed a new method of analysis,
the essence of which is as follows:--A definite excess of lime
solution is added to a definite quantity of tannin solution and the
excess of lime estimated; the tan solution is now deprived of tannin
by means of a soluble modification of gelatin, called "collin," and
the process is repeated. Thus we get two sets of figures, viz. total
absorption and acid absorption (i.e. acids other than tan); the latter
subtracted from the former gives tannin absorption, and this is
calculated out in percentage of original liquor. The method failed
theoretically, because a definite molecular weight had to be assumed
for tannins which are all different. There are also several other
objections, but though, like the hide-powder method, it is quite
empirical, it gives exceedingly useful results if the rules for
working are strictly adhered to.
The present official method of the I.A.L.T.C. is a modification of the
American official method, which is in turn a modification of a method
proposed by W. Eitner, of the Vienna Leather Research Station. The
hide-powder is very slightly chrome-tanned with a basic solution of
chromium chloride, 2 grammes of the latter being used per 100 grammes
of hide-powder, and is then washed free from soluble salts and
squeezed to contain 70% of moisture, and is ready for use. This
preliminary chroming does away with the difficulty of the powder being
soluble, by rendering it quite insoluble; it also lessens the tendency
to absorb non-tannins. Such a quantity of this wet powder as contains
6.5 grammes of dry hide is now taken, and water is added until this
quantity contains exactly 20 grammes of moisture, i.e. 26.5 grammes in
all; it is then agitated for 15 minutes with 100 c.c. of the prepared
tannin solution, which is made up to contain tannin within certain
definite limits, in a mechanical rotator, and filtered. Of this
non-tannin solution 50 c.c. is then evaporated to dryness. The same
thing is done with 50 c.c. of original solution containing non-tannins
and tannins, and both residues are weighed. The tannin is thus
determined by difference. The method does all that science can do at
present. The rules for carrying out the analysis are necessarily very
strict. The object in view is that all chemists should get exactly
concordant results, and in this the I.A.L.T.C. has succeeded.
The work done by Wood, Trotman, Procter, Parker and others on the
alkaloidal precipitation of tannin deserves mention.
_Heavy Leathers._--The hides of oxen are received in the tanyard in four
different conditions: (1) market or slaughter hides, which, coming
direct from the local abattoirs, are soft, moist and covered with dirt
and blood; (2) wet salted hides; (3) dry salted hides; (4) sun-dried or
"flint" hides--the last three forms being the condition in which the
imports of foreign hides are made. The first operation in the tannery is
to clean the hides and bring them back as nearly as possible to the
flaccid condition in which they left the animal's back. The blood and
other matter on market hides must be removed as quickly as possible, the
blood being of itself a cause of dark stains and bad grain, and with the
other refuse a source of putrefaction. When the hides are sound they are
given perhaps two changes of water.
Salted hides need a longer soaking than market hides, as it is not
only essential to remove the salt from the hide, but also necessary to
plump and soften the fibre which has been partially dehydrated and
contracted by the salt. It must also be borne in mind that a 10 %
solution of salt dissolves hide substance, thereby causing an
undesirable loss of weight, and a weak solution prevents plumping,
especially when taken into the limes, and may also cause "buckling,"
which cannot easily be removed in after processes. Dried and dry
salted hides require a much longer soaking than any other variety.
Dried hides are always uncertain, as they may have putrefied before
drying, and also may have been dried at too high a temperature; in the
former case they fall to pieces in the limes, and in the latter case
it is practically impossible to soak them back, unless putrefactive
processes are used, and such are always dangerous and difficult to
work because of the Rivers Pollution Acts. Prolonged soaking in cold
water dissolves a serious amount of hide substance. Soaking in brine
may be advantageous, as it prevents putrefaction to some extent.
Caustic soda, sodium sulphide and sulphurous acid may also be
advantageously employed on account of their softening and antiseptic
action. In treating salted goods, the first wash water should always
be rapidly changed, because, as mentioned, strong salt solutions
dissolve hide; four changes of water should always be given to these
goods.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Double-acting Stocks.]
There are other and mechanical means of softening obstinate material,
viz. by stocking. The American hide mill, or double-acting stocks,
shown diagrammatically in fig. 2, is a popular piece of apparatus, but
the goods should never be subjected to violent mechanical treatment
until soft enough to stand it, else severe grain cracking may result.
Perhaps the use of sodium sulphide or caustic soda in conjunction with
the American wash wheel is the safest method.
Whatever means are used the ultimate object is first to swell and open
up the fibres as much as possible, and secondly to remove putrefactive
refuse and dirt, which if left in is fixed by the lime in the process
of depilation, and causes a dirty buff.
After being thus brought as nearly as possible into a uniform condition,
all hides are treated alike. The first operation to which they are
subjected is _depilation_, which removes not only the hair but also the
scarf skin or epidermis. When the goods are sent to the limes for
depilation they are, first of all, placed in an old lime, highly charged
with organic matter and bacteria. It is the common belief that the lime
causes the hair to loosen and fall out, but this is not so; in fact,
pure lime has the opposite effect of tightening the hair. The real
cause of the loosening of the hair is that the bacteria in the old lime
creep down the hair, enter the _rete Malpighi_ and hair sheath, and
attack and decompose the soft cellular structure of the sheath and bulb,
also altering the composition of the _rete Malpighi_ by means of which
the scarf skin adheres to the true skin. These products of the bacterial
action are soluble in lime, and immediately dissolve, leaving the scarf
skin and hair unbound and in a condition to leave the skin upon
scraping. In this first "green" lime the action is mainly this
destructive one, but the goods have yet to be made ready to receive the
tan liquor, which they must enter in a plump, open and porous condition.
Consequently, the "green" lime is followed with two more, the second
being less charged with bacteria, and the third being, if not actually a
new one, a very near approach to it; in these two limes the bundles of
fibre are gradually softened, split up and distended, causing the hide
to swell, the interfibrillar substance is rendered soluble and the whole
generally made suitable for transference to the tan liquors. The hide
itself is only very slightly soluble; if care is taken, the grease is
transformed into an insoluble calcium soap, and the hair is hardly acted
upon at all.
The time the goods are in the limes and the method of making new limes
depends upon the quality of the leather to be turned out. The harder and
tougher the leather required the shorter and fresher the liming. For
instance, for sole leather where a hard result is required, the time in
the limes would be from 8 to 10 days, and a perfectly fresh top lime
would be used, with the addition of sodium sulphide to hasten the
process. Every tanner uses a different quantity of lime and sulphide,
but a good average quantity is 7 lb. lime per hide and 10-15 lb. sodium
sulphide per pit of 100 hides. The lime is slaked with water and the
sulphide mixed in during the slaking; if it is added to the pit when the
slaking is finished the greater part of its effect is lost, as it does
not then enter into the same chemical combinations with the lime,
forming polysulphides, as when it is added during the process of
slaking.
For softer and more pliable leathers, such as are required for harness
and belting, a "lower" or mellower liming is given, and the time in the
limes is increased from 9 to 12 days. Some of the old mellow liquor is
added to the fresh lime in the making, so as just to take off the
sharpness. It would be made up as for sole leather, but with less
sulphide or none at all, and then a dozen buckets of an old lime would
be added. For lighter leathers from 3 to 6 weeks' liming is given, and a
fresh lime is never used.
"Sweating" as a method of depilation is obsolete in England so far as
heavy leathers are concerned. It consists of hanging the goods in a
moist warm room until incipient putrefaction sets in. This first
attacks the more mucous portions, as the _rete Malpighi_, hair bulb
and sheath, and so allows the hair to be removed as before. The method
pulls down the hide, and the putrefaction may go too far, with
disastrous results, but there is much to recommend it for sheepskins
where the wool is the main consideration, the main point being that
while lime entirely destroys wool, this process leaves it intact, only
loosening the roots. It is consequently still much used.
Another method of fellmongering (dewooling) sheepskins is to paint the
flesh side with a cream of lime made with a 10% solution of sodium
sulphide and lay the goods in pile flesh to flesh, taking care that
none of the solution comes in contact with the wool, which is ready
for pulling in from 4 to 8 hours. Although this process may be used
for any kind of skin, it is practically only used for sheep, as if any
other skin is depilated in this manner all plumping effect is lost.
Since this must be obtained in some way, it is an economy of time and
material to place the goods in lime in the first instance.
Sometimes, in the commoner classes of sole leather, the hair is
removed by painting the hair side with cream of lime and sulphide, or
the same effect is produced by drawing the hides through a strong
solution of sulphide; this completely destroys the hair, actually
taking it into solution. But the hair roots remain embedded in the
skin, and for this reason such leather always shows a dirty buff.
Arsenic sulphide (realgar) is slaked with the lime for the production
of the finer light leathers, such as glace kid and glove kid. This
method produces a very smooth grain (the tendency of sodium sulphide
being to make the grain harsh and bold), and is therefore very
suitable for the purpose, but it is very expensive.
Sufficient proof of the fact that it is not the lime which causes
skins to unhair is found in the process of chemical liming patented by
Payne and Pullman. In this process the goods are first treated with
caustic soda and then with calcium chloride; in this manner lime is
formed in the skin by the reaction of the two salts, but still the
hair remains as tight as ever. If this process is to be used for
unhairing and liming effect, the goods must be first subjected to a
putrid soak to loosen the hair, and afterwards limed. Experiments made
by the present writer also prove this theory. A piece of calf skin was
subjected to sterilized lime for several months, at the end of which
time the hair was as tight as ever; then bacterial influence was
introduced, and the skin unhaired in as many days.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Tanner's Beam.]
After liming it is necessary to unhair the goods. This is done by
stretching a hide over a tanner's beam (fig. 3), when with an unhairing
knife (a, fig. 4) the beamsman partially scrapes and partially shaves
off the hair and epidermis. Another workman, a "flesher," removes the
flesh or "net skin" (_panniculus adiposus_), a fatty matter from the
flesh side of the skin, with the fleshing knife (two-edged), seen in b,
fig. 4. For these operations several machines have been adapted, working
mostly with revolving spiral blades or vibrating cutters, under which
the hides pass in a fully extended state. Among these may be mentioned
the Leidgen unhairer, which works on a rubber bed, which "gives" with
the irregularities of the hide, and the Wilson flesher, consisting of a
series of knives attached to a revolving belt, and which also "give" in
contact with irregularities.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Tanner's Knives and Pin.]
At this stage the hide is divided into several parts, the process being
known as "rounding." The object of the division is this: certain parts
of the hide termed the "offal" are of less value than the "butt," which
consists of the prime part. The grain of the butt is fine and close in
texture, whereas the offal grain is loose, coarse and open, and if the
offal is placed in the same superior liquors as the butt, being open and
porous, it will absorb the best of the tannin first; consequently the
offal goes to a set of inferior liquors, often consisting of those
through which the butts have passed. The hides are "rounded" with a
sharp curved butcher's knife; the divisions are seen in fig. 5. The
bellies, cheeks and shoulders constitute the offal, and are tanned
separately although the shoulder is not often detached from the butt
until the end of the "suspenders," being of slightly better quality than
the bellies. The butt is divided into two "bends." This separation is
not made until the tanning of the butt is finished, when it is cut in
two, and the components sold as "bends," although as often as not the
butt is not divided. In America the hides are only split down the ridge
of the back, from head to tail, and tanned as hides. Dressing hides are
more frequently rounded after tanning, the mode depending on the purpose
for which the leather is required.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
The next step is to remove as much "scud" and lime as possible, the
degree of removal of the latter depending upon the kind of leather to be
turned out. "Scudding" consists of working the already unhaired hide
over the beam with an unhairing knife with increased pressure, squeezing
out the dirt, which is composed of pigment cells, semi-soluble compounds
of lime, and hide, hair sacks and soluble hide substance, &c. This
exudes as a dirty, milky, viscid liquid, and mechanically brings the
lime out with it, but involves a great and undesirable loss of hide
substance, heavy leather being sold by weight. This difficulty is now
got over by giving the goods an acid bath first, to delime the surface;
the acid fixes this soluble hide substance (which is only soluble in
alkalies) and hardens it, thus preventing its loss, and the goods may
then be scudded clean with safety. The surface of all heavy leathers
must be delimed to obtain a good coloured leather, the demand of the
present day boot manufacturer; it is also necessary to carry this
further with milder leathers than sole, such as harness and belly, &c.,
as excess of lime causes the leather to crack when finished. Perhaps the
best material for this purpose is boracic acid, using about 10 lb. per
100 butts, and suspending the goods. This acid yields a characteristic
fine grain, and because of its limited solubility cannot be used in
excess. Other acids are also used, such as acetic, lactic, formic,
hydrochloric, with varying success. Where the water used is very soft,
it is only necessary to wash in water for a few hours, when the butts
are ready for tanning, but if the water is hard, the lime is fixed in
the hide by the bicarbonates it contains, in the form of carbonate, and
the result is somewhat disastrous.
After deliming, the butts are scudded, rinsed through water or weak
acid, and go off to the tan pits for tanning proper. Any lime which
remains is sufficiently removed by the acidity of the early tan liquors.
The actual tanning now begins, and the operations involved may be
divided into a series of three: (1) colouring, (2) handling, (3) laying
away.
The colouring pits or "suspenders," perhaps a series of eight pits,
consist of liquors ranging from 16° to 40° barkometer, which were once
the strongest liquors in the yard, but have gradually worked down,
having had some hundreds of hides through them; they now contain very
little tannin, and consist mainly of developed acids which neutralize
the lime, plump the hide, colour it off, and generally prepare it to
receive stronger liquors. The goods are suspended in these pits on
poles, which are lifted up and down several times a day to ensure the
goods taking an even colour; they are moved one pit forward each day
into slightly stronger liquors, and take about from 7 to 18 days to get
through the suspender stage.
The reason why the goods are suspended at this stage instead of being
laid flat is that if the latter course were adopted, the hides would
sink and touch one another, and the touch-marks, not being accessible
to the tan liquor, would not colour, and uneven colouring would thus
result; in addition the weight of the top hides would flatten the
lower ones and prevent their plumping, and this condition would be
exceedingly difficult to remedy in the after liquors. Another question
which might occur to the non-technical reader is, why should not the
process be hastened by placing the goods in strong liquors? The reason
is simple. Strong tanning solutions have the effect of "drawing the
grain" of pelt, i.e. contracting the fibres, and causing the leather
to assume a very wrinkled appearance which cannot afterwards be
remedied; at the same time "case tanning" results, i.e. the outside
only gets tanned, leaving the centre still raw hide, and once the
outside is case-hardened it is impossible for the liquor to penetrate
and finish the tanning. This condition being almost irremediable, the
leather would thus be rendered useless.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Tanner's Hook (without handle).]
After the "suspenders" the goods are transferred to a series of
"handlers" or "floaters," consisting of, perhaps, a dozen pits
containing liquors ranging from 30° to 55° barkometer. These liquors
contain an appreciable quantity of both tannin and acid, once formed the
"lay-aways," and are destined to constitute the "suspenders." In these
pits the goods, having been evenly coloured off, are laid flat, handled
every day in the "hinder" (weaker) liquors and shifted forward, perhaps
every two days, at the tanner's convenience. The "handling" consists of
lifting the butts out of the pit by means of a tanner's hook (fig. 6),
piling them on the side of the pit to drain, and returning them to the
pit, the top butt in the one handler being returned as the bottom in the
next. This operation is continued throughout the process, only, as the
hides advance, the necessity for frequent handling decreases. The top
two handler pits are sometimes converted into "dusters," i.e. when the
hides have advanced to these pits, as each butt is lowered, a small
quantity of tanning material is sprinkled on it.
Some tanners, now that the hides are set flat, put them in suspension
again before laying away; the method has its advantages, but is not
general. The goods are generally laid away immediately. The layer
liquors consist of leached liquors from the fishings, strengthened with
either chestnut or oakwood extract, or a mixture of the two. The first
layer is made up to, say, 60° barkometer in this way, and as the hides
are laid down they are sprinkled with fresh tanning material, and remain
undisturbed for about one week. The second layer is a 70° barkometer
liquor, the hides are again sprinkled and allowed to lie for perhaps two
weeks. The third may be 80° barkometer and the fourth 90°, the goods
being "dusted" as before, and lying undisturbed for perhaps three or
four weeks respectively. Some tanners give more layers, and some give
less, some more or less time, or greater or lesser strengths of liquor,
but this tannage is a typical modern one.
As regards "dusting" material, for mellow leather, mellow materials are
required, such as myrobalans being the mellowest and mimosa bark the
most astringent of those used in this connexion. For harder leather, as
sole leather, a much smaller quantity of myrobalans is used, if any at
all, a fair quantity of mimosa bark as a medium, and much valonia, which
deposits a large amount of bloom, and is of great astringency. About 3
to 4 cwt. of a judicious mixture is used for each pit, the mellower
material predominating in the earlier liquors and the most astringent in
the later liquors.
The tanning is now finished, and the goods are handled out of the pits,
brushed free from dusting material, washed up in weak liquor, piled and
allowed to drip for 2 or 3 days so that the tan may become set.
_Finishing._--From this stage the treatment of sole leather differs from
that of harness, belting and mellower leathers. As regards the first, it
will be found on looking at the dripping pile of leather that each butt
is covered with a fawn-coloured deposit, known technically as "bloom";
this disguises the under colour of the leather, just like a coat of
paint. The theory of the formation of this bloom is this. Strong
solutions of tannin, such as are formed between the hides from dusting
materials, are not able to exist for long without decomposition, and
consequently the tannin begins to condense, and forms other acids and
insoluble anhydrides; this insoluble matter separates in and on the
leather, giving weight, firmness, and rendering the leather waterproof.
It is known technically as bloom and chemically as ellagic acid.
After dripping, the goods are scoured free from surface bloom in a
Wilson scouring machine, and are then ready for bleaching. There are
several methods by which this is effected, or, more correctly several
materials or mixtures are used, the method of application being the
same, viz. the goods are "vatted" (steeped) for some hours in the
bleaching mixture at a temperature of 110° F. The mixture may consist
of either sumach and a light-coloured chestnut extract made to 110°
barkometer, and 110° F., or some bleaching extract made for the
purpose, consisting of bisulphited liquid quebracho, which bleaches by
reason of the free sulphurous acid it contains. The former method is
best (though more expensive), as it removes less weight, and the light
shade of colour is more permanent than that obtained by using
bisulphited extracts.
After the first vatting the goods are laid up in pile to drip;
meanwhile the liquor is again heated, and they are then returned for
another twenty-four hours, again removed and allowed to drip for 2 to
3 days, after which they are oiled with cod oil on the grain and hung
up in the sheds to dry in the dark. When they have dried to an
india-rubber-like condition, they are piled and allowed to heat
slightly until a greyish "bloom" rises to the surface, they are then
set out and stretched in a Wilson scouring machine; using brass
slickers instead of the stone ones used for scouring, "pinned" over by
hand (with the three-edged instrument seen in c, fig. 4, and known as
a "pin") to remove any bloom not removed by the machine, oiled and
dried. When of a damp even colour they are "rolled on" between two
heavy rollers like a wringing machine, the pressure being applied from
above, hung up in the dark sheds again until the uneven colour so
produced has dried in, and then "rolled off" through the same machine,
the pressure being applied from below. They are now dried right out,
brushed on the grain to produce a slight gloss, and are finished.
As regards the finishing of harness leather, &c., the goods, after
thorough dripping for a day or two, are brushed, lightly scoured, washed
up in hot sumach and extract to improve the colour, and are again laid
up in pile for two days; they are then given a good coat of cod oil,
sent to the sheds, and dried right out. Only sufficient scouring is
given to clean the goods, the object of the tanner being to leave as
much weight in as possible, although all this superfluous tan has to be
washed out by the currier before he can proceed.
_Currying._--When the goods are dried from the sheds they are purchased
by the currier. If, as is often the case, the tanner is his own currier,
he does not tan the goods so heavily, or trouble about adding
superfluous weight, but otherwise the after processes, the art of the
currier, are the same.
Currying consists of working oil and grease into the leather to render
it pliable and increase its strength. It was once thought that this was
a mere physical effect produced by the oil, but such is not the case.
Currying with animal oils is a second tannage in itself; the oils
oxidize in the fibres and produce aldehydes, which are well-known
tanning agents; and this double tannage renders the leather very strong.
Then there is the lubricating effect, a very important physical action
so far as the strength of the leather is concerned. Mineral oils are
much used, but they do not oxidize to aldehydes, or, for the matter of
that, to anything else, as they are not subject to decomposition. They,
therefore, produce no second tannage, and their action is merely the
physical one of lubrication, and this is only more or less temporary,
as, except in the case of the heavier greases, they slowly evaporate.
Where animal fats and oils are used, the longer the goods are left in
contact with the grease the better and stronger will be the leather.
In the "Einbrennen" process (German for "burning in"), the hides are
thoroughly scoured, and when dry are dipped into hot grease, which is
then allowed to cool; when it is nearly set the goods are removed and
set out. This process is not much used in Great Britain.
In hand-stuffing belting butts the goods are first thoroughly soaked in
water to which has been added some soda, and then scoured and stretched
by machine. They are then lightly shaved, to take off the loose flesh
and thin the neck. The whole of the mechanically deposited tannin is
removed by scouring, to make room for the grease, and they are then put
into a sumach vat of 40° barkometer to brighten the colour, horsed up to
drip, and set out. If any loading, to produce fictitious weight, is to
be done, it is done now, by brushing the solution of either epsom salts,
barium chloride or glucose, or a mixture, into the flesh, and laying
away in pile for some days to allow of absorption, when, perhaps,
another coat is given. Whether this is done or not, the goods are hung
up until "tempered" (denoting a certain degree of dryness), and then
treated with dubbin. This is manufactured by melting down tallow in a
steam-jacketed pan, and adding cod oil, the mixture being stirred
continually; when quite clear, it is cooled as rapidly as possible by
running cold water through the steam pan, the stirring being continued
until it has set. The tempered leather having been set out on a glass
table, to which the flesh side adheres, is given a thin coat of the
dubbin on the grain, turned, set out on the flesh, and given a thick
coat of dubbin. Then it is hung up in a wind shed, and as the moisture
dries out the grease goes in. After two or three days the goods are "set
out in grease" with a brass slicker, given a coat of dubbin on the grain
slightly thicker than the first coat, then flesh dubbined, a slightly
thinner coat being applied than at first, and stoved at 70° F. The
grease which is slicked off when "setting out in grease" is collected
and sold. After hanging in the warm stove for 2 or 3 days the butts are
laid away in grease for a month; they are then slicked out tight, flesh
and grain, and buck tallowed. Hard tallow is first rubbed on the grain,
when a slight polish is induced by rubbing with the smoothed rounded
edge of a thick slab of glass; they are then hung up in the stove or
stretched in frames to dry. A great deal of stuffing is now carried out
by drumming the goods in hot hard fats in previously heated drums; and
in modern times the tedious process of laying away in grease for a month
is either left undone altogether or very considerably shortened.
In the tanning and dressing of the commoner varieties of kips and dried
hides, the materials used are of a poorer quality, and the time taken
for all processes is cut down, so that whereas the time taken to dress
the better class of leather is from 7 to 10 months, and in a few cases
more, these cheaper goods are turned out in from 3½ to 5 months.
A considerable quantity of the leather which reaches England, such as
East India tanned kips, Australian sides, &c., is bought up and
retanned, being sold then as a much better-class leather. The first
operation with such goods is to "strip" them of any grease they may
contain, and part of their original tannage. This is effectually carried
out by first soaking them thoroughly, laying them up to drip, and
drumming for half an hour in a weak solution of soda; they are then
washed by drumming in plenty of water, the water is run off and replaced
by very weak sulphuric acid to neutralize any remaining soda; this is in
turn run off and replaced by weak tan liquor, and the goods are so
tanned by drumming for some days in a liquor of gradually increasing
strength. The liquor is made up as cheaply as possible with plenty of
solid quebracho and other cheap extract, which is dried in with,
perhaps, glucose, epsom salts, &c. to produce weight. Sometimes a better
tannage is given to goods of fair quality, in which they are, perhaps,
started in the drum and finished in layers, slightly better materials
being used all through, and a longer time taken to complete the tannage.
The tannage of dressing hides for bag and portmanteau work is rather
different from the other varieties described, in that the goods, after
having had a rather longer liming, are "bated" or "puered."
Bating consists of placing the goods in a wheel or paddle with hen or
pigeon excrement, and paddling for from a few hours to 2 or 3 days. In
puering, dog manure is used, and this being rather more active, the
process does not take so long. This bating or puering is carried out
in warm liquors, and the actions involved are several. From a
practical point of view the action is the removal of the lime and the
solution of the hair sacs and a certain amount of interfibrillar
substance. In this way the goods are pulled down to a soft flaccid
condition, which allows of the removal of short hair, hair sacs and
other filth by scudding with an unhairing knife upon the beam. The
lime is partially taken into solution and partially removed
mechanically during the scudding. A large quantity of hide substance,
semi-soluble and soluble, is lost by being pressed out, but this
matters little, as for dressing work, area, and not weight, is the
main consideration. Theoretically the action is due to bacteria and
bacterial products (organized ferments and enzymes), unorganized
ferments or vegetable ferments like the yeast ferment, such as
pancreadine, pepsin, &c. and chemicals, such as ammonium and calcium
salts and phosphates, all of which are present in the manure. The
evolved gases also play their part in the action.
There are several bates upon the market as substitutes for dung bate.
A most popular one was the American "Tiffany" bate, made by keeping a
weak glue solution warm for some hours and then introducing a piece of
blue cheese to start fermentation; when fermenting, glucose was added,
and the bate was then ready for work. This and all other bates have
been more or less supplanted by "erodin," discovered after years of
research by Mr Wood (Nottingham) and Drs Popp and Becker (Vienna).
This is an artificial bate, containing the main constituents of the
dung bate. It is supplied in the form of a bag of nutrient material
for bacteria to thrive on and a bottle of bacterial culture. The
nutrient material is dissolved in water and the bacterial culture
added, and after allowing the mixture to get working it is ready for
use. Many tons of this bate are now being used per annum. Its
advantages are: (1) that it is clean, (2) that it is under perfect
control, and (3) that stains and bate burns, which so often accompany
the dung bate, are absolutely absent. Bate burns are caused by not
filtering the dung bate through coarse sacking before use. The
accumulation of useless solid matter settles on the skins if they are
not kept well in motion, causing excessive action in these places.
After pulling down the goods to a soft, silky condition by bating or
puering, it is necessary, after scudding, to plump them up again and
bring them into a clean and fit condition for receiving the tan. This is
done by "drenching" in a bran drench. A quantity of bran is scalded and
allowed to ferment. When the fermentation has reached the proper stage
the goods are placed, together with the bran liquor, in a suitable pit
or vat, and are allowed to remain until they have risen three times;
this rising to the surface is caused by the gaseous products of the
fermentation being caught by the skin. The plumping action of the bran
is due to the acids produced during fermentation and also in part to the
gases, and the cleansing action is due to the mechanical action of the
particles of bran rubbing against the grain of the skins. After
drenching, the goods are washed free from bran, and are ready for the
tanning process.
Drenching, now that all kinds of acids are available, is not so much
used for heavy hides as for light skins, it being found much more
convenient and cheaper to use acids. In fact, bating and puering are
being gradually replaced by acid baths in the case of heavy leathers,
the process being carried out as deliming for sole leather, only much
more thoroughly in the case of dressing leather.
The tanning of dressing hides, which are not rounded into butts and
offal, is briefly as follows. They first enter a series of colouring
pits or suspenders, and then a series of handlers, by which time they
should be plump and coloured through; in this condition they are split
either by means of a union or band-knife splitting machine (fig. 7).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Band Knife Splitting Machine.]
This latter is the most popular machine, and consists essentially of
an endless band knife _a_, which revolves at considerable speed with
its cutting edges close to the sides of a pair of rollers through
which the leather is fed and pressed against the knife. The lower of
these rollers is made of short segments or rings, each separately
capable of yielding so as to accommodate itself to the unequal
thicknesses of various parts of a hide. The thickness of the leather
to be cut is gauged to the utmost minuteness by means of the hand
screws _b b_ which raise or lower the upper roller. The knife edge of
the cutter is kept keen by rubbing against revolving emery wheels _c_
as it passes round. So delicately can this machine effect its work
that slices of leather uniform throughout and as thin as paper can be
easily prepared by it, and by its aid it is quite common to split
hides into as many as three useful splits.
The dressing hides are usually split in two. Here we will leave the
split (flesh) for a time and continue with the treatment of the grain.
After splitting, they enter another series of handlers, are then piled
up for a day or two, and thrown into a large drum with sumach mixed to a
paste with hot water and a light-coloured extract. They are drummed in
this for one hour to brighten and mellow the grain, washed up in tepid
liquor, piled for two days, and drummed with cod oil or some other
suitable oil or mixture; they are now piled for a day or two to absorb,
dried out, flattened on the grain, and flesh folded.
The splits are rinsed up in old sumach liquor and drummed with cheap
extracts and adulterants, such as size, glucose, barium chloride, epsom
salts, &c. after which they are piled up to drain, dried to a "sammied"
condition, rolled to make firm, and dried right out.
In the dressing hide tannage very mellow materials are used. Gambier
and myrobalans form the main body of the tannage, together with a
little quebracho extract, mimosa bark, sumach and extracts.
_Upper Leather._--Under the head of upper leather are included the thin,
soft and pliable leathers, which find their principal, but by no means
exclusive, application in making the uppers of boots and shoes, which
may be taken as a type of a class of leathers. They are made from such
skins as East Indian kips, light cow and horse hides, thin split hides,
such as those described under dressing leather, but split rather
thinner, and calf. The preparatory dressing of such skins and the
tanning operations do not differ essentially from those already
described. In proportion to the thinness of the skin treated, the
processes are more rapidly finished and less complex, the tannage is a
little lighter, heavy materials such as valonia being used sparsely if
at all. Generally speaking, the goods have a longer and mellower liming
and bating, the lime being more thoroughly removed than for the leathers
previously described, to produce greater pliability, and everything must
tend in this direction. The heavier hides and kips are split as
described under dressing leather, and then tanned right out.
_Currying of the Lighter Leathers._--The duty of the currier is not
solely directed towards heavier leathers; he is also entrusted with the
dressing and fitting of the lighter leathers for the shoemaker,
coachbuilder, saddler, &c. He has to pare the leather down and reduce
inequalities in thickness, to impregnate it with fatty matter in order
to render it soft and pliable, and to give it such a surface dressing,
colour and finish as will please the eye and suit the purposes of its
consumers. The fact that machinery is used by some curriers for nearly
every mechanical operation, while others adhere to the manual system,
renders it almost impossible to give in brief an outline of operations
which will be consistent with any considerable number of curriers.
[Illustration: FIG 8.--Currying Knife.]
The following may be taken as a typical modern dressing of waxed calf
or waxed kips. The goods are first of all soaked down and brought to a
"sammied" condition for shaving. In the better-class leathers
hand-shaving is still adhered to, as it is maintained that the drag of
the shaving machine on the leather causes the "nap" finish to be
coarser. Hand-shaving is carried out on a beam or strong frame of
wood, supporting a stout plank faced with lignum vitae, and set
vertically, or nearly so. The knife (fig. 8) is a double-edged
rectangular blade about 12 in. by 5 in., girded on either side along
its whole length and down the centre with two bars 3 in. wide, leaving
each blade protruding 1 in. beyond them; it has a straight handle at
one end and a cross handle at the other in the plane of the blade. The
edges of this knife are first made very keen, and are then turned over
so as to form a wire edge, by means of the thicker of the two straight
steel tools shown in fig. 9. The wire edge is preserved by drawing the
thinner of the two steel tools along the interior angle of the wire
edge and then along the outside of the turnover edge. The skin being
thrown flesh uppermost over the vertical beam, the shaver presses his
body against it, and leaning over the top holds the knife by its two
handles almost at right angles to the leather, and proceeds to shave
it by a scraping stroke downwards which the wire edge, being set at
right angles to the knife and almost parallel with the skin, turns
into a cut. The skin is shifted so as to bring all parts under the
action of the knife, the shaver frequently passing a fold between his
finger to test the progress of his work. After shaving, the goods are
thoroughly soaked, allowed to drip, and are ready for "scouring." This
operation has for its object the removal of bloom (ellagic acid) and
any other superfluous adherent matter. The scouring solution consists
of a weak solution of soft soap and borax. This is first well brushed
into the flesh of the leather, which is then "sleeked" (slicked) out
with a steel slicker shown at S fig. 9. The upper part of the
"slicker" is wooden, and into it a steel, stone, brass or vulcanite
blade is forced and fastened. The wooden part is grasped in both
hands, and the blade is half rubbed and half scraped over the surface
of the leather in successive strokes, the angle of the slicker being a
continuation of the angle which the thrust out arms of the worker form
with the body, perhaps 30° to 45°, with the leather, depending upon
the pressure to be applied. The soap and borax solution is continually
dashed on the leather to supply a body for the removal of the bloom
with the steel slicker. The hide is now turned, and the grain is
scoured with a stone slicker and brush, with soap and borax solution,
it is then rinsed up, and sent to dry; when sammied, it is "set" i.e.
the grain is laid smooth with a brass or steel slicker and dried right
out. It is now ready for "stuffing," which is invariably done in the
drum with a mixture of stearine and "sod" oil, to which is sometimes
added cod oil and wool fat; it is then set out on the grain and
"canked" on the flesh, the grain side is glassed, and the leather
dried right out. The goods are now "rounded," i.e. the lighter
coloured parts of the grain are damped with a mixture of dubbin and
water to bring them to even colour, and are then laid in pile for a
few days to mellow, when they are ready for whitening. The goods are
damped down and got to the right temper with a weak soap and water
solution, and are then "whitened," an operation similar to shaving,
carried out with a turned edge slicker. By this means a fine flesh
surface is obtained upon which to finish by waxing; after this they
are "boarded" with an arm board (R, fig. 9) to bring up the grain, or
give a granular appearance to the leather and make it supple, when
they may be turned flesh inwards and bruised, a similar operation to
graining, essentially to soften and make them pliant. At this stage
the goods are known as "finished russet," and are stored until ready
for waxing.
[Illustration: FIG 9.--Currying Apparatus. C, pommel; R, raising
board; S, slicker.]
For waxing, the first operation is to black the goods. In England this
is generally done by hand, but machinery is much more used in the
United States. The process consists of well brushing into the flesh
side of the skins a black preparation made in one of two ways. The
older recipe is a mixture of lampblack, oil and perhaps a little
tallow; the newer recipe consists of soap, lampblack, logwood extract
and water. Either of these is brushed well into the flesh side, which
is then glassed up by means of a thick slab of glass, the smooth
rounded edges being used with a slicking motion, and the goods are
hung up to dry. When dry they are oiled with cod oil, and are ready
for sizing. Goods blacked with soap blacking are sized once, those
prepared with oil blacking are sized twice. The size used for soap
black skins may consist of a mixture of beeswax, pitch, linseed oil,
tallow, soap, glue and logwood extract. For oil blacked skins the
"bottom sizing" may be glue, soap, logwood extract and water, after
the application of which the goods are dried and the "top sizing"
applied; this consists of glue, cod oil, beeswax, tallow, venice
turps, black dye and water. The sizings having been applied with a
sponge or soft brush, thoroughly rubbed in with a glass slicker, crush
marks are removed by padding with a soft leather pad, and the goods,
after being dried out, are ready for the market.
In the dressing of waxed grain leathers, such as French calf, satin
leather, &c., the preparatory processes are much the same as for waxed
leathers described above as far as stuffing, after which the grain is
prepared to take the colour by light hand scouring with weak soap and
borax solution. The dye is now applied, and so that it may take well
on the grain of the greasy leather, a quantity of either soap, turkey
red oil or methylated spirit is added to the solution. Acid colours
are preferably used, and three coats are given to the dry leather,
which is then grained with an arm board, and finished by the
application of hard buck tallow to the grain and brushing. The dye or
stain may consist of aniline colours for coloured leathers, or, in the
case of blacks, consecutive applications of logwood and iron solutions
are given.
_Finishing dressing Hides for Bag and Portmanteau Work._--The hides as
received from the tanner are soaked down, piled to sammy, and shaved,
generally by machine, after which they are scoured, as under waxed
leather, sumached and hung up to dry; when just damp they are set out
with a brass slicker and dried right out. The grain is now filled by
applying a solution of either Irish moss, linseed mucilage or any other
mucilaginous filling material, and the flesh is sized with a mixture of
mucilage and French chalk, after which the goods are brush-stained with
an aniline dye, to which has been added linseed mucilage to give it
body; two coats are applied to the sammied leather. When the goods have
sammied, after the last coat of stain, they are "printed" with a brass
roller in a "jigger," or by means of a machine embosser. This process
consists of imprinting the grain by pressure from a brass roller, on
which the pattern is deeply etched. After printing, the flesh side is
sponged with a weak milk solution, lightly glassed and dried, when the
grain is sponged with weak linseed mucilage, almost dried, and brushed
by machine. The hides are now finished, by the application either of
pure buck tallow or of a mixture of carnauba wax and soap; this is
rubbed up into a slight gloss with a flannel.
_Light Leathers._--So far only the heavier leathers have been dealt
with; we will now proceed to discuss lighter calf, goat, sheep, seal,
&c.
In tanning light leathers everything must tend towards suppleness and
pliability in the finished leather, in contrast to the firmness and
solidity required in heavy leathers. Consequently, the liming is longer
and mellower; puering, bating or some bacterial substitute always
follows; the tannage is much shorter; and mellow materials are used. A
deposition of bloom in the goods is not often required, so that very
soon after they are struck through they are removed as tanned. The
materials largely used are sumach, oak bark, gambier, myrobalans, mimosa
bark, willow, birch and larch barks.
As with heavy leathers, so also with light leathers, there are various
ways of tanning; and quality has much to do with the elaboration or
modification of the methods employed. The tanning of all leathers will
be dealt with first, dyeing and finishing operations being treated
later.
The vegetable-tanned leather _de luxe_ is a bottle-tanned skin. It is
superior to every other class of vegetable-tanned leather in every way,
but owing to competition not a great deal is now produced, as it is
perhaps the most expensive leather ever put on the market. The method of
preparation is as follows.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Dash Wheel.]
The skins are usually hard and dry when received, so they are at once
soaked down, and when sufficiently soft are either milled in the stocks,
drummed in a lattice drum (American dash wheel, fig. 10), or "broken
down" over the beam by working on the flesh with a blunt unhairing
knife. They are next mellow limed (about 3 weeks), sulphide being used
if convenient, unhaired and fleshed as described under heavy leathers,
and are then ready for puering. This process is carried through at about
80° F., when the goods are worked on the beam, rinsed, drenched in a
bran drench, scudded, and are ready for tanning. The skins are now
folded down the centre of the back from neck to butt (tail end), flesh
outwards, and the edges are tightly stitched all round to form bags,
leaving an aperture at one of the shanks for filling; they are now
turned grain outwards and filled with strong sumach liquor and some
quantity of solid sumach to fill up the interstices and prevent leakage,
after which the open shank is tied up, and they are thrown into warm
sumach liquor, where they float about like so many pigs, being
continually pushed under the surface with a dole. When struck through
they are piled on a shelf above the vat, and by their own weight the
liquor is forced through the skins. The tannage takes about 24 hours,
and when finished the stitching is ripped up, the skins are slicked out,
"strained" on frames and dried. "Straining" consists of nailing the
skins out on boards in a stretched condition, or the stretching in
frames by means of strings laced in the edge of the frame and attached
to the edge of the skin.
The commoner sumach-tanned skins (but still of very good quality) are
tanned in paddle wheels, a series of three being most conveniently used
in the same manner as the three-pit system of liming, each wheel having
three packs of skins through it before being thrown away. This paddling
tends to make a bolder grain, as the skins are kept in continual motion,
and work over one another. Some manufacturers finish the tannage with a
mixture of sumach and oak bark; this treatment yields a less porous
product. Others, when the skins are strained and in a semi-dry
condition, apply neatsfoot or other oil, or a mixture of glycerine and
oil, to the grain to lubricate it and make it more supple; the glycerine
mixture is generally used for "chrome" leather, and will be discussed
later under that head.
The skins tanned as above are largely dressed as _morocco_. Originally
"morocco" was produced by the Moors in southern Spain and Morocco,
whence the industry spread to the Levant, Turkey and the Mediterranean
coast of Africa generally, where the leather was made from a species of
sumach. Peculiarly enough, the dyeing was carried out before the
tanning, with Roman alum as "mordant" and kermes, which with the alum
produced a fine red colour. Such leather was peculiarly clear in colour,
elastic and soft, yet firm and fine in grain and texture, and has long
been much prized for bindings, being the material in which most of the
artistic work of the 16th-century binders was executed. Now, in addition
to the genuine morocco made from goat skins, we have imitation or French
moroccos, for which split calf and especially sheep skins are employed,
and as the appearance of morocco is the result of the style of graining
and finish, which can now be imitated by printing or embossing machines,
morocco can be made from all varieties of thin leather.
Great quantities of "Persian" (East India tanned) sheep and goat are
now dressed as moroccos and for innumerable other purposes, the method
being as follows: The goods are tanned with turwar bark and cassia
bark, besides being impregnated with sesame oil, even to the extent of
30%. The first operation is to "strip" them of the oil and original
tannage as far as possible, by drumming in a solution of soda; the
soap thus formed is got rid of by thoroughly washing the goods, when
they are "soured" in a weak bath of sulphuric acid to brighten the
colour and remove iron stains, after which they are washed up and
re-tanned by drumming in warm sumach, allowing about 4 oz. per skin.
They are then slicked out, dried and are ready for dyeing.
The tanning of sheep and lamb skins differs very essentially from the
tanning of goat and other leathers, mainly in the preparatory
processes. As the wool is completely destroyed by lime, other methods
have to be resorted to. The process usually practised is known as
"sweating"; this consists of hanging the moist skins up in a warm,
badly-ventilated chamber and allowing incipient putrefaction to set
in. The chamber is always kept warm and saturated with moisture,
either by means of a steam jet or water sprinklers. During the process
large quantities of ammoniacal vapours are given off, and after two or
three days the skins become slimy to the touch, and the wool slips
easily; at this stage the goods are removed, for if the putrefaction
goes too far the grain of the skin is irretrievably ruined. The wool
is now "pulled" by pullers, who throw it into bins arranged to receive
the different qualities; for one pelt may have three different grades
of wool on it.
Other methods of dewooling are to paint the flesh with a solution of
sodium sulphide, or cream of lime made with a solution of sodium
sulphide; in either case the goods are piled flesh to flesh for an
hour or so, and care is taken that the dewooling agent does not touch
the wool. The pelt is then pulled and rapidly swilled in a stream of
running water. The goods are now, in some yards, lightly limed to
plump them superficially, by paddling in a milk of lime, and at this
stage, or when the goods have been "struck through" with tan liquor,
they are "degreased" either by hydraulic pressure or by benzene
degreasing. This is to expel the oleaginous or fatty matter with which
sheep skins are richly impregnated; the average yield is about 4 oz.
per skin. The tannage is carried out in much the same way as for goat
skins, the goods being started in old acid bark liquors; the general
tannage consists of sumach and bark.
_Basils_ are sheep skins tanned in various ways. English basils are
tanned with oak bark, although, as in all other leathers, inferior
tannages are now common; Scotch basils are tanned with larch bark,
Australian and New Zealand basils with mimosa bark and Turkish basils
with galls. The last are the commonest kind of skins imported into Great
Britain, and are usually only semi-tanned. _Roans_ are sumach-tanned
sheep skins.
_Skivers_ are the grain splits of sheep skins, the fleshes of which are
finished for chamois leather. The goods are split in the limed state,
just as the grains are ready for tanning, and are subsequently treated
much as sumach-tanned goat skins, or in any other convenient way; the
fleshes, on the other hand, go back into the limes, as it is necessary
to get a large quantity of lime into leather which is to be finished as
chamois.
_Russia Leather_ was originally a speciality of Russia, where it was
made from the hides of young cattle, and dressed either a brownish red
or black colour for upper leather, bookbinding, dressing-cases, purses,
&c. It is now made throughout Europe and America, the best qualities
being obtained from Austria. The empyreumatic odour of the old genuine
"Russia" leather was derived from a long-continued contact with willow
and the bark of the _white_ birch, which contains the odorous betulin
oil. Horse hides, calf, goat, sheep skins and even splits are now
dressed as "Russia leather," but most of these are of a decidedly
inferior quality, and as they are merely treated with birch bark oil to
give them something of the odour by which Russia leather is ordinarily
recognized, they scarcely deserve the name under which they pass. The
present-day genuine Russia leather is tanned like other light leathers,
but properly in willow bark, although poplar and spruce fir barks are
used. After tanning and setting out the goods are treated with the
empyreumatic oil obtained by the dry distillation of birch bark. The red
colour commonly seen in Russia leather is now produced by aniline
colours, but was originally gained by the application of an infusion of
Brazil wood, which was rubbed over the grain with a brush or sponge.
Some time ago Russia leather got into disrepute because of its rapid
decay; this was owing to its being dyed with a very acid solution of tin
salts and cochineal, the acid completely destroying the leather in a
year or two. The black leather is obtained by staining with logwood
infusion and iron acetate. The leather, if genuine quality, is very
watertight and strong, and owing to its impregnation with the
empyreumatic oil, it wards off the attacks of insects.
_Seal Leathers, &c._--The tannage of seal skins is now an important
department of the leather industry of the United Kingdom. The skins form
one of the items of the whaling industry which principally centres in
Dundee, and at that port, as well as at Hull and Peterhead, they are
received in large quantities from the Arctic regions. This skin is that
of the white hair seal, and must not be confused with the expensive seal
fur obtained from Russian and Japanese waters. These white hair seal
skins are light but exceedingly close in texture, yielding a very strong
tough leather of large area and fine bold grain, known as _Levant
morocco_. The area of the skins renders them suitable for upholstery
work, and the flesh splits are dressed in considerable quantity for
"japanned" ("patent") leather and "bolsters," which are used to grain
other skins on, the raised buff affording a grip on the skin being
grained and thus preventing slipping. When the skins arrive in the
tanyard (generally lightly salted) they are drummed in old drench
liquors until soft, dipped into warm water and "blubbered" with a sharp
knife; they are then alternately dipped in warm water and drummed
several times to remove fat, after which they are heavily limed, as they
are still very greasy, and after unhairing and fleshing they are heavily
puered for the same reason. The tannage takes about a month, and is much
the same as for other leathers, the skins being split when "struck
through."
Alligator leather is now produced to some extent both in the United
States and India. The belly and flanks alone are useful. There are no
special tanneries or processes for dressing the skins. Layers are not
given. The leather is used mostly for small fancy goods, and is much
imitated on sheepskin by embossing.
Snake and frog skins are also dressed to some extent, the latter
having formed a considerable item in the exports of Japan; they are
dressed mostly for cigar cases and pocket books. The general procedure
is first to lime the goods and then to remove any scales (in the case
of snake skins) by scraping with an unhairing knife on a small beam,
after which the skins are bated and tanned in sumach by paddling.
A considerable amount of leather is now produced in Australia from the
skins of kangaroo, wallaby and other marsupials. These skins are both
tanned and "tawed," the principal tanning agents being mimosa bark,
mallet bark and sugar bush, which abound in Australia. The leather
produced is of excellent quality, strong and pliable, and rivals in
texture and appearance the kid of Europe; but the circumstance that
the animals exist only in the wild state renders them a limited and
insecure source of leather.
_Japan and Enamel Leathers._--Japanning is usually done on flesh splits,
whereas enamelling is done on the grain, and if splits are used they are
printed and boarded. The leather should be mellow, soft, free from
grease, with a firm grain and no inclination to stretch. It is first
shaved very smooth, thoroughly scoured with a stone, sumached, washed,
slicked out tight and dried; when "sammied," the grain is buffed to
remove scratches and oiled, the goods are then whitened or fluffed, and
if too hard, bruised by boarding; enamel goods are now grained. The
skins are now tightly nailed on boards and any holes patched up with
brown paper, so that the japan shall not touch the flesh when the first
thick coat of japan or the "daub" is put on. This is applied so thickly
that it cannot soak in, with fine-toothed slicker, and then placed in a
hot stove for twenty-four hours until quite dry; the coating is then
pumiced smooth and the second thinner coat, termed "blanback," is
applied. This is dried and pumiced, and a fine coating of japan or copal
varnish is finally given. This is dried and cooled, and if the goods are
for enamel they are boarded.
English japans sometimes contain light petroleum, but no turps. The
secret of successful japanning lies in the age of the oil used; the
older the linseed oil is, the better the result. To prepare the ground
coat, boil 10 gallons linseed oil for one hour with 2 lb. litharge at
600° F. to jellify the oil, and then add 2 lb. prussian blue and boil
the whole for half an hour longer. Before application the mixture is
thinned with 10 gallons light petroleum. For the second coat, boil 10
gallons linseed oil for 2 hours with 2 lb. prussian blue and 2 lb.
lampblack; when of a thin jelly consistency thin with 5 gallons of
benzine or light petroleum. For the finishing coat, boil 5 gallons of
linseed oil for 1 hour, then add 1 lb. prussian blue, and boil for
another hour; thin with 10 gallons petroleum and apply with a brush in
a warm room. After drying, the goods are mellowed by exposure to the
sun for at least three days.
_Tawing._--Wool rugs are, after the preliminary processes, sometimes
tanned in oak bark liquors by paddling, but are generally "tawed," that
is, dressed with alum and salt, and are therefore more suitably dealt
with under that head. Tawing implies that the conversion of skins into
leather is carried out by means of a mixture of which the more important
constituents are mineral salts, such as alum, chrome and iron, which may
or may not be supplemented with fatty and albuminous matter, both animal
and vegetable.
As an example of alum tawing, calf kid may be taken as characteristic of
the process; glove kid is also treated on similar lines. The goods are
prepared for tawing in a manner similar to the preparation of tanned
leathers, arsenical limes being used to ensure a fine grain. After being
well drenched and washed the goods are ready for the tawing process. On
the continent of Europe it is usual for the goods to be thrown into a
tub with the tawing paste and trodden with the bare feet, although this
old-fashioned method is gradually being driven out, and the drum or
tumbler is being used.
The tawing paste consists of a mixture of alum, salt, flour, egg yolk
and water; the quantities of each constituent diverge widely, every
dresser having his own recipe. The following has been used, but cannot
well be classed as typical: For 100 lb. skin take 9 lb. alum, 5 lb.
salt, dissolve in water, and mix to a thin paste with from 5 to 13 lb.
flour, using 4 to 6 egg yolks for every pound of flour used. Olive oil
is also mixed in sometimes. The skins are drummed or trodden, at
intervals, in the warm paste for some hours, removed, allowed to
drain, and dried rapidly, damped down or "sammied" and "staked" by
drawing them to and fro over a blunt knife fixed in the top of a post,
and known as a knee stake; this process softens them very
considerably. After staking, the goods are wet back and shaved smooth,
either with a moon knife, i.e. a circular concave convex knife, the
centre of which has been cut out, a piece of wood bridging the cavity
forming the grip, or with an ordinary currier's shaving knife; the
skins are now ready for dyeing and finishing.
_Wool Rug Dressing._--Wool rugs are first thoroughly soaked, well washed
and clean-fleshed, scoured well by rubbing into the wool a solution of
soft soap and soda, and then leathered by rubbing into the flesh of the
wet skins a mixture consisting of three parts of alum and two parts of
salt until they are practically dry; they are now piled up over-night,
and the mixture is again applied. After the second or third application
the goods should be quite leathered. Other methods consist of stretching
the skins in frames and painting the flesh with a solution of alum and
salt, or, better, with a solution of basic alum and salt, the alum
being made basic by the gradual addition of soda until a permanent
precipitate is produced.
The goods are now bleached, for even the most vigorous scouring will
not remove the yellow tint of the wool, especially at the tips. There
are several methods of bleaching, viz. by hydrogen peroxide, following
up with a weak vitriol bath; by potassium permanganate, following up
with a bath of sulphurous acid; or by fumigating in an air-tight
chamber with burning sulphur. The last-named method is the more
general; the wet skins are hung in the chamber, an iron pot containing
burning sulphur is introduced, and the exposure is continued for
several hours.
If the goods are to be finished white, they are now given a vitriol
sour, scoured, washed, retanned, dried, and when dry softened by
working with a moon knife. If they are to be dyed, they must be
prepared for the dye solution by "chloring," which consists of
immersion in a cold solution of bleaching powder for some hours, and
then souring in vitriol.
The next step is dyeing. If basic dyes are to be used, it is necessary
to neutralize the acidity of the skins by careful addition of soda,
and to prevent the tips from being dyed a darker colour than the
roots. Glauber salts and acetic acid are added to the dye-bath. The
tendency of basic colours to rub off may be overcome by passing the
goods through a solution of tannin in the form of cutch, sumach,
quebracho, &c.; in fact, some of the darker-coloured materials may be
used as a ground colour, thus economizing dyestuff and serving two
purposes. If acid colours are used, it is necessary to add sulphuric
acid to the dye bath, and in either case colours which will strike
below 50° C. must be used, as at that temperature alum leather
perishes.
After being dyed, the goods are washed up, drained, and if necessary
retanned, the glossing finish is then produced by passing them through
a weak emulsion or "fat liquor" of oil, soap and water, after which
they are dried, softened by working with a moon knife and beating,
when they are combed out, and are ready for the market.
Blacks are dyed by immersing the goods alternately in solutions of
logwood and iron, or a one-solution method is used, consisting of a
mixture of these two, with, in either case, varying additions of
lactic acid and sumach, copper salts, potassium bichromate, &c.; the
time of immersion varies from hours to days. After striking, the goods
are exposed to the air for some hours in order to oxidize to a good
black; they are then well scoured, washed, drained, retanned, dried,
softened and combed.
_Chrome Tanning._--The first chrome tanning process was described by
Professor Knapp in 1858 in a paper on "Die Natur und Wesen der
Gerberie," but was first brought into commercial prominence by Dr
Heinzerling about 1878, and was worked in a most persevering way by the
Eglinton Chemical Company, who owned the English patents, though all
their efforts failed to produce any lasting effects. Now chrome tanning
is almost the most important method of light leather dressing, and has
also taken a prominent place in the heavy department, more especially in
curried leathers and cases where greater tensile strength is needed. The
leather produced is much stronger than any other leather, and will also
stand boiling water, whereas vegetable-tanned leather is completely
destroyed at 70° C. and alum leather at 50° C.
The theory of chrome tanning is not perfectly understood, but in
general terms it consists of a partial chemical combination between
the hide fibre and the chrome salts, and a partial mechanical
deposition of chromium oxide in and on the fibre. The wet work, or
preparation for tanning, may be taken as much the same as for any
other leather.
There are two distinct methods of chrome tanning, and several
different methods of making the solutions. The "two bath process"
consists of treating the skins with a bichromate in which the chromium
is in the acidic state, and afterwards reducing it to the basic state
by some reducing agent. The exact process is as follows: To prevent
wrinkled or "drawn" grain the goods are first paddled for half an hour
in a solution of vitriol and salt, when they are piled or "horsed" up
over night, and then, without washing, placed in a solution consisting
of 7 lb. of potassium bichromate, 3½ lb. of hydrochloric acid to each
100 lb. of pelts, with sufficient water to conveniently paddle in; it
is recommended that 5% of salt be added to this mixture. The goods are
run in this for about 3 hours, or until struck through, when they are
horsed up for some hours, care being taken to cover them up, and are
then ready for the reducing bath. This consists of a 14% solution of
plain "hypo," or hyposulphite of soda, to which, during the process of
reduction, frequent additions of hydrochloric acid are made to free
the sulphurous and thiosulphuric acids, which are the active reducing
agents. After about 3 hours' immersion, during which time the goods
will have changed in colour from bright yellow to bright green, one or
two skins are cut in the thickest part, and if the green has struck
right through, the pack is removed as tanned, washed up, and allowed
to drain.
The "single-bath process" consists of paddling, drumming, or otherwise
introducing into the skins a solution of a chrome salt, usually chrome
alum, which is already in the basic condition, and therefore does not
require reducing. The basic solutions are made as follows: For 100 lb.
of pelts 9 lb. of chrome alum are dissolved in 9 gallons of water, and
2½ lb. of washing soda already dissolved in 1 gallon of water are
gradually added, with constant stirring. One-third of the solution is
added to 80 gallons of water, to which is added 7 lb. of salt, and the
skins are introduced; the other two-thirds are introduced at intervals
in two successive portions. Another liquor, used in the same way, is
made by dissolving 3 lb. of potassium bichromate in hot water, adding
½ gallon strong hydrochloric acid and then, gradually, about 1½ lb. of
glucose or grape sugar; this reduces the acidic chrome salt, vigorous
effervescence ensuing. The whole is made up to 2 gallons and 5% to 15%
of salt is added. In yet another method a chrome alum solution is
rendered basic by boiling with "hypo," and after the reaction has
ceased the solution is allowed to settle and the clear portion used.
After tanning, which takes from 8 hours to as many, and even more,
days, depending upon the method used and the class of skin being
dressed, the skins tanned by both methods are treated in a similar
manner, and are neutralized by drumming in borax solution, when they
are washed free from borax by drumming in warm water, and are ready
for dyeing, a process which will be dealt with further on. The goods
are sometimes tanned by suspension, but this method is generally
reserved for the tanning of the heavier leathers, which are treated in
much the same way, the several processes taking longer.
_Iron Tannage._--Before leaving mineral tanning, mention may be made
of iron tannage, although this has gained no prominent position in
commerce. Ferric salts possess powerful tanning properties, and were
thoroughly investigated by Professor Knapp, who took out several
patents, but the tendency to produce a brittle leather has never been
entirely overcome, although it has been greatly modified by the
incorporation of organic matter, such as blood, rosin, paraffin,
urine, &c. Knapp's basic tanning liquor is made as follows: A strong
solution of ferrous sulphate is boiled and then oxidized to the ferric
state by the careful addition of nitric acid. Next, to destroy excess
of nitric acid, ferrous sulphate is added until effervescence ceases
and the resulting clear orange-coloured solution is concentrated to a
varnish-like consistency. It does not crystallize or decompose on
concentration. The hides or skins are prepared for tanning in the
usual way, and then handled or otherwise worked in solutions of the
above iron salt, the solutions, which are at first weak, being
gradually strengthened.
The tannage occupies from 2 to 8 days, and the goods are then stuffed
in a ventilated drum with greases or soap. If the latter is used, an
insoluble iron soap is precipitated on the fibres of the leather,
which may then be finally impregnated with stearin and paraffin, and
finished in the usual manner as described under Curried Leathers. A
very fair leather may also be manufactured by using iron alum and salt
in the same manner as described under ordinary alum and salt.
_Combination Tannages._--Leathers tanned by mixtures or separate baths
of both mineral and vegetable tanning agents have now taken an important
position in commerce. Such leathers are the Swedish and Danish glove
leathers, the United States "dongola leather," and French glazed kid.
The usefulness of such a combination will be evident, for while
vegetable tanning produces fullness, plumpness and resistance to water,
the mineral dressing produces a softness unnatural to vegetable tannages
without the use of large quantities of oils and fats. It may also be
noted that once a leather has been thoroughly tanned with either mineral
or vegetable materials, although it will absorb large quantities of the
material which has not been first used, it will retain in the main the
characteristics of the tannage first applied. The principle had long
been used in the manufacture of such tough and flexible leathers as
"green leather," "combing leather" and "picker bands," but was first
applied to the manufacture of imitation glazed kid by Kent in America,
who, about 1878, discovered the principle of "fatliquoring," and named
his product "dongola leather." The discovery of this process
revolutionized the manufacture of combination leathers.
The Swedish and Danish glove leathers were first given a dressing of
alum and salt, with or without the addition of flour and egg, and were
then finished and coloured with vegetable materials, generally with
willow bark, although, in cases of scarcity, sumach, oak bark, madder
and larch were resorted to. The "green leathers" manufactured in
England generally receive about a week's tannage in gambier liquors,
and are finished off in hot alum and salt liquors, after which they
are dried, have the crystallized salts slicked off, are damped back,
and heavily stuffed with moellon, degras or sod oil. Kent, in the
manufacture of his dongola leather, used mixed liquors of gambier
alum and salt, and when tanned, washed the goods in warm water to
remove excess of tanning agent, piled up to samm, and fatliquored. In
making alum combinations it must be borne in mind that alum leather
will not glaze, and if a glazed finish is required, a fairly heavy
vegetable tannage should be first applied. For dull finishes the
mineral tannage may advantageously precede the vegetable.
Very excellent chrome combination leather is also manufactured by the
application of the above principles, gambier always being in great
favour as the vegetable agent. The use of other materials deprives the
leather of its stretch, although they may be advantageously used where
the latter property is objectionable.
_Oil Tanning._--Under the head of oil tanning is included "buff
leather," "buck leather," "piano leather," "chamois leather," and to a
greater or lesser extent, "Preller's crown or helvetia leather." The
process of oil tanning dates back to antiquity, and was known as
"shamoying," now spelt "chamoising." Chamoising yields an exceedingly
tough, strong and durable leather, and forms an important branch of the
leather industry. The theory of the process is the same as the theory of
currying, which is nothing more or less than chamoising, viz. the
lubrication of the fibres by the oil itself and the aldehyde tanning
which takes place, due to the oxidation and decomposition of the esters
of the fatty acids contained in the oil. The fact that an aldehyde
tannage takes place seems to have been first discovered by Payne and
Pullman, who took out a patent in 1898, covering formaldehyde and other
aldehydes used in alkaline solutions. Their product, "Kaspine" leather,
found considerable application in the way of military accoutrements.
Chamois, buff, buck and piano leathers are all manufactured by the same
process slightly modified to suit the class of hide used, the last three
being heavy leathers, the first light.
As regards the process used for chamois leather, the reader will
remember, from the account of the vegetable tannage of sheep skins,
that after splitting from the limes, the fleshes were thrown back into
the pits for another three weeks' liming (six weeks in all)
preparatory to being dressed as chamois leather. It is necessary to
lime the goods for oil dressing very thoroughly, and if the grain has
not been removed by splitting, as in the case of sheep skins, it is
"frized" off with a sharp knife over the beam. The goods are now
rinsed, scudded and drenched, dried out until stiff, and stocked in
the faller stocks with plenty of cod oil for 2 to 3 hours until they
show signs of heating, when they are hung up in a cool shed. This
process is repeated several times during a period of from 4 to 6 days,
the heat driving the water out of the skins and the oil replacing it.
At the end of this time the goods, which will have changed to a brown
colour, are hung up and allowed to become as dry as possible, when
they are hung in a warm stove for some hours, after which they are
piled to heat off, thrown into tepid water and put through a wringing
machine. The grease which is recovered from the wringing machine is
known commercially as "degras" or "moellon," and fetches a good price,
as it is unrivalled for fatliquoring and related processes, such as
stuffing, producing a very soft product. They next receive a warm soda
lye bath, and are again wrung; this removes more grease, which forms
soap with the lye, and is recovered by treatment with vitriol, which
decomposes the soap. The grease which floats on top of the liquor is
sold under the name of "sod oil." This also is a valuable material for
fatliquoring, &c., but not so good as degras.
After being wrung out, the goods are bleached by one of the processes
mentioned in the section on wool rug dressing, the permanganate method
being in general use in England. In countries where a fine climate
prevails the soap bleach or "sun bleach" is adopted; this consists of
dipping the goods in soap solution and exposing them to the sun's
rays, the process being repeated three or more times as necessary.
The next step is fatliquoring to induce softness, after which they are
dried out slowly, staked or "perched" with a moon knife, fluffed on a
revolving wheel covered with fine emery to produce the fine "nap" or
surface, brushed over with french chalk, fuller's earth or china clay,
and finally finished on a very fine emery wheel.
_Preller's Helvetia or Crown Leather._--This process of leather
manufacture was discovered in 1850 by Theodor Klemm, a cabinetmaker of
Württemberg, who being then in poor circumstances, sold his patent to an
Englishman named Preller, who manufactured it in Southwark, and adopted
a crown as his trade mark. Hence the name "crown" leather. The
manufacture then spread through Switzerland and Germany, the product
being used in the main for picker straps, belting and purposes where
waterproof goods were required, such as hose pipes and military water
bags. No taste is imparted to the water by this leather.
The process of manufacture is as follows: The hides are unhaired by
short liming, painting with lime and sulphide, or sweating, and
cleansed by scudding and washing, after which they are coloured in
bark liquors, washed up through clean water, and hung up to dry
partially. When in a sammied condition the goods are placed on a table
and a thick layer of the tanning paste spread on the flesh side. The
tanning paste varies with each manufacturer, but the following is the
mixture originally used by Preller: 100 parts flour, 100 parts soft
fat or horse tallow, 35 parts butter, 88 parts ox brains, 50 parts
milk, 15 parts salt or saltpetre.
The hides are now rolled in bundles, placed in a warm drum and worked
for 8 to 10 hours, after which they are removed and hung up until half
dry, when the process is repeated. Thus they are tumbled 3 to 4 times,
set out flesh and grain, rinsed through tepid water, set out, sammied,
and curried by coating with glycerin, oil, tallow and degras. The
table grease is now slicked off, and the goods are set out in grease,
grained and dried.
_Transparent Leather._--Transparent leather is a rather horny product,
somewhat like raw hide, and has been used for stitching belts and
picker bands. The goods to be dressed are limed, unhaired, very
thoroughly delimed with acids, washed in water, scudded and
clean-fleshed right to the veins; they are now stretched in frames,
clean-fleshed with a moon knife, and brushed with warm water, when
several coats of glycerin, to which has been added some antiseptic
such as salicylic or picric acid, are applied; the goods are then
dried out, and another coat is applied, and when semi-dry they are
drummed in a mixture of glycerin, boracic acid, alum and salt, with
the addition of a little bichromate of potash to stain them a yellow
colour. After drumming for 2 to 3 hours they are removed, washed up,
lightly set out, and stretched in frames to dry, when they are ready
for cutting into convenient lengths for use.
_Parchment._--A certain class of sheep skin known as Hampshires is
generally used in the manufacture of this speciality. The skins as
received are first very carefully washed to remove all dirt, dewooled,
limed for 3 to 4 weeks, they are then cleanly fleshed, unhaired,
rinsed up in water, and thickly split, the poorer hides being utilized
for chamois; they are now re-split at the fatty strata so that all fat
may be easily removed, and while the grains are dressed as skivers,
the fleshes are tied in frames, watered with hot water, scraped and
coated on both sides with a cream consisting of whiting, soda and
water, after which they are dried out in a hot stove. In the drying
the whiting mixture absorbs the grease from the skins; in fact, this
method of degreasing is often employed in the manufacture of wool
rugs. When dry, both sides of the skins are flooded to remove the
whiting, and are then well rubbed over with a flat piece of
pumice-stone, swilled, dried, re-pumiced, again swilled, and when
sammied are rolled off with a wooden roller and dried out.
_Tar and Peat Tanning._--Tar tanning was discovered by a French
chemist named Philippi, who started with the idea that, if coal was a
decomposition product of forests, it must still necessarily possess
the tanning properties originally present in the trees. However
far-fetched such an argument may seem, Philippi succeeded in producing
a leather from wood and coal tar at a fairly cheap rate, the product
being of excellent texture and strength, but rather below the average
in the finish, which was inclined to be patchy, showing oily spots.
His method consisted of impregnating the goods with refined tar and
some organic acid, but the product does not seem to have taken any
hold upon the market, and is not much heard of now.
Peat tanning was discovered by Payne, an English chemist, who was also
the co-discoverer of the Payne-Pullman formaldehyde tanning process.
His peat or humic acid tannage was patented by him about 1905, and is
now worked on a commercial scale. The humic acid is first extracted
from the peat by means of alkalis, and the hides are treated with this
solution, the humic acid being afterwards precipitated in the hides by
treatment with some stronger organic or mineral acid.
_Dyeing, Staining and Finishing._--These operations are practised almost
exclusively on the lighter leathers. Heavy leathers, except coloured and
black harness and split hides for bag work, are not often dyed, and
their finishing is generally considered to be part of the tannage. In
light leathers a great business is done in buying up "crust" stock, i.e.
rough tanned stock, and then dyeing and finishing to suit the needs and
demands of the various markets. The carrying out of these operations is
a distinct and separate business from tanning, although where possible
the two businesses are carried on in the same works.
Whatever the goods are and whatever their ultimate finish, the first
operation, upon receipt by the dyer of the crust stock, is sorting, an
operation requiring much skill. The sorter must be familiar with the why
and wherefore of all subsequent processes through which the leather must
go, so as to judge of the suitability of the various qualities of
leather for these processes, and to know where any flaws that may exist
will be sufficiently suppressed or hidden to produce a saleable
product, or will be rendered entirely unnoticeable. The points to be
considered in the sorting are coarseness or fineness of texture,
boldness or fineness of grain, colour, flaws including stains and
scratches, substance, &c. Light-coloured and flawless goods are
parcelled out for fine and delicate shades, those of darker hue and few
flaws are parcelled out for the darker shades, such as maroons, greens
(sage and olive), dark blues, &c., and those which are so badly stained
as to be unsuitable for colours go for blacks. After sorting, the goods
are soaked back to a limp condition by immersion in warm water, and are
then horsed up to drip, having been given, perhaps, a preliminary
slicking out.
Up to this point all goods are treated alike, but the subsequent
processes now diverge according to the class of leather being treated
and the finish required.
Persian goods for glacés, moroccos, &c., require special preparation for
dyeing, being first re-tanned. As received, they are sorted and soaked
as above, piled to samm, and shaved. Shaving consists of rendering the
flesh side of the skins smooth by shaving off irregularities, the skin,
which is supported on a rubber roller actuated by a foot lever, being
pressed against a series of spiral blades set on a steel roller, which
is caused to revolve rapidly. When shaved, the goods are stripped,
washed up, soured, sweetened and re-tanned in sumach, washed up, and
slicked out, and are then ready for dyeing.
There are three distinct methods of dyeing, with several minor
modifications. Tray dyeing consists of immersing the goods, from 2 to 4
dozen at a time, in two separate piles, in the dye solution at 60° C,
contained in a flat wooden tray about 5 ft. × 4 ft. × 1 ft., and keeping
them constantly moving by continually turning them from one pile to the
other. The disadvantages of this method are that the bath rapidly cools,
thus dyeing rapidly at the beginning and slowly at the termination of
the operation; hence a large excess of dye is wasted, much labour is
required, and the shades obtained are not so level as those obtained by
the other methods. But the goods are under observation the whole time, a
very distinct advantage when matching shades, and a white flesh may be
preserved. The paddle method of dyeing consists of paddling the goods in
a large volume of liquor contained in a semi-circular wooden paddle for
from half to three-quarters of an hour. The disadvantages are that the
liquor cools fairly rapidly, more dye is wasted than in the tray method,
and a white flesh cannot be preserved. But larger packs can be dyed at
the one operation, the goods are under observation the whole time, and
little labour is required.
The drum method of dyeing is perhaps best, a drum somewhat similar to
that used by curriers being preferable. The goods are placed on the
shelves inside the dry drum, the lid of which is then fastened on, and
the machinery is started; when the drum is revolving at full speed,
which should be about 12 to 15 revolutions per minute, the dye solution
is added through the hollow axle, and the dyeing continued for half an
hour, when, without stopping the drum, if desired, the goods may be
fatliquored by running in the fatliquor through the hollow axle. The
disadvantages are that the flesh is dyed and the goods cannot be seen.
The advantages are that little labour is required, a large pack of skins
may be treated, level shades are produced, heat is retained, almost
complete exhaustion of the dye-bath is effected, and subsequent
processes, such as fatliquoring, may be carried out without stopping the
drum.
Of the great number of coal-tar dyes on the market comparatively few
can be used in leather manufacture. The four chief classes are: (1)
acid dyes; (2) basic or tannin dyes; (3) direct or cotton dyes; (4)
mordant (alizarine) dyes.
Acid dyes are not so termed because they have acid characteristics;
the name simply denotes that for the development of the full shade of
colour it is necessary to add acid to the dye-bath. These dyes are
generally sodium salts of sulphonic acids, and need the addition of an
acid to free the dye, which is the sulphonic acid. Although
theoretically any acid (stronger than the sulphonic acid present) will
do for this purpose, it is found in practice that only sulphuric and
formic acids may be employed, because others, such as acetic, lactic,
&c., do not develop the full shade of colour. Acid sodium sulphate may
also be successfully used.
Acid colours produce a full level shade without bronzing, and do not
accentuate any defects in the leather, such as bad grain, &c. They are
also moderately fast to light and rubbing. They are generally applied
to leather at a temperature between 50° and 60° C., with an equal
weight of sulphuric acid. The quantity of dye used varies, but
generally, for goat, persians, &c., from 25 to 30 oz. are used per ten
dozen skins, and for calf half as much again, dissolved in such an
amount of water as is most convenient according to the method being
used. If sodium bisulphate is substituted for sulphuric acid twice as
much must be used, and if formic acid three times as much (by weight).
Basic dyes are salts of organic colour bases with hydrochloric or some
other suitable acid. Basic colours precipitate the tannins, and thus,
because of their affinity for them, dye very rapidly, tending to
produce uneven shades, especially if the tannin on the skin is
unevenly distributed. They are much more intense in colour than the
acid dyes, have a strong tendency to bronze, and accentuate weak and
defective grain. They are also precipitated by hard waters, so that
the hardness should be first neutralized by the addition of acetic
acid, else the precipitated colour lake may produce streakily dyed
leather. To prevent rapid dyeing, acetic acid or sodium bisulphate
should always be added in small quantity to the dye-bath, preferably
the latter, as it prevents bronzing. The most important point about
the application of basic dyes to leather is the previous fixation of
the tannin on the surface of the leather to prevent its bleeding into
the dye-bath and precipitating the dye. All soluble salts of the heavy
metals will fix the tannin, but few are applicable, as they form
colour lakes, which are generally undesirable. Antimony and titanium
salts are generally used, the forms being tartar emetic (antimony
potassium tartrate), antimonine (antimony lactate), potassium titanium
oxalate, and titanium lactate. The titanium salts are economically
used when dyeing browns, as they produce a yellowish-brown shade; it
is therefore not necessary to use so much dye. About 2 oz. of tartar
emetic and 8 oz. of salt is a convenient quantity for 1 dozen goat
skins. The bath is used at 30° to 40° C., and the goods are immersed
for about 15 minutes, having been thoroughly washed before being dyed.
Iron salts are sometimes used by leather-stainers for saddening
(dulling) the shade of colour produced, iron tannate, a black salt,
being formed. It is often found economical to "bottom" goods with
acid, direct, or other colours, and then finish with basic colours;
this procedure forms a colour lake, and colour lakes are always faster
to light and rubbing than the colours themselves.
Direct cotton dyes produce shades of great delicacy, and are used for
the dyeing of pale and "art" shades. They are applied in neutral or
very slightly acid baths, formic and acetic acids being most suitable
with the addition of a quantity of sodium chloride or sulphate. After
dyeing, the goods are well washed to free from excess of salt. The
eosine colours, including erythrosine, phloxine, rose Bengal, &c., are
applied in a similar manner, and are specially used for the beautiful
fluorescent pink shades they produce; acid and basic colours and
mineral acids precipitate them.
The mordant colours, which include the alizarine and anthracene
colours, are extremely fast to light, and require a mordant to develop
the colour. They are specially applicable to chamois leather, although
a few may be used for chrome and alum leathers, and one or two are
successfully applied to vegetable-tanned leather without a mordant.
Sulphur or sulphide colours, the first of which to appear were the
famous Vidal colours, are applied in sodium sulphide solution, and are
most successfully used on chrome leather, as they produce a colour
lake with chrome salts, the resulting colour being very fast to light
and rubbing. A very serious disadvantage in connexion with them is
that they must necessarily be applied in alkaline solution, and the
alkali has a disintegrating effect upon the fibre of the leather,
which cannot be satisfactorily overcome, although formaldehyde and
glycerin mixtures have been patented for the purpose.
The Janus colours are perhaps worth mentioning as possessing both acid
and basic characteristics; they precipitate tannin, and are best
regarded as basic dyes from a leather-dyer's standpoint.
The goods after dyeing are washed up, slicked out on an inclined glass
table, nailed on boards, or hung up by the hind shanks to dry out.
Coal-tar dyes are not much used for the production of blacks, as they do
not give such a satisfactory result as logwood with an iron mordant. In
the dyeing of blacks the preliminary operation of souring is always
omitted and that of sumaching sometimes, but if much tan has been
removed it will be found necessary to use sumach, although cutch may be
advantageously and cheaply substituted. After shaving, the goods, if to
be dressed for "blue backs" (blue-coloured flesh), are dyed as already
described, with methyl violet or some other suitable dye; they are then
folded down the back and drawn through a hot solution of logwood and
fustic extracts, and then rapidly through a weak, cold iron sulphate and
copper acetate solution. Immediately afterwards they are rinsed up and
either drummed in a little neatsfoot oil or oiled over with a pad, flesh
and grain, and dried. When dry the goods are damped back and staked,
dried out and re-staked.
After dry-staking, the goods are "seasoned," i.e. some suitable mixture
is applied to the grain to enable it to take the glaze. The following is
typical: 3 quarts logwood liquor, ½ pint bullock's blood, ½ pint milk, ½
gill ammonia, ½ gill orchil and 3 quarts water. This season is brushed
well into the grain, and the goods are dried in a warm stove and glazed
by machine. The skins are glazed under considerable pressure, a polished
glass slab or roller being forced over the surface of the leather in a
series of rapid strokes, after which the goods are re-seasoned,
re-staked, fluffed, re-glazed, oiled over with a pad, dipped in linseed
oil and dried. They are now ready for market. If the goods are to be
finished dull they are seasoned with linseed mucilage, casein or milk
(many other materials are also used), and rolled, glassed with a
polished slab by hand, or ironed with a warm iron.
Coloured glacés are finished in a similar manner to black glacés, dye
(instead of logwood and iron) being added to the season, which usually
consists of a simple mixture of dye, albumen and milk.
Moroccos and grain leathers are boarded on the flesh side before and
after glazing, often being "tooth rolled" between the several
operations. Tooth rolling consists of forcing, under pressure, a toothed
roller over the grain; this cuts into the leather and helps to produce
many grains, which could not be produced naturally by boarding, besides
fixing them.
Many artificial grains and patterns are also given to leather by
printing and embossing, these processes being carried out by passing the
leather between two rollers, the top one upon which the pattern is
engraved being generally steam heated. This impresses the pattern upon
the grain of the leather.
The above methods will give a very general idea of the processes in
vogue for the dressing of goods for fancy work. The dressing of chrome
leathers for uppers is different in important particulars.
_Chrome Box and Willow Calf._--Willow calf is coloured calf, box calf
is dressed black and grained with a "box" grain. A large quantity of
kips is now dressed as box calf; these goods are the hides of yearling
Indian cattle, and are dressed in an exactly similar manner as calf.
After tanning and boraxing to neutralize the acidity of the chrome
liquor, the goods are washed up, sammied, shaved, and are ready for
mordanting previous to dyeing. Very few dyes will dye chrome leather
direct, i.e. without mordanting. Sulphide colours are not yet in great
demand, nor are the alizarines used as much as they might be. The
ordinary acid and basic dyes are more generally employed, and the
goods consequently require to be first mordanted. The mordanting is
carried out by drumming the goods in a solution containing tannin,
and, except for pale shades, some dyewood extract is used; for reds
peachwood extract, for browns fustic or gambier, and for dark browns a
little logwood is added. For all pale shades sumach is exclusively
used. After drumming in the warm tannin infusion for half an hour, if
the goods are to be dyed with basic colours the tannin is first fixed
by drumming in tartar emetic and salt, or titanium, as previously
described; the dyeing is also carried out as described for persians,
except that a slightly higher temperature may be maintained. If the
goods are to be dyed black they are passed through logwood and iron
solutions.
After dyeing and washing up, &c., the goods are fatliquored by placing
them in a previously heated drum and drumming them with a mixture
known as a "fatliquor," of which the following recipe is typical:
Dissolve 3 lb. of soft soap by boiling with 3 gallons of water, then
add 9 lb. of neatsfoot oil and boil for some minutes; now place the
mixture in an emulsifier and emulsify until cooled to 35° C., then add
the yolks of 5 fresh eggs and emulsify for a further half hour. The
fatliquor is added to the drum at 55° C., and the goods are drummed
for half an hour, when all the fatliquor should be absorbed; they are
then slicked out and dried. After drying, they are damped back,
staked, dried, re-staked and seasoned with materials similar to those
used for persians; when dry they are glazed, boarded on the flesh
("grained") from neck to butt and belly to belly to give them the box
grain, fluffed, reseasoned, reglazed and regrained.
_Finishing of Bag Hides._--The goods are first soaked back, piled to
samm, split or shaved, scoured by machine, finished off by hand,
washed up and retanned by drumming in warm sumach and extract, after
which they are washed up, struck out, hung up to samm, and "set."
"Setting" consists of laying the grain flat and smooth by striking out
with a steel or sharp brass slicker. They are then dried out, topped
with linseed mucilage, and again dried. This brushing over with
linseed mucilage prevents the dye from sinking too far into the
leather; gelatine, Irish moss, starch and gums are also used for the
same purpose. These materials are also added to the staining solution
to thicken it and further prevent its sinking in.
When dry, the goods are stained by applying a ½% (usually) solution of
a suitable basic dye, thickened with linseed, with a brush. Two men
are usually employed on this work; one starts at the right-hand flank
and the other at the left-hand shank, and they work towards each
other, staining in sections; much skill is needed to obviate markings
where the sections overlap. The goods may advantageously be bottomed
with an acid dye or a dye-wood extract, and then finished with basic
dyes. Whichever method is used, two to three coats are given, drying
between each. After the last coat of stain, and while the goods are
still in a sammied condition, a mixture of linseed mucilage and French
chalk is applied to the flesh and glassed off wet, to give it a white
appearance, and then the goods are printed with any of the usual bag
grains by machine or hand, and dried out. For a bright finish the
season may consist of a solution of 15 parts carnauba wax, 10 parts
curd soap and 100 parts water boiled together; this is sponged into
the grain, dried and the hides are finished by either glassing or
brushing. For a duller finish the grain is simply rubbed over with
buck tallow and brushed. Hide bellies for small work are treated in
much the same manner.
_Glove Leathers._--As these goods were tanned in alum, salt, flour and
egg, any undue immersion in water removes the tannage; for this reason
they are generally stained like bag hides, one man only being employed
on the same skin. The skins are first thoroughly soaked in warm water
and then drummed for some minutes in a fresh supply, when they are
re-egged to replace that which has been lost. This is best done by
drumming them for about 1½ hours in 40 to 50 egg yolks and 5 lb. of
salt for every hundred skins; they are then allowed to be in pile for
24 hours, and are set out on the table ready for mordanting. The
mordants universally used are ammonia or alkaline soft soap; 1 in 1000
of the former or a 1% solution of the latter. When the goods have
partially dried in, bottoming follows, and usually the natural wood
dyestuffs are used for this operation, such as fustic, Brazil wood,
peachwood, logwood and turmeric. After application of these colours
the goods are sammied and topped with a 1% solution of an acid dye, to
which has been added 20% of methylated spirit to prevent frothing with
the egg yolk; they are then dried out slowly, staked, pulled in shape,
fluffed and brushed by machine. The season, which is sponged on, may
consist of 1 part dye, 1 part albumen, 2 parts dextrine and ¼ part
glycerine, made up to 100 parts with water; when it has been applied,
the goods are sammied, brushed and ironed with a warm flat iron such
as is used in laundry work.
_Bookbinding Leathers._--A committee of the Society of Arts (London)
has investigated the question of leather for bookbinding, attention
having been drawn to this subject by the rotten and decayed condition
often observed in bindings less than fifty years old. This committee
engaged in research work extending over several years, and the report
in which its results were given was edited for the Society of Arts and
the Leathersellers' Company (which also did much important work in
connexion with it) by Lord Cobham, chairman of the committee, and Sir
Henry Trueman Wood, secretary of the society. The essence of the
report, so far as leather manufacture is concerned, is as follows: The
goods should be soaked and limed in fresh liquors, and bating and
puering should be avoided, weak organic acids or erodine being used;
they should also be tanned with pyrogallol tanning materials, and
preferably with sumach. In shaving, they should only be necked and
backed, i.e. only irregularities should be removed, as further shaving
has a considerable weakening effect on the fibre. The striking out
should not be heavy enough to lay the fibre. In dyeing, acid dyes and
a few direct colours only are permissible, and in connexion with the
former the use of sulphuric acid is strongly condemned, as it
absolutely disintegrates the fibre; the use of formic, acetic and
lactic acids is permitted. The use of salts of mineral acids is to be
avoided, and in finishing, tight setting out and damp glazing is not
to be recommended; oil may be advantageously used.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--H. G. Bennett, _The Manufacture of Leather_ (1909); S.
R. Trotman, _Leather Trades Chemistry_ (1908); M. C. Lamb, _Leather
Dressing_ (1907); A. Watt, _Leather Manufacture_ (1906); H. R.
Procter, _Principles of Leather Manufacture_ (1903), and _Leather
Industries Laboratory Book_ (1908); L. A. Flemming, _Practical
Tanning_ (1910); A. M. Villon, _Practical Treatise on the Leather
Industry_ (1901); C. T. Davis, _Manufacture of Leather_ (1897). German
works include J. Borgman, _Die Rotlederfabrikation_ (Berlin,
1904-1905), and _Feinlederfabrikation_ (1901); J. Jettmar, _Handbuch
der Chromgerbung_ (Leipzig, 1900); J. von Schroeder, _Gerbereichemie_
(Berlin, 1898). (J. G. P.*)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See LYE.
LEATHER, ARTIFICIAL. Under the name of artificial leather, or of
American leather cloth, large quantities of a material having, more or
less, a leather-like surface are used, principally for upholstery
purposes, such as the covering of chairs, lining the tops of writing
desks and tables, &c. There is considerable diversity in the
preparation of such materials. A common variety consists of a web of
calico coated with boiled linseed oil mixed with dryers and lampblack or
other pigment. Several coats of this mixture are uniformly spread,
smoothed and compressed on the cotton surface by passing it between
metal rollers, and when the surface is required to possess a glossy
enamel-like appearance, it receives a finishing coat of copal varnish. A
grained morocco surface is given to the material by passing it between
suitably embossed rollers. Preparations of this kind have a close
affinity to cloth waterproofed with indiarubber, and to such
manufactures as ordinary waxcloth. An artificial leather which has been
patented and proposed for use as soles for boots, &c., is composed of
powdered scraps and cuttings of leather mixed with solution of
guttapercha dried and compressed. In place of the guttapercha solution,
oxidized linseed oil or dissolved resin may be used as the binding
medium for the leather powder.
LEATHERHEAD, an urban district in the Epsom parliamentary division of
Surrey, England, 18 m. S.S.W. of London, on the London, Brighton & South
Coast and the London & South-Western railways. Pop. (1901) 4694. It lies
at the foot of the North Downs in the pleasant valley of the river Mole.
The church of St Mary and St Nicholas dates from the 14th century. St
John's Foundation School, opened in London in 1852, is devoted to the
education of sons of poor clergymen. Leatherhead has brick-making and
brewing industries, and the district is largely residential.
LEATHES, STANLEY (1830-1900), English divine and Orientalist, was born
at Ellesborough, Bucks, on the 21st of March 1830, and was educated at
Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1852, M.A. 1853. In
1853 he was the first Tyrwhitt's Hebrew scholar. He was ordained priest
in 1857, and after serving several curacies was appointed professor of
Hebrew at King's College, London, in 1863. In 1868-1870 he was Boyle
lecturer (_The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ_), in 1873 Hulsean
lecturer (_The Gospel its Own Witness_), in 1874 Bampton Lecturer (_The
Religion of the Christ_) and from 1876 to 1880 Warburtonian lecturer. He
was a member of the Old Testament revision committee from 1870 to 1885.
In 1876 he was elected prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, and he was
rector of Cliffe-at-Hoo near Gravesend (1880-1889) and of Much Hadham,
Hertfordshire (1889-1900). The university of Edinburgh gave him the
honorary degree of D.D. in 1878, and his own college made him an
honorary fellow in 1885. Besides the lectures noted he published
_Studies in Genesis_ (1880), _The Foundations of Morality_ (1882) and
some volumes of sermons. He died in May 1900.
His son, Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (b. 1861), became a fellow of Trinity,
Cambridge, and lecturer on history, and was one of the editors of the
_Cambridge Modern History_; he was secretary to the Civil Service
Commission from 1903 to 1907, when he was appointed a Civil Service
Commissioner.
LEAVEN (in Mid. Eng. _levain_, adapted from Fr. _levain_, in same sense,
from Lat. _levamen_, which is only found in the sense of alleviation,
comfort, _levare_, to lift up), a substance which produces fermentation,
particularly in the making of bread, properly a portion of already
fermented dough added to other dough for this purpose (see BREAD). The
word is used figuratively of any element, influence or agency which
effects a subtle or secret change. These figurative usages are mainly
due to the comparison of the kingdom of Heaven to leaven in Matt. xiii.
33, and to the warning against the leaven of the Pharisees in Matt. xvi.
6. In the first example the word is used of a good influence, but the
more usual significance is that of an evil agency. There was among the
Hebrews an association of the idea of fermentation and corruption, which
may have been one source of the prohibition of the use of leavened bread
in sacrificial offerings. For the usage of unleavened bread at the
feasts of the Passover and of Massôth, and the connexion of the two, see
PASSOVER.
LEAVENWORTH, a city and the county-seat of Leavenworth county, Kansas,
U.S.A., on the W. bank of the Missouri river. Pop. (1900) 20,738, of
whom 3402 were foreign-born and 2925 were negroes; (1910 census) 19,363.
It is one of the most important railway centres west of the Missouri
river, being served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago
Great Western, the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific and the
Leavenworth & Topeka railways. The city is laid out regularly in the
bottom-lands of the river, and its streets are named after Indian
tribes. Rolling hills surround it on three sides. The city has many
handsome public buildings, and contains the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception, Leavenworth being the see of a Roman Catholic bishop. The
public institutions include the Kansas State Protective Home (1889) for
negroes, an Old Ladies' Rest (1892), St Vincent's Orphans' Asylum (1886,
open to all sects) and a Guardian Angels' Home (1889), for negroes--all
private charities aided by the state; also St John's Hospital (1879),
Cushing Hospital (1893) and Leavenworth Hospital (1900), which are
training schools for nurses. There is also a branch of the National Home
for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In the suburbs there are state and
United States penitentiaries. Leavenworth is a trading centre and has
various manufactures, the most important being foundry and machine shop
and flouring and grist-mill products, and furniture. The city's factory
products increased in value from $3,251,460 in 1900 to $4,151,767 in
1905, or 27.7%. There are valuable coal mines in Leavenworth and the
immediate vicinity. About 3 m. N. of the city, on a reservation of about
6000 acres, is Fort Leavenworth, an important United States military
post, associated with which are a National Cemetery and Service Schools
of the U.S. Army (founded in 1881 as the U.S. Infantry and Cavalry
School and in 1901 developed into a General Service and Staff College).
In 1907 there were three general divisions of these schools: the Army
School of the Line, for officers (not below the grade of captain) of the
regular army and for militia officers recommended by the governors of
their respective states or territories, offering courses in military
art, engineering, law and languages; the Army Signal School, also open
to regular and militia officers, and having departments of field
signalling, signal engineering, topography and languages; and the Army
Staff College, in which the students are the highest graduates from the
Army School of the Line, and the courses of instruction are included in
the departments of military art, engineering, law, languages and care of
troops. The course is one year in each school. At Fort Leavenworth there
is a colossal bronze statue of General U. S. Grant erected in 1889. A
military prison was established at Fort Leavenworth in 1875; it was used
as a civil prison from 1895 to 1906, when it was re-established as a
military prison. Its inmates were formerly taught various trades, but
owing to the opposition of labour organizations this system was
discontinued, and the prisoners are now employed in work on the military
reservation.
The fort, from which the city took its name, was built in 1827, in the
Indian country, by Colonel Henry Leavenworth (1783-1834) of the 3rd
Infantry, for the protection of traders plying between the Missouri
river and Santa Fé. The town site was claimed by Missourians from
Weston in June 1854, Leavenworth thus being the oldest permanent
settlement in Kansas; and during the contest in Kansas between the
anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers, it was known as a pro-slavery
town. It was first incorporated by the Territorial legislature in
1855; a new charter was obtained in 1881; and in 1908 the city adopted
the commission plan of government. On the 3rd of April 1858 a
free-state convention adopted the Leavenworth Constitution here; this
constitution, which was as radically anti-slavery as the Lecompton
Constitution was pro-slavery, was nominally approved by popular vote
in May 1858, and was later submitted to Congress, but never came into
effect. During the Civil War Leavenworth enjoyed great prosperity, at
the expense of more inland towns, partly owing to the proximity of the
fort, which gave it immunity from border raids from Missouri and was
an important depôt of supplies and a place for mustering troops into
and out of the service. Leavenworth was, in Territorial days and until
after 1880, the largest and most thriving commercial city of the
state, and rivalled Kansas City, Missouri, which, however, finally got
the better of it in the struggle for railway facilities.
LEBANON (from Semitic _laban_, "to be white," or "whitish," probably
referring not to snow, but to the bare white walls of chalk or
limestone which form the characteristic feature of the whole range), in
its widest sense is the central mountain mass of Syria, extending for
about 100 m. from N.N.E. to S.S.W. It is bounded W. by the sea, N. by
the plain Jun Akkar, beyond which rise the mountains of the Ansarieh,
and E. by the inland plateau of Syria, mainly steppe-land. To the south
Lebanon ends about the point where the river Litany bends westward, and
at Banias. A valley narrowing towards its southern end, and now called
the Buka'a, divides the mountainous mass into two great parts. That
lying to the west is still called Jebel Libnan; the greater part of the
eastern mass now bears the name of the Eastern Mountain (Jebel
el-Sharki). In Greek the western range was called Libanos, the eastern
Antilibanos. The southern extension of the latter, Mount Hermon (q.v.),
may in many respects be treated as a separate mountain.
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon have many features in common; in both the
southern portion is less arid and barren than the northern, the western
valleys better wooded and more fertile than the eastern. In general the
main elevations of the two ranges form pairs lying opposite one another;
the forms of both ranges are monotonous, but the colouring is splendid,
especially when viewed from a distance; when seen close at hand only a
few valleys with perennial streams offer pictures of landscape beauty,
their rich green contrasting pleasantly with the bare brown and yellow
mountain sides. The finest scenery is found in N. Lebanon, in the
Maronite districts of Kesrawan and Bsherreh, where the gorges are
veritable canyons, and the villages are often very picturesquely
situated. The south of the chain is more open and undulating.
Anti-Lebanon is the barest and most inhospitable part of the system.
The district west of Lebanon, averaging about 20 m. in breadth, slopes
in an intricate series of plateaus and terraces to the Mediterranean.
The coast is for the most part abrupt and rocky, often leaving room
for only a narrow path along the shore, and when viewed from the sea
it does not suggest the extent of country lying between its cliffs and
the lofty summits behind. Most of the mountain spurs run from east to
west, but in northern Lebanon the prevailing direction of the valleys
is north-westerly, and in the south some ridges run parallel with the
principal chain. The valleys have for the most part been deeply
excavated by mountain streams; the apparently inaccessible heights are
crowned by numerous villages, castles or cloisters embosomed among
trees. The chief perennial streams, beginning from the north, are the
Nahr Akkar, N. Arka, N. el-Barid, N. Kadisha, "the holy river" (the
valley of which begins in the immediate neighbourhood of the highest
summits, and rapidly descends in a series of great bends till the
river reaches the sea at Tripoli), Wadi el-Joz (falling into the sea
at Batrun), Wadi Fidar, Nahr Ibrahim (the ancient Adonis, having its
source in a recess of the great mountain amphitheatre where the famous
sanctuary Apheca, the modern Afka, lay), Nahr el-Kelb (the ancient
Lycus), Nahr Beirut (the ancient Magoras, entering the sea at Beirut),
Nahr Damur (ancient Tamyras), Nahr el-'Auwali (the ancient Bostrenus,
which in the upper part of its course is joined by the Nahr el-Baruk).
The 'Auwali and the Nahr el-Zaherani, the only other considerable
streams before we reach the Litany, flow north-east to south-west, in
consequence of the interposition of a ridge subordinate and parallel
to the central chain. On the north, where the mountain bears the
special name of Jebel Akkar, the main ridge of Lebanon rises gradually
from the plain. A number of valleys run to the north and north-east,
among them that of the Nahr el-Kebir, the Eleutherus of the ancients,
which rises in the Jebel el-Abiad on the eastern slope of Lebanon, and
afterwards, skirting the district, flows westward to the sea. South of
Jebel el-Abiad, beneath the main ridge, which as a rule falls away
suddenly towards the east, occur several small elevated terraces
having a southward slope; among these are the Wadi en-Nusur ("vale of
eagles"), and the basin of the lake Yammuna, with its intermittent
spring Neb'a el-Arba'in. Of the streams which descend into the Buka'a,
the Berdani rises in Jebel Sunnin, and enters the plain by a deep and
picturesque mountain cleft at Zahleh.
The most elevated summits occur in the north, but even these are of
very gentle gradient. The "Cedar block" consists of a double line of
four and three summits respectively, ranged from north to south, with
a deviation of about 35°. Those to the east are 'Uyun Urghush, Makmal,
Muskiyya (or Naba' esh-Shemaila) and Ras Zahr el-Kazib; fronting the
sea are Kam Sauda or Timarun, Fumm el-Mizab and Zahr el-Kandil. The
height of Zahr el-Kazib, by barometric measurement, is 10,018 ft.;
that of the others does not reach 10,000 ft. South from them is the
pass (8351 ft.) which leads from Baalbek to Tripoli; the great
mountain amphitheatre on the west side of its summit is remarkable.
Farther south is a second group of lofty summits--the snow-capped
Sunnin, visible from Beirut; its height is 8482 ft. Between this
group and the more southerly Jebel Keniseh (about 6700 ft.) lies the
pass (4700 ft.) traversed by the French post road between Beirut and
Damascus. Among the bare summits still farther south are the long
ridge of Jebel el-Baruk (about 7000 ft.), the Jebel Niha, with the
Tau'amat Niha (about 6100 ft.), near which is a pass to Sidon, and the
Jebel Rihan (about 5400 ft.).
The Buka'a, the broad valley which separates Lebanon from
Anti-Lebanon, is watered by two rivers having their watershed near
Baalbek, at an elevation of about 3600 ft., and separated only by a
short mile at their sources. That flowing northwards, El-'Asi, is the
ancient Orontes (q.v.); the other is the Litany. In the lower part of
its course the latter has scooped out a deep and narrow rocky bed; at
Burghuz it is spanned by a great natural bridge. Not far from the
point where it suddenly trends to the west lie, immediately above the
romantic valley, at an elevation of 1500 ft., the imposing ruins of
the old castle Kal'at esh-Shakif, near one of the passes to Sidon. In
its lower part the Litany bears the name of Nahr el-Kasimiya. Neither
the Orontes nor the Litany has any important affluent.
The Buka'a used to be known as Coelesyria (Strabo. xvi. 2, 21); but
that word as employed by the ancients had a much more extensive
application. At present its full name is Buka'a el-'Aziz (the dear
Buka'a), and its northern portion is known as Sahlet Ba'albek (the
plain of Baalbek). The valley is from 4 to 6 m. broad, with an
undulating surface.
The Anti-Lebanon chain has been less fully explored than that of
Lebanon. Apart from its southern offshoots it is 67 m. long, while its
width varies from 16 to 13½ m. It rises from the plain of Hasya-Homs,
and in its northern portion is very arid. The range has not so many
offshoots as occur on the west side of Lebanon; under its precipitous
slopes stretch table-lands and broad plateaus, which, especially on
the east side looking towards the steppe, steadily increase in width.
Along the western side of northern Anti-Lebanon stretches the
Khasha'a, a rough red region lined with juniper trees, a succession of
the hardest limestone crests and ridges, bristling with bare rock and
crag that shelter tufts of vegetation, and are divided by a succession
of grassy ravines. On the eastern side the parallel valley of 'Asal
el-Ward deserves special mention; the descent towards the plain
eastwards, as seen for example at Ma'lula, is singular--first a
spacious amphitheatre and then two deep very narrow gorges. Few
perennial streams take their rise in Anti-Lebanon; one of the finest
and best watered valleys is that of Helbun, the ancient Chalybon, the
Helbon of Ezek. xxvii. 18. The highest points of the range, reckoning
from the north, are Halimat el-Kabu (8257 ft.), which has a splendid
view; the Fatli block, including Tal'at Musa (8721 ft.) and the
adjoining Jebel Nebi Baruh (7900 ft.); and a third group near Bludan,
in which the most prominent names are Shakif, Akhyar and Abu'l-Hin
(8330 ft.); Of the valleys descending westward the first to claim
mention is the Wadi Yafufa; a little farther south, lying north and
south, is the rich upland valley of Zebedani, where the Barada has its
highest sources. Pursuing an easterly course, this stream receives the
waters of the romantic 'Ain Fije (which doubles its volume), and
bursts out by a rocky gateway upon the plain of Damascus, in the
irrigation of which it is the chief agent. It is the Abana of 2 Kings
v. 12; the portion of Anti-Lebanon traversed by it was also called by
the same name (Canticles iv. 8). From the point where the southerly
continuation of Anti-Lebanon begins to take a more westerly direction,
a low ridge shoots out towards the south-west, trending farther and
farther away from the eastern chain and narrowing the Buka'a; upon the
eastern side of this ridge lies the elevated valley or hilly stretch
known as Wadi et-Teim. In the north, beside 'Ain Faluj, it is
connected by a low watershed with the Buka'a; from the gorge of the
Litany it is separated by the ridge of Jebel ed-Dahr. At its southern
end it contracts and merges into the plain of Banias, thus enclosing
Mount Hermon on its north-west and west sides; eastward from the
Hasbany branch of the Jordan lies the meadow-land Merj 'Iyun, the
ancient Ijon (1 Kings xv. 20).
_Vegetation._--The western slope of Lebanon has the common
characteristics of the flora of the Mediterranean coast, but the
Anti-Lebanon belongs to the poorer region of the steppes, and the
Mediterranean species are met with only sporadically along the
water-courses. Forest and pasture land do not properly exist: the
place of the first is for the most part taken by a low brushwood;
grass is not plentiful, and the higher ridges maintain alpine plants
only so long as patches of snow continue to lie. The rock walls
harbour some rock plants, but many absolutely barren wildernesses of
stone occur. (1) On the western slope, to a height of 1600 ft., is the
coast region, similar to that of Syria in general and of the south of
Asia Minor. Characteristic trees are the locust tree and the stone
pine; in _Melia Azedarach_ and _Ficus Sycomorus_ (Beirut) is an
admixture of foreign and partially subtropical elements. The great
mass of the vegetation, however is of the low-growing type (_maquis_
or _garrigue_ of the western Mediterranean), with small and stiff
leaves, and frequently thorny and aromatic, as for example the ilex
(_Quercus coccifera_), _Smilax_, _Cistus_, _Lentiscus_, _Calycotome_,
&c. (2) Next comes, from 1600 to 6500 ft., the mountain region, which
may also be called the forest region, still exhibiting sparse woods
and isolated trees wherever shelter, moisture and the inhabitants
have permitted their growth. From 1600 to 3200 ft. is a zone of dwarf
hard-leaved oaks, amongst which occur the Oriental forms _Fontanesia
phillyraeoides_, _Acer syriacum_ and the beautiful red-stemmed
_Arbutus Andrachne_. Higher up, between 3700 and 4200 ft., a tall
pine, _Pinus Brutia_, is characteristic. Between 4200 and 6200 ft. is
the region of the two most interesting forest trees of Lebanon, the
cypress and the cedar. The former still grows thickly, especially in
the valley of the Kadisha; the horizontal is the prevailing variety.
In the upper Kadisha valley there is a cedar grove of about three
hundred trees, amongst which five are of gigantic size. (See also
CEDAR.) The cypress and cedar zone exhibits a variety of other
leaf-bearing and coniferous trees; of the first may be mentioned
several oaks--_Quercus subalpina_ (Kotschy), _Q. Cerris_ and the
hop-hornbeam (_Ostrya_); of the second class the rare Cilician silver
fir (_Abies cilicica_) may be noticed. Next come the junipers,
sometimes attaining the size of trees (_Juniperus excelsa_, _J.
rufescens_ and, with fruit as large as plums, _J. drupacea_). But the
chief ornament of Lebanon is the _Rhododendron ponticum_, with its
brilliant purple flower clusters; a peculiar evergreen, _Vinca
libanotica_, also adds beauty to this zone. (3) Into the alpine region
(6200 to 10,400 ft.) penetrate a few very stunted oaks (_Quercus
subalpina_), the junipers already mentioned and a barberry (_Berberis
cretica_), which sometimes spreads into close thickets. Then follow
the low, dense, prone, pillow-like dwarf bushes, thorny and grey,
common to the Oriental highlands--_Astragalus_ and the peculiar
_Acantholimon_. They are found to within 300 ft. of the highest
summits.
Upon the exposed mountain slopes a species of rhubarb (_Rheum Ribes_)
is noticeable, and also a vetch (_Vicia canescens_) excellent for
sheep. The spring vegetation, which lasts until July, appears to be
rich, especially as regards showy plants, such as _Corydalis_,
_Gagea_, _Colchicum_, _Puschkinia_, _Geranium_, _Ornithogalum_, &c.
The flora of the highest ridges, along the edges of the snow patches,
exhibits no forms related to the northern alpine flora, but
suggestions of it are found in a _Draba_, an _Androsace_, an _Alsine_
and a violet, occurring, however, only in local species. Upon the
highest summits are found _Saponaria Pumilio_ (resembling our _Silene
acaulis_) and varieties of _Galium_, _Euphorbia_, _Astragalus_,
_Veronica_, _Jurinea_, _Festuca_, _Scrophularia_, _Geranium_,
_Asphodeline_, _Allium_, _Asperula_; and, on the margins of the snow
fields, a _Taraxacum_ and _Ranunculus demissus_. The alpine flora of
Lebanon thus connects itself directly with the Oriental flora of lower
altitudes, and is unrelated to the glacial flora of Europe and
northern Asia.
_Zoology._--There is nothing of special interest about the fauna of
Lebanon. Bears are no longer numerous; the panther and the ounce are
met with; the wild hog, hyaena, wolf and fox are by no means rare;
jackals and gazelles are very common. The polecat and hedgehog also
occur. As a rule there are not many birds, but the eagle and the
vulture may occasionally be seen; of eatable kinds partridges and wild
pigeons are the most abundant.
_Population._--In the following sections the Lebanon proper will alone
be considered, without reference to Anti-Lebanon, because the peculiar
political status of the former range since 1864 has effectually
differentiated it; whereas the Anti-Lebanon still forms an integral part
of the Ottoman province of Syria (q.v.), and neither its population nor
its history is readily distinguishable from those of the surrounding
districts.
The total population in the Lebanon proper is about 400,000, and is
increasing faster than the development of the province will admit. There
is consequently much emigration, the Christian surplus going mainly to
Egypt, and to America, the Druses to the latter country and to the
Hauran. The emigrants to America, however, usually return after making
money, build new houses and settle down. The singularly complex
population is composed of Christians, Maronites, and Orthodox Eastern
and Uniate; of Moslems, both Sunni and Shiah (Metawali); and of Druses.
(a) _Maronites_ (q.v.) form about three-fifths of the whole and have
the north of the Mountain almost to themselves, while even in the
south, the old Druse stronghold, they are now numerous. Feudalism is
practically extinct among them and with the decline of the Druses, and
the great stake they have acquired in agriculture, they have laid
aside much of their warlike habit together with their arms. Even their
instinct of nationality is being sensibly impaired by their gradual
assimilation to the Papal Church, whose agents exercise from Beirut an
increasing influence on their ecclesiastical elections and church
government. They are strong also in the Buka'a, and have colonies in
most of the Syrian cities.
(b) _Orthodox_ Eastern form a little more than one-eighth of the
whole, and are strongest in S. Lebanon (Metn and Kurah districts).
Syrians by race and Arab-speaking, they are descendants of those
"Melkites" who took the side of the Byzantine church in the time of
Justinian II. against the Moslems and eventually the Maronites. They
are among the most progressive of the Lebanon elements.
(c) _Greek Uniate_ are less numerous, forming little more than
one-twelfth, but are equally progressive. Their headquarters is
Zahleh; but they are found also in strength in Metn and Jezzin, where
they help to counterbalance Druses. They sympathize with the Maronites
against the Orthodox Eastern, and, like both, are of Syrian race, and
Arab speech.
(d) _Sunnite Moslems_ are a weak element, strongest in Shuf and Kurah,
and composed largely of Druse renegades and "Druse" families, which,
like the Shehab, were of Arab extraction and never conformed to the
creed of Hamza.
(e) _Shiite Moslems_ outnumber the Sunni, and make about one
twenty-fifth of the whole. They are called _Metawali_ and are
strongest in North Lebanon (Kesrawan and Batrun), but found also in
the south, in Buka'a and in the coast-towns from Beirut to Acre. They
are said to be descendants of Persian tribes; but the fact is very
doubtful, and they may be at least as aboriginal as the Maronites, and
a remnant of an old Incarnationist population which did not accept
Christianity, and kept its heretical Islam free from those influences
which modified Druse creed. They own a chief sheikh, resident at
Jeba'a, and have the reputation, like most heretical communities in
the Sunni part of the Moslem world, of being exceedingly fanatical and
inhospitable. It is undoubtedly the case that they are suspicious of
strangers and defiant of interference. Another small body of Shiites,
the _Ismailites_ (Assassins (q.v.) of the crusading chronicles), also
said to be of Persian origin, live about Kadmus at the extreme N. of
Lebanon, but outside the limits of the privileged province. They are
about 9000 strong.
(f) _Druses_ (q.v.), now barely an eighth of the whole and confined to
Shuf and Metn in S. Lebanon, are tending to emigrate or conform to
Sunni Islam. Since the establishment of the privileged province they
have lost the Ottoman support which used to compensate for their
numerical inferiority as compared with the Christians; and they are
fast losing also their old habits and distinctiveness. No longer armed
or wearing their former singular dress, the remnant of them in Lebanon
seems likely ere long to be assimilated to the "Osmanli" Moslems.
Their feud with the Maronites, whose accentuation in the middle of the
19th century was largely due to the tergiversations of the ruling
Shehab family, now reduced to low estate, is dying away, but they
retain something of their old clan feeling and feudal organization,
especially in Shuf.
The mixed population, as a whole, displays the usual characteristics of
mountaineers, fine physique and vigorous independent spirit; but its
ancient truculence has given way before strong government action since
the middle 19th century, and the great increase of agricultural
pursuits, to which the purely pastoral are now quite secondary. The
culture of the mulberry and silk, of tobacco, of the olive and vine, of
many kinds of fruits and cereals, has expanded enormously, and the
Lebanon is now probably the most productive region in Asiatic Turkey in
proportion to its area. It exports largely through Beirut and Saida,
using both the French railway which crosses S. Lebanon on its way to
Damascus, and the excellent roads and mule-paths made since 1883.
Lebanon has thick deposits of lignite coal, but of inferior quality
owing to the presence of iron pyrites. The abundant iron is little
worked. Manufactures are of small account, the raw material going mostly
to the coast; but olive-oil is made, together with various wines, of
which the most famous is the _vino d'oro_, a sweet liqueur-like
beverage. This wine is not exported in any quantity, as it will not bear
a voyage well and is not made to keep. Bee-keeping is general, and there
is an export of eggs to Egypt.
_History._--The inhabitants of Lebanon have at no time played a
conspicuous part in history. There are remains of prehistoric
occupation, but we do not even know what races dwelt there in the
historical period of antiquity. Probably they belonged chiefly to the
Aramaean group of nationalities; the Bible mentions Hivites (Judges iii.
3) and Giblites (Joshua xiii. 5). Lebanon was included within the ideal
boundaries of the land of Israel, and the whole region was well known to
the Hebrews, by whose poets its many excellences are often praised. How
far the Phoenicians had any effective control over it is unknown; the
absence of their monuments does not argue much real jurisdiction. Nor
apparently did the Greek Seleucid kingdom have much to do with the
Mountain. In the Roman period the district of _Phoenice_ extended to
Lebanon. In the 2nd century, with the inland districts, it constituted a
subdivision of the province of Syria, having Emesa (Homs) for its
capital. From the time of Diocletian there was a _Phoenice ad Libanum_,
with Emesa as capital, as well as a _Phoenice Maritima_ of which Tyre
was the chief city. Remains of the Roman period occur throughout
Lebanon. By the 6th century it was evidently virtually independent
again; its Christianization had begun with the immigration of
Monothelite sectaries, flying from persecution in the Antioch district
and Orontes valley. At all times Lebanon has been a place of refuge for
unpopular creeds. Large part of the mountaineers took up Monothelism and
initiated the national distinction of the Maronites, which begins to
emerge in the history of the 7th century. The sectaries, after helping
Justinian II. against the caliph Abdalmalik, turned on the emperor and
his Orthodox allies, and were named Mardaites (rebels). Islam now began
to penetrate S. Lebanon, chiefly by the immigration of various more or
less heretical elements, Kurd, Turkoman, Persian and especially Arab,
the latter largely after the break-up of the kingdom of Hira; and early
in the 11th century these coalesced into a nationality (see Druses)
under the congenial influence of the Incarnationist creed brought from
Cairo by Ismael Darazi and other emissaries of the caliph Hakim and his
vizier Hamza. The subsequent history of Lebanon to the middle of the
19th century will be found under Druses and Maronites, and it need only
be stated here that Latin influence began to be felt in N. Lebanon
during the Frank period of Antioch and Palestine, the Maronites being
inclined to take the part of the crusading princes against the Druses
and Moslems; but they were still regarded as heretic Monothelites by
Abulfaragius (Bar-Hebraeus) at the end of the 13th century; nor is their
effectual reconciliation to Rome much older than 1736, the date of the
mission sent by the pope Clement XII., which fixed the actual status of
their church. An informal French protection had, however, been exercised
over them for some time previously, and with it began the feud of
Maronites and Druses, the latter incited and spasmodically supported by
Ottoman pashas. The feudal organization of both, the one under the house
of Khazin, the other under those of Maan and Shehab successively, was in
full force during the 17th and 18th centuries; and it was the break-up
of this in the first part of the 19th century which produced the anarchy
that culminated after 1840 in the civil war. The Druses renounced their
Shehab amirs when Beshir al-Kassim openly joined the Maronites in 1841,
and the Maronites definitely revolted from the Khazin in 1858. The
events of 1860 led to the formation of the privileged Lebanon province,
finally constituted in 1864. It should be added, however, that among the
Druses of Shuf, feudalism has tended to re-establish itself, and the
power is now divided between the Jumblat and Yezbeki families, a leading
member of one of which is almost always Ottoman _kaimakam_ of the
Druses, and locally called _amir_.
The Lebanon has now been constituted a _sanjak_ or _mutessariflik_,
dependent directly on the Porte, which acts in this case in
consultation with the six great powers. This province extends about 93
m. from N. to S. (from the boundary of the _sanjak_ of Tripoli to that
of the _caza_ of Saida), and has a mean breadth of about 28 m. from
one foot of the chain to the other, beginning at the edge of the
littoral plain behind Beirut and ending at the W. edge of the Buka'a;
but the boundaries are ill-defined, especially on the E. where the
original line drawn along the crest of the ridge has not been adhered
to, and the mountaineers have encroached on the Buka'a. The Lebanon is
under a military governor (_mushir_) who must be a Christian in the
service of the sultan, approved by the powers, and has, so far, been
chosen from the Roman Catholics owing to the great preponderance of
Latin Christians in the province. He resides at Deir al-Kamar, an old
seat of the Druse amirs. At first appointed for three years, then for
ten, his term has been fixed since 1892 at five years, the longer term
having aroused the fear of the Porte, lest a personal domination
should become established. Under the governor are seven _kaimakams_,
all Christians except a Druse in Shuf, and forty-seven _mudirs_, who
all depend on the kaimakams except one in the home district of Deir
al-Kamar. A central _mejliss_ or Council of twelve members is composed
of four Maronites, three Druses, one Turk, two Greeks (Orthodox), one
Greek Uniate and one Metawali. This was the original proportion, and
it has not been altered in spite of the decline of the Druses and
increase of the Maronites. The members are elected by the seven cazas.
In each _mudirieh_ there is also a local _mejliss_. The old feudal and
_mukataji_ (see DRUSES) jurisdictions are abolished, i.e. they often
persist under Ottoman forms, and three courts of First Instance, under
the _mejliss_, and superior to the petty courts of the _mudirs_ and
the village _sheikhs_, administer justice. Judges are appointed by the
governor, but sheikhs by the villages. Commercial cases, and
litigation in which strangers are concerned, are carried to Beirut.
The police is recruited locally, and no regular troops appear in the
province except on special requisition. The taxes are collected
directly, and must meet the needs of the province, before any sum is
remitted to the Imperial Treasury. The latter has to make deficits
good. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is exercised only over the clergy,
and all rights of asylum are abolished.
This constitution has worked well on the whole, the only serious
hitches having been due to the tendency of governors-general and
_kaimakams_ to attempt to supersede the _mejliss_ by autocratic
action, and to impair the freedom of elections. The attention of the
porte was called to these tendencies in 1892 and again in 1902, on the
appointments of new governors. Since the last date there has been no
complaint. Nothing now remains of the former French predominance in
the Lebanon, except a certain influence exerted by the fact that the
railway is French, and by the precedence in ecclesiastical functions
still accorded by the Maronites to official representatives of France.
In the Lebanon, as in N. Albania, the traditional claim of France to
protect Roman Catholics in the Ottoman Empire has been greatly
impaired by the non-religious character of the Republic. Like Italy,
she is now regarded by Eastern Catholics with distrust as an enemy of
the Holy Father.
See DRUSES. Also V. Cuinet, _Syrie, Liban et Palestine_ (1896); N.
Verney and G. Dambmann, _Puissances étrangères en Syrie_, &c. (1900);
G. Young, _Corps de droit ottoman_, vol. i. (1905); G. E. Post, _Flora
of Syria_, &c. (1896); M. von Oppenheim, _Vom Mittelmeer_, &c. (1899).
(A. So.; D. G. H.)
LEBANON, a city of Saint Clair county, Illinois, U.S.A., on Silver
Creek, about 24 m. E. of Saint Louis, Missouri. Pop. (1910) 1907. It is
served by the Baltimore & Ohio South-Western railroad and by the East
Saint Louis & Suburban Electric line. It is situated on a high
tableland. Lebanon is the seat of McKendree College, founded by
Methodists in 1828 and one of the oldest colleges in the Mississippi
valley. It was called Lebanon Seminary until 1830, when the present name
was adopted in honour of William McKendree (1757-1835), known as the
"Father of Western Methodism," a great preacher, and a bishop of the
Methodist Church in 1808-1835, who had endowed the college with 480
acres of land. In 1835 the college was chartered as the "McKendreean
College," but in 1839 the present name was again adopted. There are coal
mines and excellent farming lands in the vicinity of Lebanon. Among the
city's manufactures are flour, planing-mill products, malt liquors, soda
and farming implements. The municipality owns and operates its
electric-lighting plant. Lebanon was chartered as a city in 1874.
LEBANON, a city and the county-seat of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., in the fertile Lebanon Valley, about 25 m. E. by N. of
Harrisburg. Pop. (1900) 17,628, of whom 618 were foreign-born, (1910
census) 19,240. It is served by the Philadelphia & Reading, the Cornwall
and the Cornwall & Lebanon railways. About 5 m. S. of the city are the
Cornwall (magnetite) iron mines, from which about 18,000,000 tons of
iron ore were taken between 1740 and 1902, and 804,848 tons in 1906. The
ore yields about 46% of iron, and contains about 2.5% of sulphur, the
roasting of the ores being necessary--ore-roasting kilns are more
extensively used here than in any other place in the country. The area
of ore exposed is about 4000 ft. long and 400 to 800 ft. wide, and
includes three hills; it has been one of the most productive magnetite
deposits in the world. Limestone, brownstone and brick-clay also abound
in the vicinity; and besides mines and quarries, the city has extensive
manufactories of iron, steel, chains, and nuts and bolts. In 1905 its
factory products were valued at $6,978,458. The municipality owns and
operates its water-works.
The first settlement in the locality was made about 1730, and twenty
years later a town was laid out by one of the landowners, George
Steitz, and named Steitztown in his honour. About 1760 the town became
known as Lebanon, and under this name it was incorporated as a borough
in 1821 and chartered as a city in 1885.
LE BARGY, CHARLES GUSTAVE AUGUSTE (1858- ), French actor, was born at
La Chapelle (Seine). His talent both as a comedian and a serious actor
was soon made evident, and he became a member of the Comédie Française,
his chief successes being in such plays as _Le Duel_, _L'Énigme_, _Le
Marquis de Priola_, _L'Autre Danger_ and _Le Dédale_. His wife, Simone
le Bargy née Benda, an accomplished actress, made her début at the
Gymnase in 1902, and in later years had a great success in _La Rafale_
and other plays. In 1910 he had differences with the authorities of the
Comédie Française and ceased to be a _sociétaire_.
LE BEAU, CHARLES (1701-1778), French historical writer, was born at
Paris on the 15th of October 1701, and was educated at the Collège de
Sainte-Barbe and the Collège du Plessis; at the latter he remained as a
teacher until he obtained the chair of rhetoric in the Collège des
Grassins. In 1748 he was admitted a member of the Academy of
Inscriptions, and in 1752 he was nominated professor of eloquence in the
Collège de France. From 1755 he held the office of perpetual secretary
to the Academy of Inscriptions, in which capacity he edited fifteen
volumes (from the 25th to the 39th inclusive) of the _Histoire_ of that
institution. He died at Paris on the 13th of March 1778.
The only work with which the name of Le Beau continues to be
associated is his _Histoire du Bas-Empire, en commençant à Constantin
le Grand_, in 22 vols. 12mo (Paris, 1756-1779), being a continuation
of C. Rollin's _Histoire Romaine_ and J. B. L. Crevier's _Histoire des
empereurs_. Its usefulness arises entirely from the fact of its being
a faithful résumé of the Byzantine historians, for Le Beau had no
originality or artistic power of his own. Five volumes were added by
H. P. Ameilhon (1781-1811), which brought the work down to the fall of
Constantinople. A later edition, under the care of M. de Saint-Martin
and afterwards of Brosset, has had the benefit of careful revision
throughout, and has received considerable additions from Oriental
sources.
See his "Éloge" in vol. xlii. of the _Histoire de l'Académie des
Inscriptions_ (1786), pp. 190-207.
LEBEAU, JOSEPH (1794-1865), Belgian statesman, was born at Huy on the
3rd of January 1794. He received his early education from an uncle who
was parish priest of Hannut, and became a clerk. By dint of economy he
raised money to study law at Liége, and was called to the bar in 1819.
At Liége he formed a fast friendship with Charles Rogier and Paul
Devaux, in conjunction with whom he founded at Liége in 1824 the
_Mathieu Laensbergh_, afterwards _Le politique_, a journal which helped
to unite the Catholic party with the Liberals in their opposition to the
ministry, without manifesting any open disaffection to the Dutch
government. Lebeau had not contemplated the separation of Holland and
Belgium, but his hand was forced by the revolution. He was sent by his
native district to the National Congress, and became minister of foreign
affairs in March 1831 during the interim regency of Surlet de Chokier.
By proposing the election of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as king of the
Belgians he secured a benevolent attitude on the part of Great Britain,
but the restoration to Holland of part of the duchies of Limburg and
Luxemburg provoked a heated opposition to the treaty of London, and
Lebeau was accused of treachery to Belgian interests. He resigned the
direction of foreign affairs on the accession of King Leopold, but in
the next year became minister of justice. He was elected deputy for
Brussels in 1833, and retained his seat until 1848. Differences with the
king led to his retirement in 1834. He was subsequently governor of the
province of Namur (1838), ambassador to the Frankfort diet (1839), and
in 1840 he formed a short-lived Liberal ministry. From this time he held
no office of state, though he continued his energetic support of liberal
and anti-clerical measures. He died at Huy on the 19th of March 1865.
Lebeau published _La Belgique depuis 1847_ (Brussels, 4 vols., 1852),
_Lettres aux électeurs belges_ (8 vols., Brussels, 1853-1856). His
_Souvenirs personnels et correspondance diplomatique 1824-1841_
(Brussels, 1883) were edited by A. Fréson. See an article by A. Fréson
in the _Biographie nationale de Belgique_; and T. Juste, _Joseph
Lebeau_ (Brussels, 1865).
LEBEL, JEAN (d. 1370), Belgian chronicler, was born near the end of the
13th century. His father, Gilles le Beal des Changes, was an alderman of
Liége. Jean entered the church and became a canon of the cathedral
church, but he and his brother Henri followed Jean de Beaumont to
England in 1327, and took part in the border warfare against the Scots.
His will is dated 1369, and his epitaph gives the date of his death as
1370. Nothing more is known of his life, but Jacques de Hemricourt,
author of the _Miroir des nobles de Hesbaye_, has left a eulogy of his
character, and a description of the magnificence of his attire, his
retinue and his hospitality. Hemricourt asserts that he was eighty years
old or more when he died. For a long time Jean Lebel (or le Bel) was
only known as a chronicler through a reference by Froissart, who quotes
him in the prologue of his first book as one of his authorities. A
fragment of his work, in the MS. of Jean d'Outremeuse's _Mireur des
istores_, was discovered in 1847; and the whole of his chronicle,
preserved in the library of Châlons-sur-Marne, was edited in 1863 by L.
Polain. Jean Lebel gives as his reason for writing a desire to replace a
certain misleading rhymed chronicle of the wars of Edward III. by a true
relation of his enterprises down to the beginning of the Hundred Years'
War. In the matter of style Lebel has been placed by some critics on the
level of Froissart. His chief merit is his refusal to narrate events
unless either he himself or his informant had witnessed them. This
scrupulousness in the acceptance of evidence must be set against his
limitations. He takes on the whole a similar point of view to
Froissart's; he has no concern with national movements or politics; and,
writing for the public of chivalry, he preserves no general notion of a
campaign, which resolves itself in his narrative into a series of
exploits on the part of his heroes. Froissart was considerably indebted
to him, and seems to have borrowed from him some of his best-known
episodes, such as the death of Robert the Bruce, Edward III. and the
countess of Salisbury, and the devotion of the burghers of Calais. The
songs and virelais, in the art of writing which he was, according to
Hemricourt, an expert, have not come to light.
See L. Polain, _Les Vraies Chroniques de messire Jehan le Bel_ (1863);
Kervyn de Lettenhove, _Bulletin de la société d'émulation de Bruges_,
series ii. vols. vii. and ix.; and H. Pirenne in _Biographie nationale
de Belgique_.
LEBER, JEAN MICHEL CONSTANT (1780-1859), French historian and
bibliophile, was born at Orléans on the 8th of May 1780. His first work
was a poem on Joan of Arc (1804); but he wrote at the same time a
_Grammaire général synthétique_, which attracted the attention of J. M.
de Gérando, then secretary-general to the ministry of the interior. The
latter found him a minor post in his department, which left him leisure
for his historical work. He even took him to Italy when Napoleon was
trying to organize, after French models, the Roman states which he had
taken from the pope in 1809. Leber however did not stay there long, for
he considered the attacks on the temporal property of the Holy See to be
sacrilegious. On his return to Paris he resumed his administrative work,
literary recreations and historical researches. While spending a part of
his time writing vaudevilles and comic operas, he began to collect old
essays and rare pamphlets by old French historians. His office was
preserved to him by the Restoration, and Leber put his literary gifts at
the service of the government. When the question of the coronation of
Louis XVIII. arose, he wrote, as an answer to Volney, a minute treatise
on the _Cérémonies du sacre_, which was published at the time of the
coronation of Charles X. Towards the end of Villèle's ministry, when
there was a movement of public opinion in favour of extending municipal
liberties, he undertook the defence of the threatened system of
centralization, and composed, in answer to Raynouard, an _Histoire
critique du pouvoir municipal depuis l'origine de la monarchie jusqu'à
nos jours_ (1828). He also wrote a treatise entitled _De l'état réel de
la presse et des pamphlets depuis François I^(er) jusqu'à Louis XIV_.,
in which he refuted an empty paradox of Charles Nodier, who had tried to
prove that the press had never been, and could never be, so free as
under the Grand Monarch. A few years later, Leber retired (1839), and
sold to the library of Rouen the rich collection of books which he had
amassed during thirty years of research. The catalogue he made himself
(4 vols., 1839 to 1852). In 1840 he read at the Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres two dissertations, an "Essai sur
l'appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge," followed by an
"Examen critique des tables de prix du marc d'argent depuis l'époque de
Saint Louis"; these essays were included by the Academy in its _Recueil
de mémoires présentés par divers savants_ (vol. i., 1844), and were also
revised and published by Leber (1847). They form his most considerable
work, and assure him a position of eminence in the economic history of
France. He also rendered good service to historians by the publication
of his _Collection des meilleures dissertations, notices et traités
relatifs à l'histoire de France_ (20 vols., 1826-1840); in the absence
of an index, since Leber did not give one, an analytical table of
contents is to be found in Alfred Franklin's _Sources de l'histoire de
France_ (1876, pp. 342 sqq.). In consequence of the revolution of 1848,
Leber decided to leave Paris. He retired to his native town, and spent
his last years in collecting old engravings. He died at Orléans on the
22nd of December 1859.
In 1832 he had been elected as a member of the _Société des
Antiquaires de France_, and in the _Bulletin_ of this society (vol.
i., 1860) is to be found the most correct and detailed account of his
life's works.
LEBEUF, JEAN (1687-1760), French historian, was born on the 7th of March
1687 at Auxerre, where his father, a councillor in the parlement, was
_receveur des consignations_. He began his studies in his native town,
and continued them in Paris at the Collège Ste Barbe. He soon became
known as one of the most cultivated minds of his time. He made himself
master of practically every branch of medieval learning, and had a
thorough knowledge of the sources and the bibliography of his subject.
His learning was not drawn from books only; he was also an
archaeologist, and frequently went on expeditions in France, always on
foot, in the course of which he examined the monuments of architecture
and sculpture, as well as the libraries, and collected a number of notes
and sketches. He was in correspondence with all the most learned men of
the day. His correspondence with Président Bouhier was published in 1885
by Ernest Petit; his other letters have been edited by the _Société des
sciences historiques et naturelles de l'Yonne_ (2 vols., 1866-1867). He
also wrote numerous articles, and, after his election as a member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1740), a number of
_Mémoires_ which appeared in the _Recueil_ of this society. He died at
Paris on the 10th of April 1760. His most important researches had Paris
as their subject.
He published first a collection of _Dissertations sur l'histoire
civile et ecclésiastique de Paris_ (3 vols., 1739-1743), then an
_Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocèse de Paris_ (15 vols.,
1745-1760), which is a mine of information, mostly taken from the
original sources. In view of the advance made by scholarship in the
19th century, it was found necessary to publish a second edition. The
work of reprinting it was undertaken by H. Cocheris, but was
interrupted (1863) before the completion of vol. iv. Adrien Augier
resumed the work, giving Lebeuf's text, though correcting the numerous
typographical errors of the original edition (5 vols., 1883), and
added a sixth volume containing an analytical table of contents.
Finally, Fernand Bournon completed the work by a volume of
_Rectifications et additions_ (1890), worthy to appear side by side
with the original work.
The bibliography of Lebeuf's writings is, partly, in various numbers
of the _Bibliothèque des écrivains de Bourgogne_ (1716-1741). His
biography is given by Lebeau in the _Histoire de l'Académie royale des
Inscriptions_ (xxix., 372, published 1764), and by H. Cocheris, in the
preface to his edition.
LE BLANC, NICOLAS (1742-1806), French chemist, was born at Issoudun,
Indre, in 1742. He made medicine his profession and in 1780 became
surgeon to the duke of Orleans, but he also paid much attention to
chemistry. About 1787 he was attracted to the urgent problem of
manufacturing carbonate of soda from ordinary sea-salt. The suggestion
made in 1789 by Jean Claude de la Métherie (1743-1817), the editor of
the _Journal de physique_, that this might be done by calcining with
charcoal the sulphate of soda formed from salt by the action of oil of
vitriol, did not succeed in practice because the product was almost
entirely sulphide of soda, but it gave Le Blanc, as he himself
acknowledged, a basis upon which to work. He soon made the crucial
discovery--which proved the foundation of the huge industry of
artificial alkali manufacture--that the desired end was to be attained
by adding a proportion of chalk to the mixture of charcoal and sulphate
of soda. Having had the soundness of this method tested by Jean Darcet
(1725-1801), the professor of chemistry at the Collège de France, the
duke of Orleans in June 1791 agreed to furnish a sum of 200,000 francs
for the purpose of exploiting it. In the following September Le Blanc
was granted a patent for fifteen years, and shortly afterwards a factory
was started at Saint-Denis, near Paris. But it had not long been in
operation when the Revolution led to the confiscation of the duke's
property, including the factory, and about the same time the Committee
of Public Safety called upon all citizens who possessed soda-factories
to disclose their situation and capacity and the nature of the methods
employed. Le Blanc had no choice but to reveal the secrets of his
process, and he had the misfortune to see his factory dismantled and his
stocks of raw and finished materials sold. By way of compensation for
the loss of his rights, the works were handed back to him in 1800, but
all his efforts to obtain money enough to restore them and resume
manufacturing on a profitable scale were vain, and, worn out with
disappointment, he died by his own hand at Saint-Denis on the 16th of
January 1806.
Four years after his death, Michel Jean Jacques Dizê (1764-1852), who
had been _préparateur_ to Darcet at the time he examined the process
and who was subsequently associated with Le Blanc in its exploitation,
published in the _Journal de physique_ a paper claiming that it was he
himself who had first suggested the addition of chalk; but a committee
of the French Academy, which reported fully on the question in 1856,
came to the conclusion that the merit was entirely Le Blanc's (_Com.
rend._, 1856, p. 553).
LE BLANC, a town of central France, capital of an arrondissement, in the
department of Indre, 44 m. W.S.W, of Châteauroux on the Orléans railway
between Argenton and Poitiers. Pop. (1906) 4719. The Creuse divides it
into a lower and an upper town. The church of St Génitour dates from the
12th, 13th and 15th centuries, and there is an old castle restored in
modern times. It is the seat of a subprefect, and has a tribunal of
first instance and a communal college. Wool-spinning, and the
manufacture of linen goods and edge-tools are among the industries.
There is trade in horses and in the agricultural and other products of
the surrounding region.
Le Blanc, which is identified with the Roman _Oblincum_, was in the
middle ages a lordship belonging to the house of Naillac and a
frontier fortress of the province of Berry.
LEBOEUF, EDMOND (1809-1888), marshal of France, was born at Paris on the
5th of November 1809, passed through the École Polytechnique and the
school of Metz, and distinguished himself as an artillery officer in
Algerian warfare, becoming colonel in 1852. He commanded the artillery
of the 1st French corps at the siege of Sebastopol, and was promoted in
1854 to the rank of general of brigade, and in 1857 to that of general
of division. In the Italian War of 1859 he commanded the artillery, and
by his action at Solferino materially assisted in achieving the victory.
In September 1866, having in the meantime become aide-de-camp to
Napoleon III., he was despatched to Venetia to hand over that province
to Victor Emmanuel. In 1869, on the death of Marshal Niel, General
Leboeuf became minister of war, and earned public approbation by his
vigorous reorganization of the War Office and the civil departments of
the service. In the spring of 1870 he received the marshal's baton. On
the declaration of war with Germany Marshal Leboeuf delivered himself in
the Corps Législatif of the historic saying, "So ready are we, that if
the war lasts two years, not a gaiter button would be found wanting." It
may be that he intended this to mean that, given time, the
reorganization of the War Office would be perfected through experience,
but the result inevitably caused it to be regarded as a mere boast,
though it is now known that the administrative confusion on the frontier
in July 1870 was far less serious than was supposed at the time. Leboeuf
took part in the Lorraine campaign, at first as chief of staff
(major-general) of the Army of the Rhine, and afterwards, when Bazaine
became commander-in-chief, as chief of the III. corps, which he led in
the battles around Metz. He distinguished himself, whenever engaged, by
personal bravery and good leadership. Shut up with Bazaine in Metz, on
its fall he was confined as a prisoner in Germany. On the conclusion of
peace he returned to France and gave evidence before the commission of
inquiry into the surrender of that stronghold, when he strongly
denounced Bazaine. After this he retired into private life to the
Château du Moncel near Argentan, where he died on the 7th of June 1888.
LE BON, JOSEPH (1765-1795), French politician, was born at Arras on the
29th of September 1765. He became a priest in the order of the Oratory,
and professor of rhetoric at Beaune. He adopted revolutionary ideas, and
became a curé of the Constitutional Church in the department of
Pas-de-Calais, where he was later elected as a _député suppléant_ to the
Convention. He became _maire_ of Arras and _administrateur_ of
Pas-de-Calais, and on the 2nd of July 1793 took his seat in the
Convention. He was sent as a representative on missions into the
departments of the Somme and Pas-de-Calais, where he showed great
severity in dealing with offences against revolutionaries (8th Brumaire,
year II. to 22nd Messidor, year II.; i.e. 29th October 1793 to 10th July
1794). In consequence, during the reaction which followed the 9th
Thermidor (27th July 1794) he was arrested on the 22nd Messidor, year
III. (10th July 1795). He was tried before the criminal tribunal of the
Somme, condemned to death for abuse of his power during his mission, and
executed at Amiens on the 24th Vendémiaire in the year IV. (10th October
1795). Whatever Le Bon's offences, his condemnation was to a great
extent due to the violent attacks of one of his political enemies,
Armand Guffroy; and it is only just to remember that it was owing to his
courage that Cambrai was saved from falling into the hands of the
Austrians.
His son, Émile le Bon, published a _Histoire de Joseph le Bon et des
tribunaux révolutionnaires d'Arras et de Cambrai_ (2nd ed., 2 vols.,
Arras, 1864).
LEBRIJA, or LEBRIXA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of
Seville, near the left bank of the Guadalquivir, and on the eastern edge
of the marshes known as Las Marismas. Pop. (1900) 10,997. Lebrija is 44
m. S. by W. of Seville, on the Seville-Cadiz railway. Its chief
buildings are a ruined Moorish castle and the parish church, an imposing
structure in a variety of styles--Moorish, Gothic, Romanesque--dating
from the 14th century to the 16th, and containing some early specimens
of the carving of Alonso Cano (1601-1667). There are manufactures of
bricks, tiles and earthenware, for which clay is found in the
neighbourhood; and some trade in grain, wine and oil.
Lebrija is the _Nabrissa_ or _Nebrissa_, surnamed _Veneria_, of the
Romans; by Silius Italicus (iii. 393), who connects it with the worship
of Dionysus, the name is derived from the Greek [Greek: nebris] (a
"fawn-skin," associated with Dionysiac ritual). _Nebrishah_ was a strong
and populous place during the period of Moorish domination (from 711);
it was taken by St Ferdinand in 1249, but again lost, and became finally
subject to the Castilian crown only under Alphonso the Wise in 1264. It
was the birthplace of Elio Antonio de Lebrija or Nebrija (1444-1522),
better known as Nebrissensis, one of the most important leaders in the
revival of learning in Spain, the tutor of Queen Isabella, and a
collaborator with Cardinal Jimenes in the preparation of the
Complutensian Polyglot (see ALCALA DE HENARES).
LE BRUN, CHARLES (1619-1690), French painter, was born at Paris on the
24th of February 1619, and attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier,
who placed him at the age of eleven in the studio of Vouet. At fifteen
he received commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, in the execution of
which he displayed an ability which obtained the generous commendations
of Poussin, in whose company Le Brun started for Rome in 1642. In Rome
he remained four years in the receipt of a pension due to the liberality
of the chancellor. On his return to Paris Le Brun found numerous
patrons, of whom Superintendent Fouquet was the most important. Employed
at Vaux le Vicomte, Le Brun ingratiated himself with Mazarin, then
secretly pitting Colbert against Fouquet. Colbert also promptly
recognized Le Brun's powers of organization, and attached him to his
interests. Together they founded the Academy of Painting and Sculpture
(1648), and the Academy of France at Rome (1666), and gave a new
development to the industrial arts. In 1660 they established the
Gobelins, which at first was a great school for the manufacture, not of
tapestries only, but of every class of furniture required in the royal
palaces. Commanding the industrial arts through the Gobelins--of which
he was director--and the whole artist world through the Academy--in
which he successively held every post--Le Brun imprinted his own
character on all that was produced in France during his lifetime, and
gave a direction to the national tendencies which endured after his
death. The nature of his emphatic and pompous talent was in harmony with
the taste of the king, who, full of admiration at the decorations
designed by Le Brun for his triumphal entry into Paris (1660),
commissioned him to execute a series of subjects from the history of
Alexander. The first of these, "Alexander and the Family of Darius," so
delighted Louis XIV. that he at once ennobled Le Brun (December, 1662),
who was also created first painter to his majesty with a pension of
12,000 livres, the same amount as he had yearly received in the service
of the magnificent Fouquet. From this date all that was done in the
royal palaces was directed by Le Brun. The works of the gallery of
Apollo in the Louvre were interrupted in 1677 when he accompanied the
king to Flanders (on his return from Lille he painted several
compositions in the Château of St Germains), and finally--for they
remained unfinished at his death--by the vast labours of Versailles,
where he reserved for himself the Halls of War and Peace, the
Ambassadors' Staircase, and the Great Gallery, other artists being
forced to accept the position of his assistants. At the death of
Colbert, Louvois, who succeeded him in the department of public works,
showed no favour to Le Brun, and in spite of the king's continued
support he felt a bitter change in his position. This contributed to the
illness which on the 22nd of February 1690 ended in his death in the
Gobelins. Besides his gigantic labours at Versailles and the Louvre, the
number of his works for religious corporations and private patrons is
enormous. He modelled and engraved with much facility, and, in spite of
the heaviness and poverty of drawing and colour, his extraordinary
activity and the vigour of his conceptions justify his claim to fame.
Nearly all his compositions have been reproduced by celebrated
engravers.
LEBRUN, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, duc de Plaisance (1739-1824), French
statesman, was born at St-Sauveur-Lendelin (Manche) on the 19th of March
1739, and in 1762 made his first appearance as a lawyer at Paris. He
filled the posts successively of _censeur royale_ (1766) and of
inspector general of the domains of the crown (1768); he was also one of
the chief advisers of the chancellor Maupeou, took part in his struggle
against the parlements, and shared in his downfall in 1774. He then
devoted himself to literature, translating Tasso's _Gerusalemme
liberata_ (1774), and the _Iliad_ (1776). At the outset of the
Revolution he foresaw its importance, and in the _Voix du citoyen_,
which he published in 1789, predicted the course which events would
take. In the Constituent Assembly, where he sat as deputy for Dourdan,
he professed liberal views, and was the proposer of various financial
laws. He then became president of the directory of Seine-et-Oise, and in
1795 was elected as a deputy to the Council of Ancients. After the _coup
d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire in the year VIII. (9th November 1799),
Lebrun was made third consul. In this capacity he took an active part in
the reorganization of finance and of the administration of the
departments of France. In 1804 he was appointed arch-treasurer of the
empire, and in 1805-1806 as governor-general of Liguria effected its
annexation to France. He opposed Napoleon's restoration of the noblesse,
and in 1808 only reluctantly accepted the title of duc de Plaisance
(Piacenza). He was next employed in organizing the departments which
were formed in Holland, of which he was governor-general from 1811 to
1813. Although to a certain extent opposed to the despotism of the
emperor, he was not in favour of his deposition, though he accepted the
_fait accompli_ of the Restoration in April 1814. Louis XVIII. made him
a peer of France; but during the Hundred Days he accepted from Napoleon
the post of Grand Master of the university. On the return of the
Bourbons in 1815 he was consequently suspended from the House of Peers,
but was recalled in 1819. He died at St Mesmes (Seine-et-Oise) on the
16th of June 1824. He had been made a member of the Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1803.
See M. de Caumont la Force, _L'Architrésorier Lebrun_ (Paris, 1907);
M. Marie du Mesnil, _Mémoire sur le prince Le Brun, duc de Plaisance_
(Paris, 1828); _Opinions, rapports et choix d'écrits politiques de C.
F. Lebrun_ (1829), edited, with a biographical notice, by his son
Anne-Charles Lebrun.
LEBRUN, PIERRE ANTOINE (1785-1873), French poet, was born in Paris on
the 29th of November 1785. An _Ode à la grande armée_, mistaken at the
time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention,
and secured for the author a pension of 1200 francs. Lebrun's plays,
once famous, are now forgotten. They are: _Ulysse_ (1814), _Marie
Stuart_ (1820), which obtained a great success, and _Le Cid
d'Andalousie_ (1825). Lebrun visited Greece in 1820, and on his return
to Paris he published in 1822 an ode on the death of Napoleon which cost
him his pension. In 1825 he was the guest of Sir Walter Scott at
Abbotsford. The coronation of Charles X. in that year inspired the
verses entitled _La Vallée de Champrosay_, which have, perhaps, done
more to secure his fame than his more ambitious attempts. In 1828
appeared his most important poem, _La Grèce_, and in the same year he
was elected to the Academy. The revolution of 1830 opened up for him a
public career; in 1831 he was made director of the Imprimerie Royale,
and subsequently filled with distinction other public offices, becoming
senator in 1853. He died on the 27th of May 1873.
See Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. ii.
LEBRUN, PONCE DENIS ÉCOUCHARD (1729-1807), French lyric poet, was born
in Paris on the 11th of August 1729, in the house of the prince de
Conti, to whom his father was valet. Young Lebrun had among his
schoolfellows a son of Louis Racine whose disciple he became. In 1755 he
published an _Ode sur les désastres de Lisbon_. In 1759 he married Marie
Anne de Surcourt, addressed in his _Élégies_ as Fanny. To the early
years of his marriage belongs his poem _Nature_. His wife suffered much
from his violent temper, and when in 1774 she brought an action against
him to obtain a separation, she was supported by Lebrun's own mother and
sister. He had been _secrétaire des commandements_ to the prince de
Conti, and on his patron's death was deprived of his occupation. He
suffered a further misfortune in the loss of his capital by the
bankruptcy of the prince de Guémené. To this period belongs a long poem,
the _Veillées des Muses_, which remained unfinished, and his ode to
Buffon, which ranks among his best works. Dependent on government
pensions he changed his politics with the times. Calonne he compared to
the great Sully, and Louis XVI. to Henry IV., but the Terror
nevertheless found in him its official poet. He occupied rooms in the
Louvre, and fulfilled his obligations by shameless attacks on the
unfortunate king and queen. His excellent ode on the _Vengeur_ and the
_Ode nationale contre Angleterre_ on the occasion of the projected
invasion of England are in honour of the power of Napoleon. This
"versatility" has so much injured Lebrun's reputation that it is
difficult to appreciate his real merit. He had a genius for epigram, and
the quatrains and dizaines directed against his many enemies have a
verve generally lacking in his odes. The one directed against La Harpe
is called by Sainte-Beuve the "queen of epigrams." La Harpe has said
that the poet, called by his friends, perhaps with a spice of irony,
Lebrun-Pindare, had written many fine strophes but not one good ode. The
critic exposed mercilessly the obscurities and unlucky images which
occur even in the ode to Buffon, and advised the author to imitate the
simplicity and energy that adorned Buffon's prose. Lebrun died in Paris
on the 31st of August 1807.
His works were published by his friend P. L. Ginguené in 1811. The
best of them are included in Prosper Poitevin's "_Petits poètes
français_," which forms part of the "_Panthéon littéraire_."
LE CARON, HENRI (whose real name was THOMAS MILLER BEACH) (1841-1894),
British secret service agent, was born at Colchester, on the 26th of
September 1841. He was of an adventurous character, and when nineteen
years old went to Paris, where he found employment in business connected
with America. Infected with the excitement of the American Civil War, he
crossed the Atlantic in 1861 and enlisted in the Northern army, taking
the name of Henri Le Caron. In 1864 he married a young lady who had
helped him to escape from some Confederate marauders; and by the end of
the war he rose to be major. In 1865, through a companion in arms named
O'Neill, he was brought into contact with Fenianism, and having learnt
of the Fenian plot against Canada, he mentioned the designs when writing
home to his father. Mr Beach told his local M.P., who in turn told the
Home Secretary, and the latter asked Mr Beach to arrange for further
information. Le Caron, inspired (as all the evidence shows) by genuinely
patriotic feeling, from that time till 1889 acted for the British
government as a paid military spy. He was a proficient in medicine,
among other qualifications for this post, and he remained for years on
intimate terms with the most extreme men in the Fenian organization
under all its forms. His services enabled the British government to take
measures which led to the fiasco of the Canadian invasion of 1870 and
Riel's surrender in 1871, and he supplied full details concerning the
various Irish-American associations, in which he himself was a prominent
member. He was in the secrets of the "new departure" in 1879-1881, and
in the latter year had an interview with Parnell at the House of
Commons, when the Irish leader spoke sympathetically of an armed
revolution in Ireland. For twenty-five years he lived at Detroit and
other places in America, paying occasional visits to Europe, and all the
time carrying his life in his hand. The Parnell Commission of 1889 put
an end to this. Le Caron was subpoenaed by _The Times_, and in the
witness-box the whole story came out, all the efforts of Sir Charles
Russell in cross-examination failing to shake his testimony, or to
impair the impression of iron tenacity and absolute truthfulness which
his bearing conveyed. His career, however, for good or evil, was at an
end. He published the story of his life, _Twenty-five Years in the
Secret Service_, and it had an immense circulation. But he had to be
constantly guarded, his acquaintances were hampered from seeing him, and
he was the victim of a painful disease, of which he died on the 1st of
April 1894. The report of the Parnell Commission is his monument.
LE CATEAU, or CATEAU-CAMBRÉSIS, a town of northern France, in the
department of Nord, on the Selle, 15 m. E.S.E. of Cambrai by road. Pop.
(1906) 10,400. A church of the early 17th century and a town-hall in the
Renaissance style are its chief buildings. Its institutions include a
board of trade-arbitration and a communal college, and its most
important industries are wool-spinning and weaving. Formed by the union
of the two villages of Péronne and Vendelgies, under the protection of a
castle built by the bishop of Cambrai, Le Cateau became the seat of an
abbey in the 11th century. In the 15th it was frequently taken and
retaken, and in 1556 it was burned by the French, who in 1559 signed a
celebrated treaty with Spain in the town. It was finally ceded to France
by the peace of Nijmwegen in 1678.
LECCE (anc. _Lupiae_), a town and archiepiscopal see of Apulia, Italy,
capital of the province of Lecce, 24 m. S.E. of Brindisi by rail. Pop.
(1906) 35,179. The town is remarkable for the number of buildings of the
17th century, in the rococo style, which it contains; among these are
the cathedral of S. Oronzo, and the churches of S. Chiara, S. Croce, S.
Domenico, &c., the Seminario, and the Prefettura (the latter contains a
museum, with a collection of Greek vases, &c.). Buildings of an earlier
period are not numerous, but the fine portal of the Romanesque church of
SS. Nicola e Cataldo, built by Tancred in 1180, may be noted. Another
old church is S. Maria di Cerrate, near the town. Lecce contains a large
government tobacco factory, and is the centre of a fertile agricultural
district. To the E. 7½ m. is the small harbour of S. Cataldo, reached by
electric tramway. Lecce is quite close to the site of the ancient
Lupiae, equidistant (25 m.) from Brundusium and Hydruntum, remains of
which are mentioned as existing up to the 15th century. A colony was
founded there in Roman times, and Hadrian made a harbour--no doubt at S.
Cataldo. Hardly a mile west was Rudiae, the birthplace of the poet
Ennius, spoken of by Silius Italicus as worthy of mention for that
reason alone. Its site was marked by the now deserted village of Rugge.
The name Lycea, or Lycia, begins to appear in the 6th century. The city
was for some time held by counts of Norman blood, among whom the most
noteworthy is Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard. It afterwards passed to
the Orsini. The rank of provincial capital was bestowed by Ferdinand of
Aragon in acknowledgment of the fidelity of Lecce to his cause.
(T. As.)
See M. S. Briggs, _In the Heel of Italy_ (1910).
LECCO, a town of Lombardy, in the province of Como, 32 m. by rail N. by
E. of Milan, and reached by steamer from Como, 673 ft. above sea-level.
Pop. (1901) 10,352. It is situated near the southern extremity of the
eastern branch of the Lake of Como, which is frequently distinguished as
the Lake of Lecco. At Lecco begins the line (run by electricity) to
Colico, whence there are branches to Chiavenna and Sondrio; and another
line runs to Bergamo. To the south the Adda is crossed by a fine bridge
originally constructed in 1335, and rebuilt in 1609 by Fuentes. Lecco,
in spite of its antiquity, presents a modern appearance, almost the only
old building being its castle, of which a part remains. Its schools are
particularly good. Besides iron-works, there are copper-works,
brass-foundries, olive-oil mills and a manufacture of wax candles; and
silk-spinning, cotton-spinning and wood-carving. In the neighbourhood is
the villa of Caleotto, the residence of Alessandro Manzoni, who in his
_Promessi Sposi_, has left a full description of the district. A statue
has been erected to him.
In the 11th century Lecco, previously the seat of a marquisate, was
presented to the bishops of Como by Otto II.; but in the 12th century it
passed to the archbishops of Milan, and in 1127 it assisted the Milanese
in the destruction of Como. During the 13th century it was struggling
for its existence with the metropolitan city; and its fate seemed to be
sealed when the Visconti drove its inhabitants across the lake to
Valmadrera, and forbade them to raise their town from its ashes. But in
a few years the people returned; Azzone Visconti made Lecco a strong
fortress, and in 1335 united it with the Milanese territory by a bridge
across the Adda. During the 15th and 16th centuries the citadel of Lecco
was an object of endless contention. In 1647 the town with its territory
was made a countship. Morone, Charles V.'s Italian chancellor, was born
in Lecco.
See A. L. Apostolo, _Lecco ed il suo territorio_ (Lecco, 1855).
LECH (_Licus_), a river of Germany in the kingdom of Bavaria, 177 m.
long, with a drainage basin of 2550 sq. m. It rises in the Vorarlberg
Alps, at an altitude of 6120 ft. It winds out of the gloomy limestone
mountains, flows in a north-north-easterly direction, and enters the
plains at Füssen (2580 ft.), where it forms rapids and a fall, then
pursues a northerly course past Augsburg, where it receives the Wertach,
and joins the Danube from the right just below Donauwörth (1330 ft.). It
is not navigable, owing to its torrential character and the gravel beds
which choke its channel. More than once great historic events have been
decided upon its banks. On the Lechfeld, a stony waste some miles long,
between the Lech and the Wertach, the emperor Otto I. defeated the
Hungarians in August 955. Tilly, in attempting to defend the passage of
the stream at Rain against the forces of Gustavus Adolphus, was fatally
wounded, on the 5th of April 1632. The river was formerly the boundary
between Bavaria and Swabia.
LE CHAMBON, or LE CHAMBON-FEUGEROLLES, a town of east-central France in
the department of Loire, 7½ m. S.W. of St Étienne by rail, on the
Ondaine, a tributary of the Loire. Pop. (1906) town, 7525; commune,
12,011. Coal is mined in the neighbourhood, and there are forges, steel
works, manufactures of tools and other iron goods, and silk mills. The
feudal castle of Feugerolles on a hill to the south-east dates in part
from the 11th century.
Between Le Chambon and St Étienne is La Ricamarie (pop. of town 5289)
also of importance for its coal-mines. Many of the galleries of a number
of these mines are on fire, probably from spontaneous combustion.
According to popular tradition these fires date from the time of the
Saracens; more authentically from the 15th century.
LE CHAPELIER, ISAAC RENÉ GUY (1754-1794), French politician, was born at
Rennes on the 12th of June 1754, his father being _bâtonnier_ of the
corporation of lawyers in that town. He entered his father's profession,
and had some success as an orator. In 1789 he was elected as a deputy to
the States General by the Tiers-État of the _sénéchaussée_ of Rennes. He
adopted advanced opinions, and was one of the founders of the Breton
Club (see JACOBIN CLUB); his influence in the Constituent Assembly was
considerable, and on the 3rd of August 1789 he was elected its
president. Thus he presided over the Assembly during the important
period following the 4th of August; he took an active part in the
debates, and was a leading member of the committee which drew up the new
constitution; he further presented a report on the liberty of theatres
and on literary copyright. He was also conspicuous as opposing
Robespierre when he proposed that members of the Constituent Assembly
should not be eligible for election to the proposed new Assembly. After
the flight of the king to Varennes (20th of June 1792), his opinions
became more moderate, and on the 29th of September he brought forward a
motion to restrict the action of the clubs. This, together with a visit
which he paid to England in 1792 made him suspect, and he was denounced
on his return for conspiring with foreign nations. He went into hiding,
but was discovered in consequence of a pamphlet which he published to
defend himself, arrested and condemned to death by the Revolutionary
Tribunal. He was executed at Paris on the 22nd of April 1794.
See A. Aulard, _Les Orateurs de la constituante_ (2nd ed., Paris,
1905); R. Kerviler, _Récherches et notices sur les députés de la
Bretagne aux états généraux_ (2 vols., Rennes, 1888-1889); P. J.
Levot, _Biographie bretonne_ (2 vols., 1853-1857).
LECHLER, GOTTHARD VICTOR (1811-1888), German Lutheran theologian, was
born on the 18th of April 1811 at Kloster Reichenbach in Württemberg. He
studied at Tübingen under F. C. Baur, and became in 1858 pastor of the
church of St Thomas, professor Ordinarius of historical theology and
superintendent of the Lutheran church of Leipzig. He died on the 26th of
December 1888. A disciple of Neander, he belonged to the extreme right
of the school of mediating theologians. He is important as the historian
of early Christianity and of the pre-Reformation period. Although F. C.
Baur was his teacher, he did not attach himself to the Tübingen school;
in reply to the contention that there are traces of a sharp conflict
between two parties, Paulinists and Petrinists, he says that "we find
variety coupled with agreement, and unity with difference, between Paul
and the earlier apostles; we recognize the one spirit in the many
gifts." His _Das apostolische und das nachapostolische Zeitalter_
(1851), which developed out of a prize essay (1849), passed through
three editions in Germany (3rd ed., 1885), and was translated into
English (2 vols., 1886). The work which in his own opinion was his
greatest, _Johann von Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation_ (2
vols., 1873), appeared in English with the title _John Wiclif and his
English Precursors_ (1878, new ed., 1884). An earlier work, _Geschichte
des engl. Deïsmus_ (1841), is still regarded as a valuable contribution
to the study of religious thought in England.
Lechler's other works include _Geschichte der Presbyterial- und
Synodal-verfassung_ (1854), _Urkundenfunde zur Geschichte des christl.
Altertums_ (1886), and biographies of Thomas Bradwardine (1862) and
Robert Grosseteste (1867). He wrote part of the commentary on the Acts
of the Apostles in J. P. Lange's _Bibelwerk_. From 1882 he edited with
F. W. Dibelius the _Beiträge zur sächsischen Kirchengeschichte_.
_Johannes Hus_ (1890) was published after his death.
LECKY, WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE (1838-1903), Irish historian and
publicist, was born at Newtown Park, near Dublin, on the 26th of March
1838, being the eldest son of John Hartpole Lecky, whose family had for
many generations been landowners in Ireland. He was educated at
Kingstown, Armagh, and Cheltenham College, and at Trinity College,
Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1859 and M.A. in 1863, and where,
with a view to becoming a clergyman in the Irish Protestant Church, he
went through a course of divinity. In 1860 he published anonymously a
small book entitled _The Religious Tendencies of the Age_, but on
leaving college he abandoned his first intention and turned to
historical work. In 1861 he published _Leaders of Public Opinion in
Ireland_, a brief sketch of the lives and work of Swift, Flood, Grattan
and O'Connell, which gave decided promise of his later admirable work in
the same field. This book, originally published anonymously, was
republished in 1871; and the essay on Swift, rewritten and amplified,
appeared again in 1897 as an introduction to a new edition of Swift's
works. Two learned surveys of certain aspects of history followed: _A
History of the Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe_ (2 vols.,
1865), and _A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne_
(2 vols., 1869). Some criticism was aroused by these books, especially
by the last named, with its opening dissertation on "the natural history
of morals," but both have been generally accepted as acute and
suggestive commentaries upon a wide range of facts. Lecky then devoted
himself to the chief work of his life, _A History of England during the
Eighteenth Century_, vols. i. and ii. of which appeared in 1878, and
vols. vii. and viii. (completing the work) in 1890. His object was "to
disengage from the great mass of facts those which relate to the
permanent forces of the nation, or which indicate some of the more
enduring features of national life," and in the carrying out of this
task Lecky displays many of the qualities of a great historian. The work
is distinguished by the lucidity of its style, but the fulness and
extent of the authorities referred to, and, above all, by the judicial
impartiality maintained by the author throughout. These qualities are
perhaps most conspicuous and most valuable in the chapters which deal
with the history of Ireland, and in the cabinet edition of 1892, in 12
vols. (frequently reprinted) this part of the work is separated from the
rest, and occupies five volumes under the title of _A History of Ireland
in the Eighteenth Century_. A volume of _Poems_, published in 1891, was
characterized by a certain frigidity and by occasional lapses into
commonplace, objections which may also be fairly urged against much of
Lecky's prose-writing. In 1896 he published two volumes entitled
_Democracy and Liberty_, in which he considered, with special reference
to Great Britain, France and America, some of the tendencies of modern
democracies. The somewhat gloomy conclusions at which he arrived
provoked much criticism both in Great Britain and America, which was
renewed when he published in a new edition (1899) an elaborate and very
depreciatory estimate of Gladstone, then recently dead. This work,
though essentially different from the author's purely historical
writings, has many of their merits, though it was inevitable that other
minds should take a different view of the evidence. In _The Map of Life_
(1900) he discussed in a popular style some of the ethical problems
which arise in everyday life. In 1903 he published a revised and greatly
enlarged edition of _Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland_, in two
volumes, from which the essay on Swift was omitted and that on O'Connell
was expanded into a complete biography of the great advocate of repeal
of the Union. Though always a keen sympathizer with the Irish people in
their misfortunes and aspirations, and though he had criticized severely
the methods by which the Act of Union was passed, Lecky, who grew up as
a moderate Liberal, was from the first strenuously opposed to
Gladstone's policy of Home Rule, and in 1895 he was returned to
parliament as Unionist member for Dublin University. In 1897 he was made
a privy councillor, and among the coronation honours in 1902 he was
nominated an original member of the new Order of Merit. His university
honours included the degree of LL.D. from Dublin, St Andrews and
Glasgow, the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford and the degree of Litt.D. from
Cambridge. In 1894 he was elected corresponding member of the Institute
of France. He contributed occasionally to periodical literature, and two
of his addresses, _The Political Value of History_ (1892) and _The
Empire, its Value and its Growth_ (1893), were published. He died in
London on the 22nd of October 1903. He married in 1871 Elizabeth,
baroness de Dedem, daughter of baron de Dedem, a general in the Dutch
service, but had no children. Mrs Lecky contributed to various reviews a
number of articles, chiefly on historical and political subjects. A
volume of Lecky's _Historical and Political Essays_ was published
posthumously (London, 1908).
LE CLERC [CLERICUS], JEAN (1657-1736), French Protestant theologian, was
born on the 19th of March 1657 at Geneva, where his father, Stephen Le
Clerc, was professor of Greek. The family originally belonged to the
neighbourhood of Beauvais in France, and several of its members acquired
some name in literature. Jean Le Clerc applied himself to the study of
philosophy under J. R. Chouet (1642-1731) the Cartesian, and attended
the theological lectures of P. Mestrezat, Franz Turretin and Louis
Tronchin (1629-1705). In 1678-1679 he spent some time at Grenoble as
tutor in a private family; on his return to Geneva he passed his
examinations and received ordination. Soon afterwards he went to Saumur,
where in 1679 were published _Liberii de Sancto Amore Epistolae
Theologicae_ (Irenopoli: Typis Philalethianis), usually attributed to
him; they deal with the doctrine of the Trinity, the hypostatic union of
the two natures in Jesus Christ, original sin, and the like, in a manner
sufficiently far removed from that of the conventional orthodoxy of the
period. In 1682 he went to London, where he remained six months,
preaching on alternate Sundays in the Walloon church and in the Savoy
chapel. Passing to Amsterdam he was introduced to John Locke and to
Philip v. Limborch, professor at the Remonstrant college; the
acquaintance with Limborch soon ripened into a close friendship, which
strengthened his preference for the Remonstrant theology, already
favourably known to him by the writings of his grand-uncle, Stephan
Curcellaeus (d. 1645) and by those of Simon Episcopius. A last attempt
to live at Geneva, made at the request of relatives there, satisfied him
that the theological atmosphere was uncongenial, and in 1684 he finally
settled at Amsterdam, first as a moderately successful preacher, until
ecclesiastical jealousy shut him out from that career, and afterwards as
professor of philosophy, belles-lettres and Hebrew in the Remonstrant
seminary. This appointment, which he owed to Limborch, he held from
1684, and in 1712 on the death of his friend he was called to occupy the
chair of church history also. His suspected Socinianism was the cause,
it is said, of his exclusion from the chair of dogmatic theology. Apart
from his literary labours, Le Clerc's life at Amsterdam was uneventful.
In 1691 he married a daughter of Gregorio Leti. From 1728 onward he was
subject to repeated strokes of paralysis, and he died on the 8th of
January 1736.
A full catalogue of the publications of Le Clerc will be found, with
biographical material, in E. and E. Haag's _France Protestante_ (where
seventy-three works are enumerated), or in J. G. de Chauffepié's
Dictionnaire. Only the most important of these can be mentioned here.
In 1685 he published _Sentimens de quelques théologiens de Hollande
sur l'histoire critique du Vieux Testament composée par le P. Richard
Simon_, in which, while pointing out what he believed to be the faults
of that author, he undertook to make some positive contributions
towards a right understanding of the Bible. Among these last may be
noted his argument against the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch,
his views as to the manner in which the five books were composed, his
opinions (singularly free for the time in which he lived) on the
subject of inspiration in general, and particularly as to the
inspiration of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles. Richard Simon's
_Réponse_ (1686) elicited from Le Clerc a _Défense des sentimens_ in
the same year, which was followed by a new _Réponse_ (1687). In 1692
appeared his _Logica sive Ars Ratiocinandi_, and also _Ontologia et
Pneumatologia_; these, with the _Physica_ (1695), are incorporated
with the _Opera Philosophica_, which have passed through several
editions. In 1693 his series of Biblical commentaries began with that
on Genesis; the series was not completed until 1731. The portion
relating to the New Testament books included the paraphrase and notes
of Henry Hammond (1605-1660). Le Clerc's commentary had a great
influence in breaking up traditional prejudices and showing the
necessity for a more scientific inquiry into the origin and meaning of
the biblical books. It was on all sides hotly attacked. His _Ars
Critica_ appeared in 1696, and, in continuation, _Epistolae Criticae
et Ecclesiasticae_ in 1700. Le Clerc's new edition of the _Apostolic
Fathers_ of Johann Cotelerius (1627-1686), published in 1698, marked
an advance in the critical study of these documents. But the greatest
literary influence of Le Clerc was probably that which he exercised
over his contemporaries by means of the serials, or, if one may so
call them, reviews, of which he was editor. These were the
_Bibliothèque universelle et historique_ (Amsterdam, 25 vols. 12 mo.,
1686-1693), begun with J. C. de la Croze; the _Bibliothèque choisie_
(Amsterdam, 28 vols., 1703-1713); and the _Bibliothèque ancienne et
moderne_, (29 vols., 1714-1726).
See Le Clerc's _Parrhasiana ou pensées sur des matières de critique,
d'histoire, de morale, et de politique: avec la défense de divers
ouvrages de M. L. C. par Théodore Parrhase_ (Amsterdam, 1699); and
_Vita et opera ad annum MDCCXI., amici ejus opusculum, philosophicis
Clerici operibus subjiciendum_, also attributed to himself. The
supplement to Hammond's notes was translated into English in 1699,
_Parrhasiana, or Thoughts on Several Subjects_, in 1700, the _Harmony
of the Gospels_ in 1701, and _Twelve Dissertations out of M. Le
Clerc's Genesis_ in 1696.
LECOCQ, ALEXANDRE CHARLES (1832- ), French musical composer, was born
in Paris, on the 3rd of June 1832. He was admitted into the
Conservatoire in 1849, being already an accomplished pianist. He studied
under Bazin, Halévy and Benoist, winning the first prize for harmony in
1850, and the second prize for fugue in 1852. He first gained notice by
dividing with Bizet the first prize for an operetta in a competition
instituted by Offenbach. His operetta, _Le Docteur miracle_, was
performed at the Bouffes Parisiens in 1857. After that he wrote
constantly for theatres, but produced nothing worthy of mention until
_Fleur de thé_ (1868), which ran for more than a hundred nights. _Les
Cent vierges_ (1872) was favourably received also, but all his previous
successes were cast into the shade by _La Fille de Madame Angot_ (Paris,
1873; London, 1873), which was performed for 400 nights consecutively,
and has since gained and retained enormous popularity. After 1873 Lecocq
produced a large number of comic operas, though he never equalled his
early triumph in _La Fille de Madame Angot_. Among the best of his
pieces are _Giroflé-Girofla_ (Paris and London, 1874); _Les Prés
Saint-Gervais_ (Paris and London, 1874); _La Petite Mariée_ (Paris,
1875; London, 1876, revived as _The Scarlet Feather_, 1897); _Le Petit
Duc_ (Paris, 1878; London, as _The Little Duke_, 1878); _La Petite
Mademoiselle_ (Paris, 1879; London, 1880); _Le Jour et la Nuit_ (Paris,
1881; London, as _Manola_, 1882); _Le Coeur et la main_ (Paris, 1882;
London, as _Incognita_, 1893); _La Princesse des Canaries_ (Paris, 1883;
London, as _Pepita_, 1888). In 1899 a ballet by Lecocq, entitled _Le
Cygne_, was staged at the Opéra Comique, Paris; and in 1903 _Yetta_ was
produced at Brussels.
LECOINTE-PUYRAVEAU, MICHEL MATHIEU (1764-1827), French politician, was
born at Saint-Maixent (Deux-Sèvres) on the 13th of December 1764. Deputy
for his department to the Legislative Assembly in 1792, and to the
Convention in the same year, he voted for "the death of the tyrant." His
association with the Girondins nearly involved him in their fall, in
spite of his vigorous republicanism. He took part in the revolution of
Thermidor, but protested against the establishment of the Directory, and
continually pressed for severer measures against the _émigrés_, and even
their relations who had remained in France. He was secretary and then
president of the Council of Five Hundred, and under the Consulate a
member of the Tribunate. He took no part in public affairs under the
Empire, but was lieutenant-general of police for south-east France
during the Hundred Days. After Waterloo he took ship from Toulon, but
the ship was driven back by a storm and he narrowly escaped massacre at
Marseilles. After six weeks' imprisonment in the Château d'If he
returned to Paris, escaping, after the proscription of the regicides, to
Brussels, where he died on the 15th of January 1827.
LE CONTE, JOSEPH (1823-1901), American geologist, of Huguenot descent,
was born in Liberty county, Georgia, on the 26th of February 1823. He
was educated at Franklin College, Georgia, where he graduated (1841); he
afterwards studied medicine and received his degree at the New York
College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. After practising for three
or four years at Macon, Georgia, he entered Harvard, and studied natural
history under L. Agassiz. An excursion made with Professors J. Hall and
Agassiz to the Helderberg mountains of New York developed a keen
interest in geology. After graduating at Harvard, Le Conte in 1851
accompanied Agassiz on an expedition to study the Florida reefs. On his
return he became professor of natural science in Oglethorpe University,
Georgia; and from 1852 to 1856 professor of natural history and geology
in Franklin College. From 1857 to 1869 he was professor of chemistry and
geology in South Carolina College, and he was then appointed professor
of geology and natural history in the university of California, a post
which he held until his death. He published a series of papers on
monocular and binocular vision, and also on psychology. His chief
contributions, however, related to geology, and in all he wrote he was
lucid and philosophical. He described the fissure-eruptions in western
America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the
great features of the earth's surface. As separate works he published
_Elements of Geology_ (1878, 5th ed. 1889); _Religion and Science_
(1874); and _Evolution: its History, its Evidences, and its Relation
to Religious Thought_ (1888). He was president of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in 1892, and of the
Geological Society of America in 1896. He died in the Yosemite Valley,
California, on the 6th of June 1901.
See Obituary by J. J. Stevenson, _Annals of New York Acad. of
Sciences_, vol. xiv. (1902), p. 150.
LECONTE DE LISLE, CHARLES MARIE RENÉ (1818-1894), French poet, was born
in the island of Réunion on the 22nd of October 1818. His father, an
army surgeon, who brought him up with great severity, sent him to travel
in the East Indies with a view to preparing him for a commercial life.
After this voyage he went to Rennes to complete his education, studying
especially Greek, Italian and history. He returned once or twice to
Réunion, but in 1846 settled definitely in Paris. His first volume, _La
Vénus de Milo_, attracted to him a number of friends many of whom were
passionately devoted to classical literature. In 1873 he was made
assistant librarian at the Luxembourg; in 1886 he was elected to the
Academy in succession to Victor Hugo. His _Poèmes antiques_ appeared in
1852; _Poèmes et poésies_ in 1854; _Le Chemin de la croix_ in 1859; the
_Poèmes barbares_, in their first form, in 1862; _Les Erinnyes_, a
tragedy after the Greek model, in 1872; for which occasional music was
provided by Jules Massenet; the _Poèmes tragiques_ in 1884;
_L'Apollonide_, another classical tragedy, in 1888; and two posthumous
volumes, _Derniers poèmes_ in 1899, and _Premières poésies et lettres
intimes_ in 1902. In addition to his original work in verse, he
published a series of admirable prose translations of Theocritus, Homer,
Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Horace. He died at Voisins,
near Louveciennes (Seine-et-Oise), on the 18th of July 1894.
In Leconte de Lisle the Parnassian movement seems to crystallize. His
verse is clear, sonorous, dignified, deliberate in movement, classically
correct in rhythm, full of exotic local colour, of savage names, of
realistic rhetoric. It has its own kind of romance, in its "legend of
the ages," so different from Hugo's, so much fuller of scholarship and
the historic sense, yet with far less of human pity. Coldness cultivated
as a kind of artistic distinction seems to turn all his poetry to
marble, in spite of the fire at its heart. Most of Leconte de Lisle's
poems are little chill epics, in which legend is fossilized. They have
the lofty monotony of a single conception of life and of the universe.
He sees the world as what Byron called it, "a glorious blunder," and
desires only to stand a little apart from the throng, meditating
scornfully. Hope, with him, becomes no more than this desperate
certainty:--
"Tu te tairas, ô voix sinistre des vivants!"
His only prayer is to Death, "divine Death," that it may gather its
children to its breast:--
"Affranchis-nous du temps, du nombre et de l'espace,
Et rends-nous le repos que la vie a troublé!"
The interval which is his he accepts with something of the defiance of
his own Cain, refusing to fill it with the triviality of happiness,
waiting even upon beauty with a certain inflexible austerity. He listens
and watches, throughout the world, for echoes and glimpses of great
tragic passions, languid with fire in the East, a tumultuous
conflagration in the middle ages, a sombre darkness in the heroic ages
of the North. The burning emptiness of the desert attracts him, the
inexplicable melancholy of the dogs that bark at the moon; he would
interpret the jaguar's dreams, the sleep of the condor. He sees nature
with the same wrathful impatience as man, praising it for its
destructive energies, its haste to crush out human life before the stars
fall into chaos, and the world with them, as one of the least of stars.
He sings the "Dies Irae" exultingly; only seeming to desire an end of
God as well as of man, universal nothingness. He conceives that he does
well to be angry, and this anger is indeed the personal note of his
pessimism; but it leaves him somewhat apart from the philosophical
poets, too fierce for wisdom and not rapturous enough for poetry. (A.
Sy.)
See J. Dornis, _Leconte de Lisle intime_ (1895); F. Calmette, _Un Demi
siècle littéraire, Leconte de Lisle et ses amis_ (1902); Paul Bourget,
_Nouveaux essais de psychologie contemporaine_ (1885); F. Brunetière,
_L'Évolution de la poésie lyrique en France au XIX^e siècle_ (1894);
Maurice Spronck, _Les Artistes littéraires_ (1889); J. Lemaître, _Les
Contemporains_ (2nd series, 1886); F. Brunetière, _Nouveaux essais sur
la litt. contemp._ (1895).
LE COQ, ROBERT (d. 1373), French bishop, was born at Montdidier,
although he belonged to a bourgeois family of Orléans, where he first
attended school before coming to Paris. In Paris he became advocate to
the parlement (1347); then King John appointed him master of requests,
and in 1351, a year during which he received many other honours, he
became bishop of Laon. At the opening of 1354 he was sent with the
cardinal of Boulogne, Pierre I., duke of Bourbon, and Jean VI., count of
Vendome, to Mantes to treat with Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, who
had caused the constable, Charles of Spain, to be assassinated, and from
this time dates his connexion with this king. At the meeting of the
estates which opened in Paris in October 1356 Le Coq played a leading
rôle and was one of the most outspoken of the orators, especially when
petitions were presented to the dauphin Charles, denouncing the bad
government of the realm and demanding the banishment of the royal
councillors. Soon, however, the credit of the estates having gone down,
he withdrew to his diocese, but at the request of the bourgeois of Paris
he speedily returned. The king of Navarre had succeeded in escaping from
prison and had entered Paris, where his party was in the ascendant; and
Robert le Coq became the most powerful person in his council. No one
dared to contradict him, and he brought into it whom he pleased. He did
not scruple to reveal to the king of Navarre secret deliberations, but
his fortune soon turned. He ran great danger at the estates of Compiègne
in May 1358, where his dismissal was demanded, and he had to flee to St
Denis, where Charles the Bad and Étienne Marcel came to find him. After
the death of Marcel, he tried, unsuccessfully, to deliver Laon, his
episcopal town, to the king of Navarre, and he was excluded from the
amnesty promised in the treaty of Calais (1360) by King John to the
partisans of Charles the Bad. His temporalities had been seized, and he
was obliged to flee from France. In 1363, thanks to the support of the
king of Navarre, he was given the bishopric of Calahorra in the kingdom
of Aragon, which he administered until his death in 1373.
See L. C. Douët d'Arcq, "Acte d'accusation contre Robert le Coq,
évêque de Laon" in _Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes_, 1st series,
t. ii., pp. 350-387; and R. Delachenal, "La Bibliothèque d'un avocat
du XIV^e siècle, inventaire estimatif des livres de Robert le Coq," in
_Nouvelle revue historique de droit français et étranger_ (1887), pp.
524-537.
LECOUVREUR, ADRIENNE (1692-1730), French actress, was born on the 5th of
April 1692, at Damery, Marne, the daughter of a hatter, Robert Couvreur.
She had an unhappy childhood in Paris. She showed a natural talent for
declamation and was instructed by La Grand, _sociétaire_ of the Comédie
Française, and with his help she obtained a provincial engagement. It
was not until 1717, after a long apprenticeship, that she made her Paris
début as Electre, in Crébillon's tragedy of that name, and Angélique in
Molière's _George Dandin_. Her success was so great that she was
immediately received into the Comédie Française, and for thirteen years
she was the queen of tragedy there, attaining a popularity never before
accorded an actress. She is said to have played no fewer than 1184 times
in a hundred rôles, of which she created twenty-two. She owed her
success largely to her courage in abandoning the stilted style of
elocution of her predecessors for a naturalness of delivery and a
touching simplicity of pathos that delighted and moved her public. In
Baron, who returned to the stage at the age of sixty-seven, she had an
able and powerful coadjutor in changing the stage traditions of
generations. The jealousy she aroused was partly due to her social
successes, which were many, in spite of the notorious freedom of her
manner of life. She was on visiting and dining terms with half the
court, and her _salon_ was frequented by Voltaire and all the other
notables and men of letters. She was the mistress of Maurice de Saxe
from 1721, and sold her plate and jewels to supply him with funds for
his ill-starred adventures as duke of Courland. By him she had a
daughter, her third, who was grandmother of the father of George Sand.
Adrienne Lecouvreur died on the 20th of March 1730. She was denied the
last rites of the Church, and her remains were refused burial in
consecrated ground. Voltaire, in a fine poem on her death, expressed his
indignation at the barbarous treatment accorded to the woman whose
"friend, admirer, lover" he was.
Her life formed the subject of the well-known tragedy (1849), by
Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé.
LE CREUSOT, a town of east-central France in the department of
Saône-et-Loire, 55 m. S.W. of Dijon on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop.
(1906), town, 22,535; commune, 33,437. Situated at the foot of lofty
hills in a district rich in coal and iron, it has the most extensive
iron works in France. The coal bed of Le Creusot was discovered in the
13th century; but it was not till 1774 that the first workshops were
founded there. The royal crystal works were transferred from Sèvres to
Le Creusot in 1787, but this industry came to an end in 1831. Meanwhile
two or three enterprises for the manufacture of metal had ended in
failure, and it was only in 1836 that the foundation of iron works by
Adolphe and Eugène Schneider definitely inaugurated the industrial
prosperity of the place. The works supplied large quantities of war
material to the French armies during the Crimean and Franco-German wars.
Since that time they have continuously enlarged the scope of their
operations, which now embrace the manufacture of steel, armour-plate,
guns, ordnance-stores, locomotives, electrical machinery and engineering
material of every description. A network of railways about 37 m. in
length connects the various branches of the works with each other and
with the neighbouring Canal du Centre. Special attention is paid to the
welfare of the workers who, not including the miners, number about
12,000, and good schools have been established. In 1897 the
ordnance-manufacture of the Société des Forges et Chantiers de la
Méditerranée at Havre was acquired by the Company, which also has
important branches at Chalon-sur-Saône, where ship-building and
bridge-construction is carried on, and at Cette (Hérault).
LECTERN (through O. Fr. _leitrun_, from Late Lat. _lectrum_, or
_lectrinum_, _legere_, to read; the French equivalent is _lutrin_; Ital.
_leggio_; Ger. _Lesepult_), in the furniture of certain Christian
churches, a reading-desk, used more especially for the reading of the
lessons and in the Anglican Church practically confined to that purpose.
In the early Christian Church this was done from the ambo (q.v.), but in
the 15th century, when the books were often of great size, it became
necessary to provide a lectern to hold them. These were either in wood
or metal, and many fine examples still exist; one at Detling in wood, in
which there are shelves on all four sides to hold books, is perhaps the
most elaborate. Brass lecterns, as in the colleges of Oxford and
Cambridge, are common; in the usual type the book is supported on the
outspread wings of an eagle or pelican, which is raised on a moulded
stem, carried on three projecting ledges or feet with lions on them. In
the example in Norwich cathedral, the pelican supporting the book stands
on a rock enclosed with a rich cresting of Gothic tabernacle work; the
central stem or pillar, on which this rests, is supported by miniature
projecting buttresses, standing on a moulded base with lions on it.
LECTION, LECTIONARY. The custom of reading the books of Moses in the
synagogues on the Sabbath day was a very ancient one in the Jewish
Church. The addition of lections (i.e. readings) from the prophetic
books had been made afterwards and was in existence in our Lord's time,
as may be gathered from such passages as St Luke iv. 16-20, xvi. 29.
This element in synagogue worship was taken over with others into the
Christian divine service, additions being made to it from the writings
of the apostles and evangelists. We find traces of such additions within
the New Testament itself in such directions as are contained in Col. iv.
16; 1 Thess. v. 27.
From the 2nd century onwards references multiply, though the earlier
references do not prove the existence of a fixed lectionary or order of
lessons, but rather point the other way. Justin Martyr, describing
divine worship in the middle of the 2nd century says: "On the day called
Sunday all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one
place, and the memoirs of the Apostles, or the writings of the Prophets
are read as long as time permits" (_Apol._ i. cap. 67). Tertullian about
half a century later makes frequent reference to the reading of Holy
Scripture in public worship (_Apol._ 39; _De praescript._ 36; _De
amina_, 9).
In the canons of Hippolytus in the first half of the 3rd century we find
this direction: "Let presbyters, subdeacons and readers, and all the
people assemble daily in the church at time of cock-crow, and betake
themselves to prayers, to psalms and to the reading of the Scriptures,
according to the command of the Apostles, until I come attend to
reading" (canon xxi.).
But there are traces of fixed lessons coming into existence in the
course of this century; Origen refers to the book of Job being read in
Holy Week (_Commentaries on Job_, lib. i.). Allusions of a similar kind
in the 4th century are frequent. John Cassian (c. 380) tells us that
throughout Egypt the Psalms were divided into groups of twelve, and that
after each group there followed two lessons, one from the Old, one from
the New Testament (_De caenob. inst._ ii. 4), implying but not
absolutely stating that there was a fixed order of such lessons just as
there was of the Psalms. St Basil the Great mentions fixed lessons on
certain occasions taken from Isaiah, Proverbs, St Matthew and Acts (Hom.
xiii. _De bapt._). From Chrysostom (Hom. lxiii _in Act._ &c.), and
Augustine (Tract. vi. _in Joann._ &c.) we learn that Genesis was read in
Lent, Job and Jonah in Passion Week, the Acts of the Apostles in
Eastertide, lessons on the Passion on Good Friday and on the
Resurrection on Easter Day. In the _Apostolical Constitutions_ (ii. 57)
the following service is described and enjoined. First come two lessons
from the Old Testament by a reader, the whole of the Old Testament being
made use of except the books of the Apocrypha. The Psalms of David are
then to be sung. Next the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul
are to be read, and finally the four Gospels by a deacon or a priest.
Whether the selections were _ad libitum_ or according to a fixed table
of lessons we are not informed. Nothing in the shape of a lectionary is
extant older than the 8th century, though there is evidence that
Claudianus Mamercus made one for the church at Vienne in 450, and that
Musaeus made one for the church at Marseilles c. 458. The _Liber
comitis_ formerly attributed to St Jerome must be three, or nearly
three, centuries later than that saint, and the Luxeuil lectionary, or
_Lectionarium Gallicanum_, which Mabillon attributed to the 7th, cannot
be earlier than the 8th century; yet the oldest MSS. of the Gospels have
marginal marks, and sometimes actual interpolations, which can only be
accounted for as indicating the beginnings and endings of liturgical
lessons. The third council of Carthage in 397 forbade anything but Holy
Scripture to be read in church; this rule has been adhered to so far as
the liturgical epistle and gospel, and occasional additional lessons in
the Roman missal are concerned, but in the divine office, on feasts when
nine lessons are read at matins, only the first three lessons are taken
from Holy Scripture, the next three being taken from the sermons of
ecclesiastical writers, and the last three from expositions of the day's
gospel; but sometimes the lives or _Passions_ of the saints, or of some
particular saints, were substituted for any or all of these breviary
lessons. (F. E. W.)
LECTISTERNIUM (from Lat. _lectum sternere_, "to spread a couch"; [Greek:
strômnai] in Dion. Halic. xii. 9), in ancient Rome, a propitiatory
ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses,
represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood,
with heads of bronze, wax or marble, and covered with drapery. Another
suggestion is that the symbols of the gods consisted of bundles of
sacred herbs, tied together in the form of a head, covered by a waxen
mask so as to resemble a kind of bust (cf. the straw puppets called
Argei). These symbols were laid upon a couch (_lectus_), the left arm
resting on a cushion (_pulvinus_, whence the couch itself was often
called _pulvinar_) in the attitude of reclining. In front of the couch,
which was placed in the open street, a meal was set out on a table. It
is definitely stated by Livy (v. 13) that the ceremony took place "for
the first time" in Rome in the year 399 B.C., after the Sibylline books
had been consulted by their keepers and interpreters (_duumviri sacris
faciendis_), on the occasion of a pestilence. Three couches were
prepared for three pairs of gods--Apollo and Latona, Hercules and Diana,
Mercury and Neptune. The feast, which on that occasion lasted for eight
(or seven) days, was also celebrated by private individuals; the
citizens kept open house, quarrels were forgotten, debtors and prisoners
were released, and everything done to banish sorrow. Similar honours
were paid to other divinities in subsequent times--Fortuna, Saturnus,
Juno Regina of the Aventine, the three Capitoline deities (Jupiter,
Juno, Minerva), and in 217, after the defeat of lake Trasimenus, a
lectisternium was held for three days to six pairs of gods,
corresponding to the twelve great gods of Olympus--Jupiter, Juno,
Neptune, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Apollo, Diana, Vulcan, Vesta, Mercury,
Ceres. In 205, alarmed by unfavourable prodigies, the Romans were
ordered to fetch the Great Mother of the gods from Pessinus in Phrygia;
in the following year the image was brought to Rome, and a lectisternium
held. In later times, the lectisternium became of constant (even daily)
occurrence, and was celebrated in the different temples. Such
celebrations must be distinguished from those which were ordered, like
the earlier lectisternia, by the Sibylline books in special emergencies.
Although undoubtedly offerings of food were made to the gods in very
early Roman times on such occasions as the ceremony of _confarreatio_,
and the _epulum Jovis_ (often confounded with the lectisternium), it is
generally agreed that the lectisternia were of Greek origin. In favour
of this may be mentioned: the similarity of the Greek [Greek:
Theoxenia], in which, however, the gods played the part of hosts; the
gods associated with it were either previously unknown to Roman
religion, though often concealed under Roman names, or were provided
with a new cult (thus Hercules was not worshipped as at the Ara Maxima,
where, according to Servius on _Aeneid_, viii. 176 and Cornelius Balbus,
_ap._ Macrobius, _Sat._ iii. 6, a lectisternium was forbidden); the
Sibylline books, which decided whether a lectisternium was to be held or
not, were of Greek origin; the custom of reclining at meals was Greek.
Some, however, assign an Etruscan origin to the ceremony, the Sibylline
books themselves being looked upon as old Italian "black books." A
probable explanation of the confusion between the lectisternia and
genuine old Italian ceremonies is that, as the lectisternia became an
almost everyday occurrence in Rome, people forgot their foreign origin
and the circumstances in which they were first introduced, and then the
word _pulvinar_ with its associations was transferred to times in which
it had no existence. In imperial times, according to Tacitus (_Annals_,
xv. 44), chairs were substituted for couches in the case of goddesses,
and the lectisternium in their case became a sellisternium (the reading,
however, is not certain). This was in accordance with Roman custom,
since in the earliest times all the members of a family sat at meals,
and in later times at least the women and children. This is a point of
distinction between the original practice at the lectisternium and the
epulum Jovis, the goddesses at the latter being provided with chairs,
whereas in the lectisternium they reclined. In Christian times the word
was used for a feast in memory of the dead (Sidonius Apollinaris,
_Epistulae_, iv. 15).
See article by A. Bouché-Leclercq in Daremberg and Saglio,
_Dictionnaire des antiquités_; Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_,
iii. 45, 187 (1885); G. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, p.
355 seq.; monograph by Wackermann (Hanau, 1888); C. Pascal, _Studii di
antichità e mitologia_ (1896).
LECTOR, or READER, a minor office-bearer in the Christian Church. From
an early period men have been set apart, under the title of
_anagnostae_, _lectores_, or readers, for the purpose of reading Holy
Scripture in church. We do not know what the custom of the Church was in
the first two centuries, the earliest reference to readers, as an order,
occurring in the writings of Tertullian (_De praescript. haeret._ cap.
41); there are frequent allusions to them in the writings of St Cyprian
and afterwards. Cornelius, bishop of Rome in A.D. 251-252, in a
well-known letter mentions readers among the various church orders then
existing at Rome. In the _Apostolic Church Order_ (canon 19), mention
is made of the qualifications and duties of a reader, but no reference
is made to their method of ordination. In the _Apostolic Didascalia_
there is recognition of three minor orders of men, subdeacons, readers
and singers, in addition to two orders of women, deaconesses and widows.
A century later, in the _Apostolic Constitutions_, we find not only a
recognition of readers, but also a form of admission provided for them,
consisting of the imposition of hands and prayer (lib. viii. cap. 22).
In Africa the imposition of hands was not in use, but a Bible was handed
to the newly appointed reader with words of commission to read it,
followed by a prayer and a benediction (Fourth Council of Carthage, can.
8). This is the ritual of the Roman Church of to-day. With regard to
age, the novels of Justinian (No. 123) forbade any one to be admitted to
the office of reader under the age of eighteen. (F. E. W.)
LECTOURE, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement
in the department of Gers, 21 m. N. of Auch on the Southern railway
between that city and Agen. Pop. (1906), town, 2426; commune, 4310. It
stands on the right bank of the Gers, overlooking the river from the
summit of a steep plateau. The church of St Gervais and St Protais was
once a cathedral. The massive tower which flanks it on the north belongs
to the 15th century; the rest of the church dates from the 13th, 15th,
16th and 17th centuries. The hôtel de ville, the sous-préfecture and the
museum occupy the palace of the former bishops, which was once the
property of Marshal Jean Lannes, a native of the town. A recess in the
wall of an old house contains the Fontaine de Houndélie, a spring
sheltered by a double archway of the 13th century. At the bottom of the
hill a church of the 16th century marks the site of the monastery of St
Gény. Lectoure has a tribunal of first instance and a communal college.
Its industries include distilling, the manufacture of wooden shoes and
biscuits, and market gardening; it has trade in grain, cattle, wine and
brandy.
Lectoure, capital of the Iberian tribe of the _Lactorates_ and for a
short time of Novempopulania, became the seat of a bishopric in the
4th century. In the 11th century the counts of Lomagne made it their
capital, and on the union of Lomagne with Armagnac, in 1325, it became
the capital of the counts of Armagnac. In 1473 Cardinal Jean de
Jouffroy besieged the town on behalf of Louis XI. and after its fall
put the whole population to the sword. In 1562 it again suffered
severely at the hands of the Catholics under Blaise de Montluc.
LEDA, in Greek mythology, daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and
Eurythemis (her parentage is variously given). She was the wife of
Tyndareus and mother of Castor and Pollux, Clytaemnestra and Helen (see
CASTOR AND POLLUX). In another account Nemesis was the mother of Helen
(q.v.) whom Leda adopted as her daughter. This led to the identification
of Leda and Nemesis. In the usual later form of the story, Leda herself,
having been visited by Zeus in the form of a swan, produced two eggs,
from one of which came Helen, from the other Castor and Pollux.
See Apollodorus iii. 10; Hyginus, _Fab._ 77; Homer, _Iliad_, iii. 426,
_Od._ xi. 298; Euripides, _Helena_, 17; Isocrates, _Helena_, 59; Ovid,
_Heroides_, xvii. 55; Horace, _Ars poetica_, 147; Stasinus in
Athenaeus viii. 334 c.; for the representations of Leda and the swan
in art, J. A. Overbeck, _Kunstmythologie_, i., and Atlas to the same;
also article in Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_.
LE DAIM (or LE DAIN), OLIVIER (d. 1484), favourite of Louis XI. of
France, was born of humble parentage at Thielt near Courtrai in
Flanders. Seeking his fortune at Paris, he became court barber and valet
to Louis XI., and so ingratiated himself with the king that in 1474 he
was ennobled under the title Le Daim and in 1477 made comte de Meulant.
In the latter year he was sent to Burgundy to influence the young
heiress of Charles the Bold, but he was ridiculed and compelled to leave
Ghent. He thereupon seized and held Tournai for the French. Le Daim had
considerable talent for intrigue, and, according to his enemies, could
always be depended upon to execute the baser designs of the king. He
amassed a large fortune, largely by oppression and violence, and was
named gentleman-in-waiting, captain of Loches, and governor of
Saint-Quentin. He remained in favour until the death of Louis XI., when
the rebellious lords were able to avenge the slights and insults they
had suffered at the hands of the royal barber. He was arrested on
charges, the nature of which is uncertain, tried before the parlement of
Paris, and on the 21st of May 1484 hanged at Montfaucon without the
knowledge of Charles VIII., who might have heeded his father's request
and spared the favourite. Le Daim's property was given to the duke of
Orleans.
See the memoirs of the time, especially those of Ph. de Commines (ed.
Mandrot, 1901-1903, Eng. trans. in Bohn Library); Robt. Gaguin,
_Compendium de origine et gestis Francorum_ (Paris, 1586)--it was
Gaguin who made the celebrated epigram concerning Le Daim: "Eras
judex, lector, et exitium"; De Reiffenberg, _Olivier le Dain_
(Brussels, 1829); Delanone, _Le Barbier de Louis XI._ (Paris, 1832):
G. Picot, "Procès d'Olivier le Dain," in the _Comptes rendus de
l'Académie des sciences morales et politiques_, viii. (1877), 485-537.
The memoirs of the time are uniformly hostile to Le Daim.
LEDBURY, a market town in the Ross parliamentary division of
Herefordshire, England, 14½ m. E. of Hereford by the Great Western
railway, pleasantly situated on the south-western slope of the Malvern
Hills. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3259. Cider and agricultural
produce are the chief articles of trade, and there are limestone
quarries in the neighbouring hills. The town contains many picturesque
examples of timbered houses, characteristic of the district, the
principal being the Market House (1633) elevated on massive pillars of
oak. The fine church of St Michael exhibits all the Gothic styles, the
most noteworthy features being the Norman chancel and west door, and the
remarkable series of ornate Decorated windows on the north side. Among
several charities is the hospital of St Catherine, founded by Foliot,
bishop of Hereford, in 1232. Hope End, 2 m. N.E. of Ledbury, was the
residence of Elizabeth Barrett Browning during her early life. A
clock-tower in the town commemorates her.
Wall Hills Camp, supposed to be of British origin, is the earliest
evidence of a settlement near Ledbury (Liedeburge, Lidebury). The
manor was given to the see of Hereford in the 11th century; but in
1561-1562 became crown property. As early as 1170-1171 an episcopal
castle existed in Ledbury. The town was not incorporated, but was
early called a borough; and in 1295 and 1304-1305 returned two members
to parliament. A fair on the day of the decollation of John the
Baptist was granted to the bishop in 1249. Of fairs which survived in
1792 those of the days of St Philip and St James and St Barnabas were
granted in 1584-1585; those held on the Monday before Easter and St
Thomas's day were reputed ancient, but not those of the 12th of May,
the 22nd of June, the 2nd of October and the 21st of December.
Existing fairs are on the second Tuesday in every month and in
October. A weekly market, granted to the bishop by Stephen, John and
Henry III., was obsolete in 1584-1585, when the present market of
Tuesday was authorized. The wool trade was considerable in the 14th
century; later Ledbury was inhabited by glovers and clothiers. The
town was deeply involved in the operations of the Civil Wars, being
occupied both by the royalist leader Prince Rupert and by the
Parliamentarian Colonel Birch.
LEDGER (from the English dialect forms _liggen_ or _leggen_, to lie or
lay; in sense adapted from the Dutch substantive _legger_), properly a
book remaining regularly in one place, and so used of the copies of the
Scriptures and service books kept in a church. The _New English
Dictionary_ quotes from Charles Wriothesley's _Chronicle_, 1538 (ed.
_Camden Soc._, 1875, by W. D. Hamilton), "the curates should provide a
booke of the bible in Englishe, of the largest volume, to be a lidger in
the same church for the parishioners to read on." It is an application
of this original meaning that is found in the commercial usage of the
term for the principal book of account in a business house (see
BOOK-KEEPING). Apart from these applications to various forms of books,
the word is used of the horizontal timbers in a scaffold (q.v.) lying
parallel to the face of a building, which support the "put logs"; of a
flat stone to cover a grave; and of a stationary form of tackle and bait
in angling. In the form "lieger" the term was formerly frequently
applied to a "resident," as distinguished from an "extraordinary"
ambassador.
LEDOCHOWSKI, MIECISLAUS JOHANN, COUNT (1822-1902), Polish cardinal, was
born on the 29th of October 1822 in Gorki (Russian Poland), and received
his early education at the gymnasium and seminary of Warsaw. After
finishing his studies at the Jesuit Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici
in Rome, which strongly influenced his religious development and his
attitude towards church affairs, he was ordained in 1845. From 1856 to
1858 he represented the Roman See in Columbia, but on the outbreak of
the Columbian revolution had to return to Rome. In 1861 Pope Pius IX.
made him his nuncio at Brussels, and in 1865 he was made archbishop of
Gnesen-Posen. His preconization followed on the 8th of January 1866.
This date marks the beginning of the second period in Ledochowski's
life; for during the Prussian and German _Kulturkampf_ he was one of the
most declared enemies of the state. It was only during the earliest
years of his appointment as archbishop that he entertained a different
view, invoking, for instance, an intervention of Prussia in favour of
the Roman Church, when it was oppressed by the house of Savoy. On the
12th of December 1870 he presented an effective memorandum on the
subject at the headquarters at Versailles. In 1872 the archbishop
protested against the demand of the government that religious teaching
should be given only in the German language, and in 1873 he addressed a
circular letter on this subject to the clergy of his diocese. The
government thereupon demanded a statement from the teachers of religion
as to whether they intended to obey it or the archbishop, and on their
declaring for the archbishop, dismissed them. The count himself was
called upon at the end of 1873 to lay aside his office. On his refusing
to do so, he was arrested between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning on the
3rd of February 1874 by Standi the director of police, and taken to the
military prison of Ostrowo. The pope made him a cardinal on the 13th of
March, but it was not till the 3rd of February 1876 that he was released
from prison. Having been expelled from the eastern provinces of Prussia,
he betook himself to Cracow, where his presence was made the pretext for
anti-Prussian demonstrations. Upon this he was also expelled from
Austria, and went to Rome, whence, in spite of his removal from office,
which was decreed on the 15th of April 1874, he continued to direct the
affairs of his diocese, for which he was on several occasions from 1877
to 1879 condemned _in absentia_ by the Prussian government for
"usurpation of episcopal rights." It was not till 1885 that Ledochowski
resolved to resign his archbishopric, in which he was succeeded by
Dinder at the end of the year. Ledochowski's return in 1884 was
forbidden by the Prussian government (although the _Kulturkampf_ had now
abated), on account of his having stirred up anew the Polish nationalist
agitation. He passed the closing years of his life in Rome. In 1892 he
became prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda, and he died in
Rome on the 22nd of July 1902.
See Ograbiszewski, _Deutschlands Episkopat in Lebensbildern_ (1876 and
following years); Holtzmann-Zöppfel, _Lexikon für Theologie und
Kirchenwesen_ (2nd ed., 1888); Vapereau, _Dictionnaire universel des
contemporains_ (6th ed., 1893); Brück, _Geschichte der katholischen
Kirche in Deutschland im neunzehnten Jahrhundert_ vol. 4 (1901 and
1908); Lauchert, _Biographisches Jahrbuch_, vol. 7 (1905). (J. Hn.)
LEDRU-ROLLIN, ALEXANDRE AUGUSTE (1807-1874), French politician, was the
grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known as
"Comus" under Louis XIV., and was born in a house that was once
Scarron's, at Fontenay-aux-Roses (Seine), on the 2nd of February 1807.
He had just begun to practise at the Parisian bar before the revolution
of July, and was retained for the Republican defence in most of the
great political trials of the next ten years. In 1838 he bought for
330,000 francs Desiré Dalloz's place in the Court of Cassation. He was
elected deputy for Le Mans in 1841 with hardly a dissentient voice; but
for the violence of his electoral speeches he was tried at Angers and
sentenced to four months' imprisonment and a fine, against which he
appealed successfully on a technical point. He made a rich and romantic
marriage in 1843, and in 1846 disposed of his charge at the Court of
Cassation to give his time entirely to politics. He was now the
recognized leader of the working-men of France. He had more authority in
the country than in the Chamber, where the violence of his oratory
diminished its effect. He asserted that the fortifications of Paris were
directed against liberty, not against foreign invasion, and he
stigmatized the law of regency (1842) as an audacious usurpation.
Neither from official Liberalism nor from the press did he receive
support; even the Republican _National_ was opposed to him because of
his championship of labour. He therefore founded _La Réforme_ in which
to advance his propaganda. Between Ledru-Rollin and Odilon Barrot with
the other chiefs of the "dynastic Left" there were acute differences,
hardly dissimulated even during the temporary alliance which produced
the campaign of the banquets. It was the speeches of Ledru-Rollin and
Louis Blanc at working-men's banquets in Lille, Dijon and Châlons that
really heralded the revolution. Ledru-Rollin prevented the appointment
of the duchess of Orleans as regent in 1848. He and Lamartine held the
tribune in the Chamber of Deputies until the Parisian populace stopped
serious discussion by invading the Chamber. He was minister of the
interior in the provisional government, and was also a member of the
executive committee[1] appointed by the Constituent Assembly, from which
Louis Blanc and the extremists were excluded. At the crisis of the 15th
of May he definitely sided with Lamartine and the party of order against
the proletariat. Henceforward his position was a difficult one. He never
regained his influence with the working classes, who considered they had
been betrayed; but to his short ministry belongs the credit of the
establishment of a working system of universal suffrage. At the
presidential election in December he was put forward as the Socialist
candidate, but secured only 370,000 votes. His opposition to the policy
of President Louis Napoleon, especially his Roman policy, led to his
moving the impeachment of the president and his ministers. The motion
was defeated, and next day (June 13, 1849) he headed what he called a
peaceful demonstration, and his enemies armed insurrection. He himself
escaped to London where he joined the executive of the revolutionary
committee of Europe, with Kossuth and Mazzini among his colleagues. He
was accused of complicity in an obscure attempt (1857) against the life
of Napoleon III., and condemned in his absence to deportation. Émile
Ollivier removed the exceptions from the general amnesty in 1870, and
Ledru-Rollin returned to France after twenty years of exile. Though
elected in 1871 in three departments he refused to sit in the National
Assembly, and took no serious part in politics until 1874 when he was
returned to the Assembly as member for Vaucluse. He died on the 31st of
December of that year.
Under Louis Philippe he made large contributions to French
jurisprudence, editing the _Journal du palais, 1791-1837_ (27 vols.,
1837), and _1837-1847_ (17 vols.), with a commentary _Répertoire
général de la jurisprudence française_ (8 vols., 1843-1848), the
introduction to which was written by himself. His later writings were
political in character. See _Ledru-Rollin, ses discours et ses écrits
politiques_ (2 vols., Paris, 1879), edited by his widow.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Arago, Garnier-Pagès, Marie, Lamartine, and Ledru-Rollin.
LEDYARD, JOHN (1751-1789), American traveller, was born in Groton,
Connecticut, U.S.A. After vainly trying law and theology, Ledyard
adopted a seaman's life, and, coming to London, was engaged as corporal
of marines by Captain Cook for his third voyage (1776). On his return
(1778) Ledyard had to give up to the Admiralty his copious journals, but
afterwards published, from memory, a meagre narrative of his
experiences--herein giving the only account of Cook's death by an
eye-witness (Hartford, U.S.A., 1783). He continued in the British
service till 1782, when he escaped, off Long Island. In 1784 he
revisited Europe, to organize an expedition to the American North-West.
Having failed in his attempts, he decided to reach his goal by
travelling across Europe and Asia. Baffled in his hopes of crossing the
Baltic on the ice (Stockholm to Abo), he walked right round from
Stockholm to St Petersburg, where he arrived barefoot and penniless
(March 1787). Here he made friends with Pallas and others, and
accompanied Dr Brown, a Scotch physician in the Russian service, to
Siberia. Ledyard left Dr Brown at Barnaul, went on to Tomsk and Irkutsk,
visited Lake Baikal, and descended the Lena to Yakutsk (18th of
September 1787). With Captain Joseph Billings, whom he had known on
Cook's "Resolution," he returned to Irkutsk, where he was arrested,
deported to the Polish frontier, and banished from Russia for ever.
Reaching London, he was engaged by Sir Joseph Banks and the African
Association to explore overland routes from Alexandria to the Niger, but
in Cairo he succumbed to a dose of vitriol (17th of January 1789).
Though a born explorer, little resulted from his immense but
ill-directed activities.
See _Memoirs of the Life and Travels of John Ledyard_, by Jared Sparks
(1828).
LEE, ANN (1736-1784), English religious visionary, was born in
Manchester, where she was first a factory hand and afterwards a cook.
She is remembered by her connexion with the sect known as Shakers
(q.v.). She died at Watervliet, near Albany, New York.
LEE, ARTHUR (1740-1792), American diplomatist, brother of Richard Henry
Lee, was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 20th
of December 1740. He was educated at Eton, studied medicine at
Edinburgh, practised as a physician in Williamsburg, Virginia, read law
at the Temple, London, in 1766-1770, and practised law in London in
1770-1776. He was an intimate of John Wilkes, whom he aided in one of
his London campaigns. In 1770-1775 he served as London agent for
Massachusetts, second to Benjamin Franklin, whom he succeeded in 1775.
At that time he had shown great ability as a pamphleteer, having
published in London _The Monitor_ (1768), seven essays previously
printed in Virginia; _The Political Detection: or the Treachery and
Tyranny of Administration, both at Home and Abroad_ (1770), signed
"Junius Americanus"; and _An Appeal to the Justice and Interests of the
People of Great Britain in the Present Disputes with America_ (1774),
signed "An Old Member of Parliament." In December 1775 the Committee of
Secret Correspondence of Congress chose him its European agent
principally for the purpose of ascertaining the views of France, Spain,
and other European countries regarding the war between the colonies and
Great Britain. In October 1776 he was appointed, upon the refusal of
Jefferson, on the commission with Franklin and Silas Deane to negotiate
a treaty of alliance, amity and commerce with France, and also to
negotiate with other European governments. His letters to Congress, in
which he expressed his suspicion of Deane's business integrity and
criticized his accounts, resulted in Deane's recall; and other letters
impaired the confidence of Congress in Franklin, of whom he was
especially jealous. Early in 1777 he went to Spain as American
commissioner, but received no official recognition, was not permitted to
proceed farther than Burgos, and accomplished nothing; until the
appointment of Jay, however, he continued to act as commissioner to
Spain, held various conferences with the Spanish minister in Paris, and
in January 1778 secured a promise of a loan of 3,000,000 livres, only a
small part of which (some 170,000 livres) was paid. In June 1777 he went
to Berlin, where, as in Spain, he was not officially recognized.
Although he had little to do with the negotiations, he signed with
Franklin and Deane in February 1778 the treaties between the United
States and France. Having become unpopular at the courts of France and
Spain, Lee was recalled in 1779, and returned to the United States in
September 1780. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in
1781 and a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782-1785. With
Oliver Wolcott and Richard Butler he negotiated a treaty with the Six
Nations, signed at Fort Stanwix on the 22nd of October 1784, and with
George Clark and Richard Butler a treaty with the Wyandot, Delaware,
Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, signed at Ft. McIntosh on the 21st of
January 1785. He was a member of the treasury board in 1784-1789. He
strongly opposed the constitution, and after its adoption retired to his
estate at Urbana, Virginia, where he died on the 12th of December 1792.
See R. H. Lee, _Life of Arthur Lee_ (2 vols., Boston, 1829), and C. H.
Lee, _A Vindication of Arthur Lee_ (Richmond, Virginia, 1894), both
partisan. Much of Lee's correspondence is to be found in Wharton's
_Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence_ (Washington, 1889). Eight
volumes of Lee's MSS. in the Harvard University Library are described
and listed in _Library of Harvard University, Bibliographical
Contributions_, No. 8 (Cambridge, 1882).
LEE, FITZHUGH (1835-1905), American cavalry general, was born at
Clermont, in Fairfax county, Virginia, on the 19th of November 1835. He
was the grandson of "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and the nephew of Robert E.
Lee. His father, Sydney Smith Lee, was a fleet captain under Commodore
Perry in Japanese waters and rose to the rank of commodore; his mother
was a daughter of George Mason. Graduating from West Point in 1856, he
was appointed to the 2nd Cavalry, which was commanded by Colonel Albert
Sidney Johnston, and in which his uncle, Robert E. Lee, was
lieutenant-colonel. As a cavalry subaltern he distinguished himself by
his gallant conduct in actions with the Comanches in Texas, and was
severely wounded in 1859. In May 1860 he was appointed instructor of
cavalry at West Point, but resigned on the secession of Virginia. Lee
was at once employed in the organization of the forces of the South, and
served at first as a staff officer to General R. S. Ewell, and
afterwards, from September 1861, as lieutenant-colonel, and from April
1862 as colonel of the First Virginia Cavalry in the Army of Northern
Virginia. He became brigadier-general on General J. E. B. Stuart's
recommendation on the 25th of July 1862, and served under that general
throughout the Virginian campaigns of 1862 and 1863, becoming
major-general on the 3rd of September 1863. He conducted the cavalry
action of Beverly Ford (17th March 1863) with skill and success. In the
Wilderness and Petersburg campaigns he was constantly employed as a
divisional commander under Stuart, and, after Stuart's death, under
General Wade Hampton. He took part in Early's campaign against Sheridan
in the Shenandoah Valley, and at Winchester (19th Sept. 1864) three
horses were shot under him and he was severely wounded. On General
Hampton's being sent to assist General Joseph E. Johnston in North
Carolina, the command of the whole of General Lee's cavalry devolved
upon Fitzhugh Lee early in 1865, but the surrender of Appomattox
followed quickly upon the opening of the campaign. Fitzhugh Lee himself
led the last charge of the Confederates on the 9th of April that year at
Farmville.
After the war he devoted himself to farming in Stafford county,
Virginia, and was conspicuous in his efforts to reconcile the Southern
people to the issue of the war, which he regarded as a final settlement
of the questions at issue. In 1875 he attended the Bunker Hill centenary
at Boston, Mass., and delivered a remarkable address. In 1885 he was a
member of the board of visitors of West Point, and from 1886 to 1890 was
governor of Virginia. In April 1896 he was appointed by President
Cleveland consul-general at Havana, with duties of a diplomatic and
military character added to the usual consular business. In this post
(in which he was retained by President McKinley) he was from the first
called upon to deal with a situation of great difficulty, which
culminated with the destruction of the "Maine" (see SPANISH-AMERICAN
WAR). Upon the declaration of war between Spain and the United States he
re-entered the army. He was one of the three ex-Confederate general
officers who were made major-generals of United States Volunteers.
Fitzhugh Lee commanded the VII. army corps, but took no part in the
actual operations in Cuba. He was military governor of Havana and Pinar
del Rio in 1899, subsequently commanded the department of the Missouri,
and retired as a brigadier-general U.S. Army in 1901. He died in
Washington on the 28th of April 1905. He wrote _Robert E. Lee_ (1894) in
the "Great Commanders" series, and _Cuba's Struggle Against Spain_
(1899).
LEE, GEORGE ALEXANDER (1802-1851), English musician, was born in London,
the son of Henry Lee, a pugilist and innkeeper. He became "tiger" to
Lord Barrymore, and his singing led to his being educated for the
musical profession. After appearing as a tenor at the theatres in Dublin
and London, he joined in producing opera at the Tottenham Street theatre
in 1829, and afterwards was connected with musical productions at Drury
Lane and Covent Garden. He married Mrs Waylett, a popular singer. Lee
composed music for a number of plays, and also many songs, including the
popular "Come where the Aspens quiver," and for a short time had a
music-selling business in the Quadrant. He died on the 8th of October
1851.
LEE, HENRY (1756-1818), American general, called "Light Horse Harry,"
was born near Dumfries, Virginia, on the 29th of January 1756. His
father was first cousin to Richard Henry Lee. With a view to a legal
career he graduated (1773) at Princeton, but soon afterwards, on the
outbreak of the War of Independence, he became an officer in the patriot
forces. He served with great distinction under Washington, and in 1778
was promoted major and given the command of a small irregular corps,
with which he won a great reputation as a leader of light troops. His
services on the outpost line of the army earned for him the soubriquet
of "Light Horse Harry." His greatest exploit was the brilliant surprise
of Paulus Hook, N.J., on the 19th of August 1779; for this feat he
received a gold medal, a reward given to no other officer below
general's rank in the whole war. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel
1780, and sent with a picked corps of dragoons to the southern theatre
of war. Here he rendered invaluable services in victory and defeat,
notably at Guilford Court House, Camden and Eutaw Springs. He was
present at Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, and afterwards left the
army owing to ill-health. From 1786 to 1788 he was a delegate to the
Confederation Congress, and in the last-named year in the Virginia
convention he favoured the adoption of the Federal constitution. From
1789 to 1791 he served in the General Assembly, and from 1791 to 1794
was governor of Virginia. In 1794 Washington sent him to help in the
suppression of the "Whisky Insurrection" in western Pennsylvania. A new
county of Virginia was named after him during his governorship. He was a
major-general in 1798-1800. From 1799 to 1801 he served in Congress. He
delivered the address on the death of Washington which contained the
famous phrase, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen." Soon after the War of 1812 broke out, Lee, while
helping to resist the attack of a mob on his friend, A. C. Hanson,
editor of the Baltimore _Federal Republican_, which had opposed the war,
received grave injuries, from which he never recovered. He died at the
house of General Nathanael Greene on Cumberland Island, Georgia, on the
25th of March 1818.
Lee wrote valuable _Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department_
(1812; 3rd ed., with memoir by Robert E. Lee, 1869).
LEE, JAMES PRINCE (1804-1869), English divine, was born in London on the
28th of July 1804, and was educated at St Paul's school and at Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he displayed exceptional ability as a
classical scholar. After taking orders in 1830 he served under Thomas
Arnold at Rugby school, and in 1838 was appointed head-master of King
Edward's school, Birmingham, where he had among his pupils E. W. Benson,
J. B. Lightfoot and B. F. Westcott. In 1848 Lord John Russell nominated
him as first bishop of the newly-constituted see of Manchester. His
pedagogic manner bore somewhat irksomely on his clergy. He is best
remembered for his splendid work in church extension; during his
twenty-one years' tenure of the see he consecrated 130 churches. He took
a foremost part in founding the Manchester free library, and bequeathed
his own valuable collection of books to Owens College. He died on the
24th of December 1869.
A memorial sermon was preached by Archbishop E. W. Benson, and was
published with biographical details by J. F. Wickenden and others.
LEE, NATHANIEL (c. 1653-1692), English dramatist, son of Dr Richard Lee,
a Presbyterian divine, was born probably in 1653. His father was rector
of Hatfield, and held many preferments under the Commonwealth. He was
chaplain to General Monk, afterwards duke of Albemarle, and after the
Restoration he conformed to the Church of England, abjuring his former
opinions, especially his approval of Charles I.'s execution. Nathaniel
Lee was educated at Westminster school, and at Trinity College,
Cambridge, taking his B.A. degree in 1668. Coming to London under the
patronage, it is said, of the duke of Buckingham, he tried to earn his
living as an actor, but though he was an admirable reader, his acute
stage fright made acting impossible. His earliest play, _Nero, Emperor
of Rome_, was acted in 1675 at Drury Lane. Two tragedies written in
rhymed heroic couplets, in imitation of Dryden, followed in
1676--_Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow and Gloriana, or the Court of
Augustus Caesar_. Both are extravagant in design and treatment. Lee made
his reputation in 1677 with a blank verse tragedy, _The Rival Queens, or
the Death of Alexander the Great_. The play, which treats of the
jealousy of Alexander's first wife, Roxana, for his second wife,
Statira, was, in spite of much bombast, a favourite on the English
stage down to the days of Edmund Kean. _Mithridates, King of Pontus_
(acted 1678), _Theodosius, or the Force of Love_ (acted 1680), _Caesar
Borgia_ (acted 1680)--an imitation of the worst blood and thunder
Elizabethan tragedies--_Lucius Junius Brutus, Father of His Country_
(acted 1681), and _Constantine the Great_ (acted 1684) followed. _The
Princess of Cleve_ (1681) is a gross adaptation of Madame de La
Fayette's exquisite novel of that name. _The Massacre of Paris_
(published 1690) was written about this time. Lee had given offence at
court by his _Lucius Junius Brutus_, which had been suppressed after its
third representation for some lines on Tarquin's character that were
taken to be a reflection on Charles II. He therefore joined with Dryden,
who had already admitted him as a collaborator in an adaptation of
_Oedipus_, in _The Duke of Guise_ (1683), a play which directly
advocated the Tory point of view. In it part of the _Massacre of Paris_
was incorporated. Lee was now thirty years of age, and had already
achieved a considerable reputation. But he had lived in the dissipated
society of the earl of Rochester and his associates, and imitated their
excesses. As he grew more disreputable, his patrons neglected him, and
in 1684 his mind was completely unhinged. He spent five years in
Bethlehem Hospital, and recovered his health. He died in a drunken fit
in 1692, and was buried in St Clement Danes, Strand, on the 6th of May.
Lee's _Dramatic Works_ were published in 1784. In spite of their
extravagance, they contain many passages of great beauty.
LEE, RICHARD HENRY (1732-1794), American statesman and orator, was born
at Stratford, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 20th of January
1732, and was one of six distinguished sons of Thomas Lee (d. 1750), a
descendant of an old Cavalier family, the first representative of which
in America was Richard Lee, who was a member of the privy council, and
early in the reign of Charles I. emigrated to Virginia. Richard Henry
Lee received an academic education in England, then spent a little time
in travel, returned to Virginia in 1752, having come into possession of
a fine property left him by his father, and for several years applied
himself to varied studies. When twenty-five he was appointed justice of
the peace of Westmoreland county, and in the same year was chosen a
member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, in which he served from 1758
to 1775. He kept a diffident silence during two sessions, his first
speech being in strong opposition to slavery, which he proposed to
discourage and eventually to abolish, by imposing a heavy tax on all
further importations. He early allied himself with the Patriot or Whig
element in Virginia, and in the years immediately preceding the War of
Independence was conspicuous as an opponent of the arbitrary measures of
the British ministry. In 1768, in a letter to John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania, he suggested a private correspondence among the friends of
liberty in the different colonies, and in 1773 he became a member of the
Virginia Committee of Correspondence.
Lee was one of the delegates from Virginia to the first Continental
Congress at Philadelphia in 1774, and prepared the address to the people
of British America, and the second address to the people of Great
Britain, which are among the most effective papers of the time. In
accordance with instructions given by the Virginia House of Burgesses,
Lee introduced in Congress, on the 7th of June 1776, the following
famous resolutions: (1) "that these united colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from
all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion
between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally
dissolved"; (2) "that it is expedient to take the most effectual
measures for forming foreign alliances"; and (3) "that a plan of
confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for
their consideration and approbation." After debating the first of these
resolutions for three days, Congress resolved that the further
consideration of it should be postponed until the 1st of July, but that
a committee should be appointed to prepare a declaration of
independence. The illness of Lee's wife prevented him from being a
member of that committee, but his first resolution was adopted on the
2nd of July, and the Declaration of Independence, prepared principally
by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted two days later. Lee was in Congress
from 1774 to 1780, and was especially prominent in connexion with
foreign affairs. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in
1777, 1780-1784 and 1786-1787; was in Congress again from 1784 to 1787,
being president in 1784-1786; and was one of the first United States
senators chosen from Virginia after the adoption of the Federal
constitution. Though strongly opposed to the adoption of that
constitution, owing to what he regarded as its dangerous infringements
upon the independent power of the states, he accepted the place of
senator in hope of bringing about amendments, and proposed the Tenth
Amendment in substantially the form in which it was adopted. He became a
warm supporter of Washington's administration, and his prejudices
against the constitution were largely removed by its working in
practice. He retired from public life in 1792, and died at Chantilly, in
Westmoreland county, on the 19th of June 1794.
See the _Life_ (Philadelphia, 1825), by his grandson, R. H. Lee; and
_Letters_ (New York, 1910), edited by J. C. Ballagh.
His brother, WILLIAM LEE (1739-1795), was a diplomatist during the War
of Independence. He accompanied his brother, Arthur Lee (q.v.), to
England in 1766 to engage in mercantile pursuits, joined the Wilkes
faction, and in 1775 was elected an alderman of London, then a
life-position. In April 1777, however, he received notice of his
appointment by the Committee of Secret Correspondence in America to act
with Thomas Morris as commercial agent at Nantes. He went to Paris and
became involved in his brother's opposition to Franklin and Deane. In
May 1777 Congress chose William Lee commissioner to the courts of Vienna
and Berlin, but he gained recognition at neither. In September 1778,
however, while at Aix-la-Chapelle, he negotiated a plan of a treaty with
Jan de Neufville, who represented Van Berckel, pensionary of Amsterdam.
It was a copy of this proposed treaty which, on falling into the hands
of the British on the capture of Henry Laurens, the duly appointed
minister to the Netherlands, led to Great Britain's declaration of war
against the Netherlands in December 1780. Lee was recalled from his
mission to Vienna and Berlin in June 1779, without being required to
return to America. He resigned his post as an alderman of London in
January 1780, and returned to Virginia about 1784.
See _Letters of William Lee_, edited by W. C. Ford (Brooklyn, 1891).
Another brother, FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE (1734-1797), was a member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses in 1770-1775. In 1775-1779 he was a delegate
to the Continental Congress, and as such signed the Declaration of
Independence. He served on the committee which drafted the Articles of
Confederation, and contended that there should be no treaty of peace
with Great Britain which did not grant to the United States both the
right to the Newfoundland fisheries and the free navigation of the
Mississippi. After retiring from Congress he served in 1780-1782 in the
Virginia Senate.
LEE, ROBERT EDWARD (1807-1870), American soldier, general in the
Confederate States army, was the youngest son of major-general Henry
Lee, called "Light Horse Harry." He was born at Stratford, Westmoreland
county, Virginia, on the 19th of January 1807, and entered West Point in
1825. Graduating four years later second in his class, he was given a
commission in the U.S. Engineer Corps. In 1831 he married Mary, daughter
of G. W. P. Custis, the adopted son of Washington and the grandson of
Mrs Washington. In 1836 he became first lieutenant, and in 1838 captain.
In this rank he took part in the Mexican War, repeatedly winning
distinction for conduct and bravery. He received the brevets of major
for Cerro Gordo, lieut.-colonel for Contreras-Churubusco and colonel for
Chapultepec. After the war he was employed in engineer work at
Washington and Baltimore, during which time, as before the war, he
resided on the great Arlington estate, near Washington, which had come
to him through his wife. In 1852 he was appointed superintendent of West
Point, and during his three years here he carried out many important
changes in the academy. Under him as cadets were his son G. W. Custis
Lee, his nephew, Fitzhugh Lee and J. E. B. Stuart, all of whom became
general officers in the Civil War. In 1855 he was appointed as
lieut.-colonel to the 2nd Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Sidney Johnston,
with whom he served against the Indians of the Texas border. In 1859,
while at Arlington on leave, he was summoned to command the United
States troops sent to deal with the John Brown raid on Harper's Ferry.
In March 1861 he was made colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry; but his
career in the old army ended with the secession of Virginia in the
following month. Lee was strongly averse to secession, but felt obliged
to conform to the action of his own state. The Federal authorities
offered Lee the command of the field army about to invade the South,
which he refused. Resigning his commission, he made his way to Richmond
and was at once made a major-general in the Virginian forces. A few
weeks later he became a brigadier-general (then the highest rank) in the
Confederate service.
The military operations with which the great Civil War opened in 1861
were directed by President Davis and General Lee. Lee was personally in
charge of the unsuccessful West Virginian operations in the autumn, and,
having been made a full general on the 31st of August, during the winter
he devoted his experience as an engineer to the fortification and
general defence of the Atlantic coast. Thence, when the well-drilled
Army of the Potomac was about to descend upon Richmond, he was hurriedly
recalled to Richmond. General Johnston was wounded at the battle of Fair
Oaks (Seven Pines) on the 31st of May 1862, and General Robert E. Lee
was assigned to the command of the famous Army of Northern Virginia
which for the next three years "carried the rebellion on its bayonets."
Little can be said of Lee's career as a commander-in-chief that is not
an integral part of the history of the Civil War. His first success was
the "Seven Days' Battle" (q.v.) in which he stopped McClellan's advance;
this was quickly followed up by the crushing defeat of the Federal army
under Pope, the invasion of Maryland and the sanguinary and indecisive
battle of the Antietam (q.v.). The year ended with another great victory
at Fredericksburg (q.v.). Chancellorsville (see WILDERNESS), won against
odds of two to one, and the great three days' battle of Gettysburg
(q.v.), where for the first time fortune turned decisively against the
Confederates, were the chief events of 1863. In the autumn Lee fought a
war of manoeuvre against General Meade. The tremendous struggle of 1864
between Lee and Grant included the battles of the Wilderness (q.v.),
Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor and the long siege of Petersburg
(q.v.), in which, almost invariably, Lee was locally successful. But the
steady pressure of his unrelenting opponent slowly wore down his
strength. At last with not more than one man to oppose to Grant's three
he was compelled to break out of his Petersburg lines (April 1865). A
series of heavy combats revealed his purpose, and Grant pursued the
dwindling remnants of Lee's army to the westward. Headed off by the
Federal cavalry, and pressed closely in rear by Grant's main body,
General Lee had no alternative but to surrender. At Appomattox Court
House, on the 9th of April, the career of the Army of Northern Virginia
came to an end. Lee's farewell order was issued on the following day,
and within a few weeks the Confederacy was at an end. For a few months
Lee lived quietly in Powhatan county, making his formal submission to
the Federal authorities and urging on his own people acceptance of the
new conditions. In August he was offered, and accepted, the presidency
of Washington College, Lexington (now Washington and Lee University), a
post which he occupied until his death on the 12th of October 1870. He
was buried in the college grounds.
For the events of Lee's military career briefly indicated in this notice
the reader is referred to the articles AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, &c. By his
achievements he won a high place amongst the great generals of history.
Though hampered by lack of materials and by political necessities, his
strategy was daring always, and he never hesitated to take the gravest
risks. On the field of battle he was as energetic in attack as he was
constant in defence, and his personal influence over the men whom he
led was extraordinary. No student of the American Civil War can fail to
notice how the influence of Lee dominated the course of the struggle,
and his surpassing ability was never more conspicuously shown than in
the last hopeless stages of the contest. The personal history of Lee is
lost in the history of the great crisis of America's national life;
friends and foes alike acknowledged the purity of his motives, the
virtues of his private life, his earnest Christianity and the unrepining
loyalty with which he accepted the ruin of his party.
See A. L. Long, _Memoirs of Robert E. Lee_ (New York, 1886); Fitzhugh
Lee, _General Lee_ (New York, 1894, "Great Commanders" series); R. A.
Brock, _General Robert E. Lee_ (Washington, 1904); R. E. Lee,
_Recollections and Letters of General R. E. Lee_ (London, 1904); H. A.
White, _Lee_ ("Heroes of the Nations") (1897); P. A. Bruce, _Robert E.
Lee_ (1907); T. N. Page, _Lee_ (1909); W. H. Taylor, _Four Years with
General Lee_; J. W. Jones, _Personal Reminiscences of Robert E. Lee_
(1874).
LEE (or LEGH) ROWLAND (d. 1543), English bishop, belonged to a
Northumberland family and was educated at Cambridge. Having entered the
Church he obtained several livings owing to the favour of Cardinal
Wolsey; after Wolsey's fall he rose high in the esteem of Henry VIII.
and of Thomas Cromwell, serving both king and minister in the business
of suppressing the monasteries, and he is said to have celebrated
Henry's secret marriage with Anne Boleyn in January 1533. Whether this
be so or not, Lee took part in preparing for the divorce proceedings
against Catherine of Aragon, and in January 1534 he was elected bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, or Chester as the see was often called,
taking at his consecration the new oath to the king as head of the
English Church and not seeking confirmation from the pope. As bishop he
remained in Henry's personal service, endeavouring to establish the
legality of his marriage with Anne, until May 1534, when he was
appointed lord president of the council in the marches of Wales. At this
time the Welsh marches were in a very disorderly condition. Lee acted in
a stern and energetic fashion, holding courts, sentencing many offenders
to death and overcoming the hostility of the English border lords. After
some years of hard and successful work in this capacity, "the last
survivor of the old martial prelates, fitter for harness than for
bishops' robes, for a court of justice than a court of theology," died
at Shrewsbury in June 1543. Many letters from Lee to Cromwell are
preserved in the Record Office, London; these throw much light on the
bishop's career and on the lawless condition of the Welsh marches in his
time.
One of his contemporaries was EDWARD LEE (c. 1482-1544) archbishop of
York, famous for his attack on Erasmus, who replied to him in his
_Epistolae aliquot eruditorum virorum_. Like Rowland, Edward was
useful to Henry VIII. in the matter of the divorce of Catherine of
Aragon, and was sent by the king on embassies to the emperor Charles
V. and to Pope Clement VII. In 1531 he became archbishop of York, but
he came under suspicion as one who disliked the king's new position as
head of the English Church. At Pontefract in 1536, during the
Pilgrimage of Grace, the archbishop was compelled to join the rebels,
but he did not sympathize with the rising and in 1539 he spoke in
parliament in favour of the six articles of religion. Lee, who was the
last archbishop of York to coin money, died on the 13th of September
1544.
LEE, SIDNEY (1859- ), English man of letters, was born in London on
the 5th of December 1859. He was educated at the City of London school,
and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in modern history in
1882. In the next year he became assistant-editor of the _Dictionary of
National Biography_. In 1890 he was made joint-editor, and on the
retirement of Sir Leslie Stephen in 1891 succeeded him as editor. He was
himself a voluminous contributor to the work, writing some 800 articles,
mainly on Elizabethan authors or statesmen. While he was still at
Balliol he wrote two articles on Shakespearian questions, which were
printed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and in 1884 he published a book
on Stratford-on-Avon. His article on Shakespeare in the fifty-first
volume (1897) of the _Dictionary of National Biography_ formed the basis
of his _Life of William Shakespeare_ (1898), which reached its fifth
edition in 1905. Mr Lee edited in 1902 the Oxford facsimile edition of
the first folio of _Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies_,
followed in 1902 and 1904 by supplementary volumes giving details of
extant copies, and in 1906 by a complete edition of Shakespeare's
_Works_. Besides editions of English classics his works include a _Life
of Queen Victoria_ (1902), _Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century_
(1904), based on his Lowell Institute lectures at Boston, Mass., in
1903, and _Shakespeare and the Modern Stage_ (1906).
LEE, SOPHIA (1750-1824), English novelist and dramatist, daughter of
John Lee (d. 1781), actor and theatrical manager, was born in London.
Her first piece, _The Chapter of Accidents_, a one-act-opera based on
Diderot's _Père de famille_, was produced by George Colman at the
Haymarket Theatre on the 5th of August 1780. The proceeds were spent in
establishing a school at Bath, where Miss Lee made a home for her
sisters. Her subsequent productions included _The Recess, or a Tale of
other Times_ (1785), a historical romance; and _Almeyda, Queen of
Grenada_ (1796), a tragedy in blank verse; she also contributed to her
sister's _Canterbury Tales_ (1797). She died at her house near Clifton
on the 13th of March 1824.
Her sister, HARRIET LEE (1757-1851), published in 1786 a novel written
in letters, _The Errors of Innocence_. _Clara Lennox_ followed in 1797.
Her chief work is the _Canterbury Tales_ (1797-1805), a series of twelve
stories which became very popular. Lord Byron dramatized one of the
tales, "Kruitzner," as _Werner, or the Inheritance_. She died at Clifton
on the 1st of August 1851.
LEE, STEPHEN DILL (1833-1908), Confederate general in the American Civil
War, came of a family distinguished in the history of South Carolina,
and was born at Charleston, S.C., on the 22nd of September 1833.
Graduating from West Point in 1854, he served for seven years in the
United States army and resigned in 1861 on the secession of South
Carolina. He was aide de camp to General Beauregard in the attack on
Fort Sumter, and captain commanding a light battery in General
Johnston's army later in the year 1861. Thereafter, by successive steps,
each gained by distinguished conduct on the field of battle, he rose to
the rank of brigadier-general in November 1862, being ordered to take
command of defences at Vicksburg. He served at this place with great
credit until its surrender to General Grant in July 1863, and on
becoming a prisoner of war, he was immediately exchanged and promoted
major-general. His regimental service had been chiefly with artillery,
but he had generally worked with and at times commanded cavalry, and he
was now assigned to command the troops of that arm in the south-western
theatre of war. After harassing, as far as his limited numbers
permitted, the advance of Sherman's column on Meridian, he took General
Polk's place as commander of the department of Mississippi. In June
1864, on Hood's promotion to command the Army of Tennessee, S. D. Lee
was made a lieutenant-general and assigned to command Hood's old corps
in that army. He fought at Atlanta and Jonesboro and in the skirmishing
and manoeuvring along middle Tennessee which ended in the great crisis
of Nashville and the "March to the Sea." Lee's corps accompanied Hood in
the bold advance to Nashville, and fought in the battles of Franklin and
Nashville, after which, in the rout of the Confederate army Lee kept his
troops closed up and well in hand, and for three consecutive days formed
the fighting rearguard of the otherwise disintegrated army. Lee was
himself wounded, but did not give up the command until an organized
rearguard took over the post of danger. On recovery he joined General J.
E. Johnston in North Carolina, and he surrendered with Johnston in April
1865. After the war he settled in Mississippi, which was his wife's
state and during the greater part of the war his own territorial
command, and devoted himself to planting. He was president of the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi from 1880 to 1899,
took some part in state politics and was an active member--at the time
of his death commander-in-chief--of the "United Confederate Veterans"
society. He died at Vicksburg on the 28th of May 1908.
LEE, a township of Berkshire county, in western Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Pop. (1900) 3596; (1905) 3972; (1910) 4106. The township is traversed by
the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, covers an area of 22½ sq.
m., and includes the village of Lee, 10 m. S. of Pittsfield, East Lee,
adjoining it on the S.E., and South Lee, about 3 m. to the S.W. Lee and
South Lee are on, and East Lee is near, the Housatonic river. The
eastern part of the township is generally hilly, reaching a maximum
altitude of about 2200 ft., and there are two considerable bodies of
water--Laurel Lake in the N.W. (partly in Lenox) and Goose Pond, in the
S.E. (partly in Tyringham). The region is healthy as well as beautiful,
and is much frequented as a summer resort. Memorial Hall was built in
memory of the soldiers from Lee who died during the Civil War. The chief
manufactures are paper and wire, and from the quarries near the village
of Lee is obtained an excellent quality of marble; these quarries
furnished the marble for the extension of the Capitol at Washington, for
St Patrick's cathedral in New York City and for the Lee High School and
the Lee Public Library (1908). Lime is quarried in the township. Lee was
formerly a paper-manufacturing place of great importance. The first
paper mill in the township was built in South Lee in 1806, and for a
time more paper was made in Lee than in any other place in the United
States; the Housatonic Mill in Lee was probably the first (1867) in the
United States to manufacture paper from wood pulp.
The first settlement within the present township of Lee was made in
1760. The township was formed from parts of Great Barrington and
Washington, was incorporated in 1777 and was named in honour of General
Charles Lee (1731-1782). In the autumn of 1786 there was an encounter
near the village of East Lee between about 250 adherents of Daniel Shays
(many of them from Lee township) and a body of state troops under
General John Paterson, wherein the Shays contingent paraded a bogus
cannon (made of a yarn beam) with such effect that the state troops
fled.
See Amory Gale, _History of the Town of Lee_ (Lee, 1854), and _Lee,
The Centennial Celebration and Centennial History of the Town of Lee_
(Springfield, Mass., 1878), compiled by Charles M. Hyde and Alexander
Hyde.
LEE. (1) (In O. Eng. _hléo_; cf. the pronunciation _lew-ward_ of
"leeward"; the word appears in several Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch
_lij_, Dan. _lae_), properly a shelter or protection, chiefly used as a
nautical term for that side of a ship, land, &c., which is farthest from
the wind, hence a "lee shore," land under the lee of a ship, i.e. one on
which the wind blows directly and which is unsheltered. A ship is said
to make "leeway" when she drifts laterally away from her course. (2) A
word now always used in the plural "lees," meaning dregs, sediment,
particularly of wine. It comes through the O. Fr. _lie_ from a Gaulish
Lat. _lia_, and is probably of Celtic origin.
LEECH, JOHN (1817-1864), English caricaturist, was born in London on the
29th of August 1817. His father, a native of Ireland, was the landlord
of the London Coffee House on Ludgate Hill, "a man," on the testimony of
those who knew him, "of fine culture, a profound Shakespearian, and a
thorough gentleman." His mother was descended from the family of the
famous Richard Bentley. It was from his father that Leech inherited his
skill with the pencil, which he began to use at a very early age. When
he was only three, he was discovered by Flaxman, who had called on his
parents, seated on his mother's knee, drawing with much gravity. The
sculptor pronounced his sketch to be wonderful, adding, "Do not let him
be cramped with lessons in drawing; let his genius follow its own bent;
he will astonish the world"--an advice which was strictly followed. A
mail-coach, done when he was six years old, is already full of
surprising vigour and variety in its galloping horses. Leech was
educated at Charterhouse, where Thackeray, his lifelong friend, was his
schoolfellow, and at sixteen he began to study for the medical
profession at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he won praise for the
accuracy and beauty of his anatomical drawings. He was then placed under
a Mr Whittle, an eccentric practitioner, the original of "Rawkins" in
Albert Smith's _Adventures of Mr Ledbury_, and afterwards under Dr John
Cockle; but gradually the true bent of the youth's mind asserted itself,
and he drifted into the artistic profession. He was eighteen when his
first designs were published, a quarto of four pages, entitled _Etchings
and Sketchings by A. Pen, Esq._, comic character studies from the
London streets. Then he drew some political lithographs, did rough
sketches for _Bell's Life_, produced an exceedingly popular parody on
Mulready's postal envelope, and, on the death of Seymour, applied
unsuccessfully to illustrate the _Pickwick Papers_. In 1840 Leech began
his contributions to the magazines with a series of etchings in
_Bentley's Miscellany_, where Cruikshank had published his splendid
plates to _Jack Sheppard_ and _Oliver Twist_, and was illustrating _Guy
Fawkes_ in sadly feebler fashion. In company with the elder master Leech
designed for the _Ingoldsby Legends_ and _Stanley Thorn_, and till 1847
produced many independent series of etchings. These cannot be ranked
with his best work; their technique is exceedingly imperfect; they are
rudely bitten, with the light and shade out of relation; and we never
feel that they express the artist's individuality, the _Richard Savage_
plates, for instance, being strongly reminiscent of Cruikshank, and "The
Dance at Stamford Hall" of Hablot Browne. In 1845 Leech illustrated _St
Giles and St James_ in Douglas Jerrold's newly started _Shilling
Magazine_, with plates more vigorous and accomplished than those in
_Bentley_, but it is in subjects of a somewhat later date, and
especially in those lightly etched and meant to be printed with colour,
that we see the artist's best powers with the needle and the acid. Among
such of his designs are four charming plates to Dickens's _Christmas
Carol_ (1844), the broadly humorous etchings in the _Comic History of
England_ (1847-1848), and the still finer illustrations to the _Comic
History of Rome_ (1852)--which last, particularly in its minor woodcuts,
shows some exquisitely graceful touches, as witness the fair faces that
rise from the surging water in "Cloelia and her Companions Escaping from
the Etruscan Camp." Among the other etchings which deserve very special
reference are those in _Young Master Troublesome or Master Jacky's
Holidays_, and the frontispiece to _Hints on Life, or How to Rise in
Society_ (1845)--a series of minute subjects linked gracefully together
by coils of smoke, illustrating the various ranks and conditions of men,
one of them--the doctor by his patient's bedside--almost equalling in
vivacity and precision the best of Cruikshank's similar scenes. Then in
the 'fifties we have the numerous etchings of sporting scenes,
contributed, together with woodcuts, to the _Handley Cross_ novels.
Turning to Leech's lithographic work, we have, in 1841, the _Portraits
of the Children of the Mobility_, an important series dealing with the
humorous and pathetic aspects of London street Arabs, which were
afterwards so often and so effectively to employ the artist's pencil.
Amid all the squalor which they depict, they are full of individual
beauties in the delicate or touching expression of a face, in the
graceful turn of a limb. The book is scarce in its original form, but in
1875 two reproductions of the outline sketches for the designs were
published--a lithographic issue of the whole series, and a finer
photographic transcript of six of the subjects, which is more valuable
than even the finished illustrations of 1841, in which the added light
and shade is frequently spotty and ineffective, and the lining itself
has not the freedom which we find in some of Leech's other lithographs,
notably in the _Fly Leaves_, published at the _Punch_ office, and in the
inimitable subject of the nuptial couch of the Caudles, which also
appeared, in woodcut form, as a political cartoon, with Mrs Caudle,
personated by Brougham, disturbing by untimely loquacity the slumbers of
the lord chancellor, whose haggard cheek rests on the woolsack for
pillow.
But it was in work for the wood-engravers that Leech was most prolific
and individual. Among the earlier of such designs are the illustrations
to the _Comic English_ and _Latin Grammars_ (1840), to _Written
Caricatures_ (1841), to Hood's _Comic Annual_, (1842), and to Albert
Smith's _Wassail Bowl_ (1843), subjects mainly of a small vignette size,
transcribed with the best skill of such woodcutters as Orrin Smith, and
not, like the larger and later _Punch_ illustrations, cut at speed by
several engravers working at once on the subdivided block. It was in
1841 that Leech's connexion with _Punch_ began, a connexion which
subsisted till his death on the 29th of October 1864, and resulted in
the production of the best-known and most admirable of his designs. His
first contribution appeared in the issue of the 7th of August, a
full-page illustration--entitled "Foreign Affairs"--of character studies
from the neighbourhood of Leicester Square. His cartoons deal at first
mainly with social subjects, and are rough and imperfect in execution,
but gradually their method gains in power and their subjects become more
distinctly political, and by 1849 the artist is strong enough to produce
the splendidly humorous national personification which appears in
"Disraeli Measuring the British Lion." About 1845 we have the first of
that long series of half-page and quarter-page pictures of life and
manners, executed with a hand as gentle as it was skilful, containing,
as Ruskin has said, "admittedly the finest definition and natural
history of the classes of our society, the kindest and subtlest analysis
of its foibles, the tenderest flattery of its pretty and well-bred
ways," which has yet appeared. In addition to his work for the weekly
issue of _Punch_, Leech contributed largely to the _Punch_ almanacks and
pocket-books, to _Once a Week_ from 1859 till 1862, to the _Illustrated
London News_, where some of his largest and best sporting scenes
appeared, and to innumerable novels and miscellaneous volumes besides,
of which it is only necessary to specify _A Little Tour in Ireland_
(1859), which is noticeable as showing the artist's treatment of pure
landscape, though it also contains some of his daintiest figure-pieces,
like that of the wind-blown girl, standing on the summit of a pedestal,
with the swifts darting around her and the breadth of sea beyond.
In 1862 Leech appealed to the public with a very successful exhibition
of some of the most remarkable of his _Punch_ drawings. These were
enlarged by a mechanical process, and coloured in oils by the artist
himself, with the assistance and under the direction of his friend J. E.
Millais.
Leech was a singularly rapid and indefatigable worker. Dean Hole tells
us, when he was his guest, "I have known him send off from my house
three finished drawings on the wood, designed, traced, and rectified,
without much effort as it seemed, between breakfast and dinner." The
best technical qualities of Leech's art, his unerring precision, his
unfailing vivacity in the use of the line, are seen most clearly in
the first sketches for his woodcuts, and in the more finished drawings
made on tracing-paper from these first outlines, before the
chiaroscuro was added and the designs were transcribed by the
engraver. Turning to the mental qualities of his art, it would be a
mistaken criticism which ranked him as a comic draughtsman. Like
Hogarth he was a true humorist, a student of human life, though he
observed humanity mainly in its whimsical aspects,
"Hitting all he saw with shafts
With gentle satire, kin to charity,
That harmed not."
The earnestness and gravity of moral purpose which is so constant a
note in the work of Hogarth is indeed far less characteristic of
Leech, but there are touches of pathos and of tragedy in such of the
_Punch_ designs as the "Poor Man's Friend" (1845), and "General
Février turned Traitor" (1855), and in "The Queen of the Arena" in the
first volume of _Once a Week_, which are sufficient to prove that more
solemn powers, for which his daily work afforded no scope, lay dormant
in their artist. The purity and manliness of Leech's own character are
impressed on his art. We find in it little of the exaggeration and
grotesqueness, and none of the fierce political enthusiasm, of which
the designs of Gillray are so full. Compared with that of his great
contemporary George Cruikshank, his work is restricted both in compass
of subject and in artistic dexterity.
Biographies of Leech have been written by John Brown (1882), and Frith
(1891); see also "John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character," by
Thackeray, _Quarterly Review_ (December 1854); letter by John Ruskin,
_Arrows of the Chace_, vol. i. p. 161; "Un Humoriste Anglais," by
Ernest Chesneau, _Gazette des Beaux Arts_ (1875). (J. M. G.)
LEECH, the common name of members of the Hirudinea, a division of
Chaetopod worms. It is doubtful whether the medicinal leech, _Hirudo
medicinalis_, which is rarer in England than on the continent of Europe,
or the horse leech, _Aulastoma gulo_, often confused with it, has the
best right to the original possession of this name. But at present the
word "leech" is applied to every member of the group Hirudinea, for the
general structure and classification of which see CHAETOPODA. There are
many genera and species of leeches, the exact definitions of which are
still in need of a more complete survey. They occur in all parts of the
world and are mostly aquatic, though sometimes terrestrial, in habit.
The aquatic forms frequent streams, ponds and marshes, and the sea. The
members of this group are always carnivorous or parasitic, and prey
upon both vertebrates and invertebrates. In relation to their parasitic
habit one or two suckers are always developed, the one at the anterior
and the other at the posterior end of the body. In one subdivision of
the leeches, the _Gnathobdellidae_, the mouth has three chitinous jaws
which produce a triangular bite, though the action has been described as
like that of a circular saw. Leeches without biting jaws possess a
protrusible proboscis, and generally engulf their prey, as does the
horse leech when it attacks earthworms. But some of them are also
ectoparasites. The leech has been used in medicine from remote antiquity
as a moderate blood-letter; and it is still so used, though more rarely
than formerly. As unlicensed blood-letters, certain land-leeches are
among the most unpleasant of parasites that can be encountered in a
tropical jungle. A species of _Haemadipsa_ of Ceylon attaches itself to
the passer-by and draws blood with so little irritation that the
sufferer is said to be aware of its presence only by the trickling from
the wounds produced. Small leeches taken into the mouth with
drinking-water may give rise to serious symptoms by attaching themselves
to the fauces and neighbouring parts and thence sucking blood. The
effects of these parasites have been mistaken for those of disease. All
leeches are very extensile and can contract the body to a plump,
pear-shaped form, or extend it to a long and worm-like shape. They
frequently progress after the fashion of a "looper" caterpillar,
attaching themselves alternately by the anterior and the posterior
sucker. Others swim with eel-like curves through the water, while one
land-leech, at any rate, moves in a gliding way like a land Planarian,
and leaves, also like the Planarian, a slimy trail behind it. Leeches
are usually olive green to brown in colour, darker patches and spots
being scattered over a paler ground. The marine parasitic leech
_Pontobdella_ is of a bright green, as is also the land-leech
_Trocheta_.
The term "leech," as an old English synonym for physician, is from a
Teutonic root meaning "heal," and is etymologically distinct from the
name (O. Eng. _lyce_) of the _Hirudo_, though the use of the one by the
other has helped to assimilate the two words. (F. E. B.)
LEEDS, THOMAS OSBORNE, 1st DUKE OF (1631-1712), English statesman,
commonly known also by his earlier title of EARL OF DANBY, son of Sir
Edward Osborne, Bart., of Kiveton, Yorkshire, was born in 1631. He was
great-grandson of Sir Edward Osborne (d. 1591), lord mayor of London,
who, according to the accepted account, while apprentice to Sir William
Hewett, cloth worker and lord mayor in 1559, made the fortunes of the
family by leaping from London Bridge into the river and rescuing Anne
(d. 1585), the daughter of his employer, whom he afterwards married.[1]
Thomas Osborne, the future lord treasurer, succeeded to the baronetcy
and estates in Yorkshire on his father's death in 1647, and after
unsuccessfully courting his cousin Dorothy Osborne, married Lady Bridget
Bertie, daughter of the earl of Lindsey. He was introduced to public
life and to court by his neighbour in Yorkshire, George, 2nd duke of
Buckingham, was elected M.P. for York in 1665, and gained the "first
step in his future rise" by joining Buckingham in his attack on
Clarendon in 1667. In 1668 he was appointed joint treasurer of the navy
with Sir Thomas Lyttelton, and subsequently sole treasurer. He succeeded
Sir William Coventry as commissioner for the state treasury in 1669, and
in 1673 was appointed a commissioner for the admiralty. He was created
Viscount Osborne in the Scottish peerage on the 2nd of February 1673,
and a privy councillor on the 3rd of May. On the 19th of June, on the
resignation of Lord Clifford, he was appointed lord treasurer and made
Baron Osborne of Kiveton and Viscount Latimer in the peerage of England,
while on the 27th of June 1674 he was created earl of Danby, when he
surrendered his Scottish peerage of Osborne to his second son Peregrine
Osborne. He was appointed the same year lord-lieutenant of the West
Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1677 received the Garter.
Danby was a statesman of very different calibre from the leaders of the
Cabal ministry, Buckingham and Arlington. His principal aim was no doubt
the maintenance and increase of his own influence and party, but his
ambition corresponded with definite political views. A member of the old
cavalier party, a confidential friend and correspondent of the despotic
Lauderdale, he desired to strengthen the executive and the royal
authority. At the same time he was a keen partisan of the established
church, an enemy of both Roman Catholics and dissenters, and an opponent
of all toleration. In 1673 he opposed the Indulgence, supported the Test
Act, and spoke against the proposal for giving relief to the dissenters.
In June 1675 he signed the paper of advice drawn up by the bishops for
the king, urging the rigid enforcement of the laws against the Roman
Catholics, their complete banishment from the court, and the suppression
of conventicles,[2] and a bill introduced by him imposing special taxes
on recusants and subjecting Roman Catholic priests to imprisonment for
life was only thrown out as too lenient because it secured offenders
from the charge of treason. The same year he introduced a Test Oath by
which all holding office or seats in either House of Parliament were to
declare resistance to the royal power a crime, and promise to abstain
from all attempts to alter the government of either church or state; but
this extreme measure of retrograde toryism was successfully opposed by
wiser statesmen. The king himself as a Roman Catholic secretly opposed
and also doubted the wisdom and practicability of this "thorough" policy
of repression. Danby therefore ordered a return from every diocese of
the numbers of dissenters, both Romanist and Protestant, in order by a
proof of their insignificance to remove the royal scruples.[3] In
December 1676 he issued a proclamation for the suppression of
coffee-houses because of the "defamation of His Majesty's Government"
which took place in them, but this was soon withdrawn. In 1677, to
secure Protestantism in case of a Roman Catholic succession, he
introduced a bill by which ecclesiastical patronage and the care of the
royal children were entrusted to the bishops; but this measure, like the
other, was thrown out.
In foreign affairs Danby showed a stronger grasp of essentials. He
desired to increase English trade, credit and power abroad. He was a
determined enemy both to Roman influence and to French ascendancy. He
terminated the war with Holland in 1674, and from that time maintained a
friendly correspondence with William; while in 1677, after two years of
tedious negotiations, he overcame all obstacles, and in spite of James's
opposition, and without the knowledge of Louis XIV., effected the
marriage between William and Mary that was the germ of the Revolution
and the Act of Settlement. This national policy, however, could only be
pursued, and the minister could only maintain himself in power, by
acquiescence in the king's personal relations with the king of France
settled by the disgraceful Treaty of Dover in 1670, which included
Charles's acceptance of a pension, and bound him to a policy exactly
opposite to Danby's, one furthering French and Roman ascendancy. Though
not a number of the Cabal ministry, and in spite of his own denial,
Danby must, it would seem, have known of these relations after becoming
lord treasurer. In any case, in 1676, together with Lauderdale alone, he
consented to a treaty between Charles and Louis according to which the
foreign policy of both kings was to be conducted in union, and Charles
received an annual subsidy of £100,000. In 1678 Charles, taking
advantage of the growing hostility to France in the nation and
parliament, raised his price, and Danby by his directions demanded
through Ralph Montagu (afterwards duke of Montagu) six million livres a
year (£300,000) for three years. Simultaneously Danby guided through
parliament a bill for raising money for a war against France; a league
was concluded with Holland, and troops were actually sent there. That
Danby, in spite of these compromising transactions, remained in
intention faithful to the national interests, appears clearly from the
hostility with which he was still regarded by France. In 1676 he is
described by Ruvigny to Louis XIV. as intensely antagonistic to France
and French interests, and as doing his utmost to prevent the treaty of
that year.[4] In 1678, on the rupture of relations between Charles and
Louis, a splendid opportunity was afforded Louis of paying off old
scores by disclosing Danby's participation in the king's demands for
French gold.
Every circumstance now conspired to effect his fall. Although both
abroad and at home his policy had generally embodied the wishes of the
ascendant party in the state, Danby had never obtained the confidence of
the nation. His character inspired no respect, and he could not reckon
during the whole of his long career on the support of a single
individual. Charles is said to have told him when he made him treasurer
that he had only two friends in the world, himself and his own merit.[5]
He was described to Pepys on his acquiring office as "one of a broken
sort of people that have not much to lose and therefore will venture
all," and as "a beggar having £1100 or £1200 a year, but owes above
£10,000." His office brought him in £20,000 a year,[6] and he was known
to be making large profits by the sale of offices; he maintained his
power by corruption and by jealously excluding from office men of high
standing and ability. Burnet described him as "the most hated minister
that had ever been about the king." Worse men had been less detested,
but Danby had none of the amiable virtues which often counteract the
odium incurred by serious faults. Evelyn, who knew him intimately from
his youth, describes him as "a man of excellent natural parts but
nothing of generous or grateful." Shaftesbury, doubtless no friendly
witness, speaks of him as an inveterate liar, "proud, ambitious,
revengeful, false, prodigal and covetous to the highest degree,"[7] and
Burnet supports his unfavourable judgment to a great extent. His
corruption, his mean submission to a tyrant wife, his greed, his pale
face and lean person, which had succeeded to the handsome features and
comeliness of earlier days,[8] were the subject of ridicule, from the
witty sneers of Halifax to the coarse jests of the anonymous writers of
innumerable lampoons. By his championship of the national policy he had
raised up formidable foes abroad without securing a single friend or
supporter at home,[9] and his fidelity to the national interests was
now, through a very mean and ignoble act of personal spite, to be the
occasion of his downfall.
Danby in appointing a new secretary of state had preferred Sir W.
Temple, a strong adherent of the anti-French policy, to Montagu. The
latter, after a quarrel with the duchess of Cleveland, was dismissed
from the king's employment. He immediately went over to the opposition,
and in concert with Louis XIV. and Barillon, the French ambassador, by
whom he was supplied with a large sum of money, arranged a plan for
effecting Danby's ruin. He obtained a seat in parliament; and in spite
of Danby's endeavour to seize his papers by an order in council, on the
20th of December 1678 caused two of the incriminating letters written by
Danby to him to be read aloud to the House of Commons by the Speaker.
The House immediately resolved on Danby's impeachment. At the foot of
each of the letters appeared the king's postscripts, "I approve of this
letter. C.R.," in his own handwriting; but they were not read by the
Speaker, and were entirely neglected in the proceedings against the
minister, thus emphasizing the constitutional principle that obedience
to the orders of the sovereign can be no bar to an impeachment. He was
charged with having encroached to himself royal powers by treating
matters of peace and war without the knowledge of the council, with
having promoted the raising of a standing army on pretence of a war with
France, with having obstructed the assembling of parliament, with
corruption and embezzlement in the treasury. Danby, while communicating
the "Popish Plot" to the parliament, had from the first expressed his
disbelief in the so-called revelations of Titus Oates, and his
backwardness in the matter now furnished an additional charge of having
"traitorously concealed the plot." He was voted guilty by the Commons;
but while the Lords were disputing whether the accused peer should have
bail, and whether the charges amounted to more than a misdemeanour,
parliament was prorogued on the 30th of December and dissolved three
weeks later. In March 1679 a new parliament hostile to Danby was
returned, and he was forced to resign the treasurership; but he received
a pardon from the king under the Great Seal, and a warrant for a
marquessate.[10] His proposed advancement in rank was severely reflected
upon in the Lords, Halifax declaring it in the king's presence the
recompense of treason, "not to be borne"; and in the Commons his
retirement from office by no means appeased his antagonists. The
proceedings against him were revived, a committee of privileges deciding
on the 19th of March 1679 that the dissolution of parliament was no
abatement of an impeachment. A motion was passed for his committal by
the Lords, who, as in Clarendon's case, voted his banishment. This was,
however, rejected by the Commons, who now passed an act of attainder.
Danby had removed to the country, but returned on the 21st of April to
avoid the threatened passing by the Lords of the attainder, and was sent
to the Tower. In his written defence he now pleaded the king's pardon,
but on the 5th of May 1679 it was pronounced illegal by the Commons.
This declaration was again repeated by the Commons in 1689 on the
occasion of another attack made upon Danby in that year, and was finally
embodied in the Act of Settlement in 1701.
The Commons now demanded judgment against the prisoner from the Lords.
Further proceedings, however, were stopped by the dissolution of
parliament again in July; but for nearly five years Danby remained a
prisoner in the Tower. A number of pamphlets asserting the complicity of
the fallen minister in the Popish Plot, and even accusing him of the
murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, were published in 1679 and 1680;
they were answered by Danby's secretary, Edward Christian, in
_Reflections_; and in May 1681 Danby was actually indicted by the Grand
Jury of Middlesex for Godfrey's murder on the accusation of Edward
FitzHarris. His petition to the king for a trial by his peers on this
indictment was refused, and an attempt to prosecute the publishers of
the false evidence in the king's bench was unsuccessful. For some time
all appeals to the king, to parliament, and to the courts of justice
were unavailing; but on the 12th of February 1684 his application to
Chief Justice Jeffreys was at last successful, and he was set at liberty
on finding bail to the amount of £40,000, to appear in the House of
Lords in the following session. He visited the king at court the same
day; but took no part in public affairs for the rest of the reign.
After James's accession Danby was discharged from his bail by the Lords
on the 19th of May 1685, and the order declaring a dissolution of
parliament to be no abatement of an impeachment was reversed. He again
took his seat in the Lords as a leader of the moderate Tory party.
Though a strong Tory and supporter of the hereditary principle, James's
attacks on Protestantism soon drove him into opposition. He was visited
by Dykvelt, William of Orange's agent; and in June 1687 he wrote to
William assuring him of his support. On the 30th of June 1688 he was one
of the seven leaders of the Revolution who signed the invitation to
William. In November he occupied York in the prince's interest,
returning to London to meet William on the 26th of December. He appears
to have thought that William would not claim the crown,[11] and at first
supported the theory that the throne having been vacated by James's
flight the succession fell as of right to Mary; but as this met with
little support, and was rejected both by William and by Mary herself, he
voted against the regency and joined with Halifax and the Commons in
declaring the prince and princess joint sovereigns.
Danby had rendered extremely important services to William's cause. On
the 20th of April 1689 he was created marquess of Carmarthen and was
made lord-lieutenant of the three ridings of Yorkshire. He was, however,
still greatly disliked by the Whigs, and William, instead of reinstating
him in the lord treasurership, only appointed him president of the
council in February 1689. He did not conceal his vexation and
disappointment, which were increased by the appointment of Halifax to
the office of lord privy seal. The antagonism between the "black" and
the "white marquess" (the latter being the nickname given to Carmarthen
in allusion to his sickly appearance), which had been forgotten in their
common hatred to the French policy and to Rome, revived in all its
bitterness. He retired to the country and was seldom present at the
council. In June and July new motions were made in parliament for his
removal; but notwithstanding his great unpopularity, on the retirement
of Halifax in 1690 he again acquired the chief power in the state, which
he retained till 1695 by bribery in parliament and by the support of the
king and queen. In 1690, during William's absence in Ireland, he was
appointed Mary's chief adviser. In 1691, desiring to compromise Halifax,
he discredited himself by the patronage of an informer named Fuller,
soon proved an impostor. He was absent in 1692 when the Place Bill was
thrown out. In 1693 he presided in great state as lord high steward at
the trial of Lord Mohun; and on the 4th of May 1694 he was created duke
of Leeds.[12] The same year he supported the Triennial Bill, but opposed
the new treason bill as weakening the hands of the executive. Meanwhile
fresh attacks had been made upon him. He was accused unjustly of
Jacobitism. In April 1695 he was impeached once more by the Commons for
having received a bribe of 5000 guineas to procure the new charter for
the East India Company. In his defence, whilst denying that he had
received the money and appealing to his past services, he did not
attempt to conceal the fact that according to his experience bribery was
an acknowledged and universal custom in public business, and that he
himself had been instrumental in obtaining money for others. Meanwhile
his servant, who was said to have been the intermediary between the duke
and the Company in the transaction, fled the country; and no evidence
being obtainable to convict, the proceedings fell to the ground. In May
1695 he had been ordered to discontinue his attendance at the council.
He returned in October, but was not included among the lords justices
appointed regents during William's absence in this year. In November he
was created D.C.L. by the university of Oxford; in December he became a
commissioner of trade, and in December 1696 governor of the Royal
Fishery Company. He opposed the prosecution of Sir John Fenwick, but
supported the action taken by members of both Houses in defence of
William's rights in the same year. On the 23rd of April 1698 he
entertained the tsar, Peter the Great, at Wimbledon. He had for some
time lost the real direction of affairs, and in May 1699 he was
compelled to retire from office and from the lord-lieutenancy of
Yorkshire.
In Queen Anne's reign, in his old age, he is described as "a gentleman
of admirable natural parts, great knowledge and experience in the
affairs of his own country, but of no reputation with any party. He hath
not been regarded, although he took his place at the council board."[13]
The veteran statesman, however, by no means acquiesced in his enforced
retirement, and continued to take an active part in politics. As a
zealous churchman and Protestant he still possessed a following. In 1705
he supported a motion that the church was in danger, and in 1710 in
Sacheverell's case spoke in defence of hereditary right.[14] In November
of this year he obtained a renewal of his pension of £3500 a year from
the post office which he was holding in 1694,[15] and in 1711 at the
age of eighty was a competitor for the office of lord privy seal.[16]
His long and eventful career, however, terminated soon afterwards by his
death on the 26th of July 1712.
In 1710 the duke had published _Copies and Extracts of some letters
written to and from the Earl of Danby ... in the years 1676, 1677 and
1678_, in defence of his conduct, and this was accompanied by _Memoirs
relating to the Impeachment of Thomas, Earl of Danby_. The original
letters, however, of Danby to Montagu have now been published (by the
Historical MSS. Commission from the MSS. of J. Eliot Hodgkin), and are
seen to have been considerably garbled by Danby for the purposes of
publication, several passages being obliterated and others altered by
his own hand.
See the lives, by Sidney Lee in the _Dict. Nat. Biography_ (1895); by
T. P. Courtenay in _Lardner's Encyclopaedia_, "Eminent British
Statesmen," vol. v. (1850); in Lodge's _Portraits_, vii.; and _Lives
and Characters of ... Illustrious Persons_, by J. le Neve (1714).
Further material for his biography exists in _Add. MSS._, 26040-95 (56
vols., containing his papers); in the _Duke of Leeds MSS. at Hornby
Castle_, calendered in _Hist. MSS. Comm._ 11th Rep. pt. vii. pp. 1-43;
_MSS. of Earl of Lindsay and J. Eliot Hodgkin_; and _Calendars of
State Papers Dom_. See also _Add. MSS. 1894-1899_, Index and Calendar;
_Hist. MSS. Comm._ 11th Rep. pt. ii., _House of Lords MSS.; Gen. Cat.
British Museum_ for various pamphlets. (P. C. Y.)
_Later Dukes of Leeds._
The duke's only surviving son, Peregrine (1659-1729), who became 2nd
duke of Leeds on his father's death, had been a member of the House of
Lords as Baron Osborne since 1690, but he is better known as a naval
officer; in this service he attained the rank of a vice-admiral. He died
on the 25th of June 1729, when his son Peregrine Hyde (1691-1731) became
3rd duke. The 4th duke was the latter's son Thomas (1713-1789), who was
succeeded by his son Francis.
Francis Osborne, 5th duke of Leeds (1751-1799), was born on the 29th of
January 1751 and was educated at Westminster school and at Christ
Church, Oxford. He was a member of parliament in 1774 and 1775; in 1776
he became a peer as Baron Osborne, and in 1777 lord chamberlain of the
queen's household. In the House of Lords he was prominent as a
determined foe of the prime minister, Lord North, who, after he had
resigned his position as chamberlain, deprived him of the office of
lord-lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1780. He regained
this, however, two years later. Early in 1783 the marquess of
Carmarthen, as he was called, was selected as ambassador to France, but
he did not take up this appointment, becoming instead secretary for
foreign affairs under William Pitt in December of the same year. As
secretary he was little more than a cipher, and he left office in April
1791. Subsequently he took some slight part in politics, and he died in
London on the 31st of January 1799. His _Political Memoranda_ were
edited by Oscar Browning for the Camden Society in 1884, and there are
eight volumes of his official correspondence in the British Museum. His
first wife was Amelia (1754-1784), daughter of Robert Darcy, 4th earl of
Holdernesse, who became Baroness Conyers in her own right in 1778. Their
elder son, George William Frederick (1775-1838), succeeded his father as
duke of Leeds and his mother as Baron Conyers. These titles were,
however, separated when his son, Francis Godolphin Darcy, the 7th Duke
(1798-1859), died without sons in May 1859. The barony passed to his
nephew, Sackville George Lane-Fox (1827-1888), falling into abeyance on
his death in August 1888, and the dukedom passed to his cousin, George
Godolphin Osborne (1802-1872), a son of Francis Godolphin Osborne
(1777-1850), who was created Baron Godolphin in 1832. In 1895 George's
grandson George Godolphin Osborne (b. 1862) became 10th duke of Leeds.
The name of Godolphin, which is borne by many of the Osbornes, was
introduced into the family through the marriage of the 4th duke with
Mary (d. 1764), daughter and co-heiress of Francis Godolphin, 2nd earl
of Godolphin, and grand-daughter of the great duke of Marlborough.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Chronicles of London Bridge_, by R. Thomson (1827), 313, quoting
Stow.
[2] _Cal. of St Pap. Dom._ (1673-1675), p. 449.
[3] Letter of Morley, Bishop of Winchester, to Danby (June 10, 1676).
(_Hist. MSS. Com._ xi. Rep. pt. vii. 14.)
[4] _Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland_, by Sir J. Dalrymple
(1773), i. app. 104.
[5] _Letters to Sir Joseph Williamson_ (Camden Soc., 1874), i. 64.
[6] Halifax note-book in Devonshire House collection, quoted in
Foxcroft's _Life of Halifax_, ii. 63, note.
[7] _Life of Shaftesbury_, by W. D. Christie (1871), ii. 312.
[8] Macky's _Memoirs_, 46; Pepys's _Diary_, viii. 143.
[9] See the description of his position at this time by Sir W. Temple
in _Lives of Illustrious Persons_ (1714), 40.
[10] Add. MSS. 28094, f. 47.
[11] Boyer's _Annals_ (1722), 433.
[12] The title was taken, not from Leeds in Yorkshire, but from Leeds
in Kent, 4½ m. from Maidstone, which in the 17th century was a more
important place than its Yorkshire namesake.
[13] _Memoirs of Sir John Macky_ (Roxburghe Club, 1895), 46.
[14] Boyer's _Annals_, 219, 433.
[15] _Harleian MSS._ 2264, No. 239.
[16] Boyer's _Annals_, 515.
LEEDS, a city and municipal county and parliamentary borough in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, England, 185 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1891)
367,505; (1901) 428,968. It is served by the Great Northern railway
(Central station), the Midland (Wellington station), North-Eastern and
London & North-Western (New station), and Great Central and Lancashire &
Yorkshire railways (Central station). It lies nearly in the centre of
the Riding, in the valley of the river Aire.
The plan of the city is in no way regular, and the numerous handsome
public buildings are distributed among several streets, principally on
the north side of the narrow river. The town hall is a fine building in
Grecian style, well placed in a square between Park Lane and Great
George Street. It is of oblong shape, with a handsome façade over which
rises a domed clock-tower. The principal apartment is the Victoria Hall,
a richly ornamented chamber measuring 161 ft. in length, 72 in breadth
and 75 in height. It was opened in 1858 by Queen Victoria. Immediately
adjacent to it are the municipal offices (1884) in Italian style. The
Royal Exchange (1872) in Boar Lane is an excellent Perpendicular
building. In ecclesiastical architecture Leeds is not rich. The church
of St John, however, is an interesting example of the junction of Gothic
traditions with Renaissance tendencies in architecture. It dates from
1634 and contains some fine contemporary woodwork. St Peter's parish
church occupies an ancient site, and preserves a very early cross from
the former building. The church was rebuilt in 1840 at the instance of
the vicar, Dr Walter Farquhar Hook (1798-1875), afterwards dean of
Chichester, whose work here in a poor and ill-educated parish brought
him fame. The church of All Souls (1880) commemorates him. It may be
noted that the vicarage of Leeds has in modern times commonly formed a
step to the episcopal bench. There are numerous other modern churches
and chapels, of which the Unitarian chapel in Park Row is noteworthy.
Leeds is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, with a pro-cathedral
dedicated to St Anne. There is a large free library in the municipal
offices, and numerous branch libraries are maintained. The Leeds old
library is a private institution founded in 1768 by Dr Priestley, who
was then minister of the Unitarian chapel. It occupies a building in
Commercial Street. The Philosophical and Literary Society, established
in 1820, possesses a handsome building in Park Row, known as the
Philosophical Hall, containing a laboratory, scientific library, lecture
room, and museum, with excellent natural history, geological and
archaeological collections. The City Art Gallery was completed in 1888,
and contains a fine permanent collection, while exhibitions are also
held. The University, incorporated in 1904, grew out of Yorkshire
College, established in 1875 for the purpose of supplying instruction in
the arts and sciences which are applicable to the manufactures,
engineering, mining and agriculture of the county. In 1887 it became one
of the constituent colleges of Victoria University, Manchester, and so
remained until its separate incorporation. The existing building was
completed in 1885, and contains a hall of residence, a central hall and
library, and complete equipments in all departments of instruction. New
departments have been opened in extension of the original scheme, such
as the medical department (1894). A day training college is a branch of
the institution. The Mechanics' Institute (1865) occupies a handsome
Italian building in Cookridge Street near the town hall. It comprises a
lecture room, library, reading and class rooms; and day and evening
classes and an art school are maintained. The grammar school, occupying
a Gothic building (1858) at Woodhouse Moor, dates its foundation from
1552. It is largely endowed, and possesses exhibitions tenable at
Oxford, Cambridge and Durham universities. There is a large training
college for the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in the suburb of Headingley.
The Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education has as its object the
promotion of female education, and the instruction of girls and women of
the artisan class in domestic economy, &c. The general infirmary in
Great George Street is a Gothic building of brick with stone dressings
with a highly ornamental exterior by Sir Gilbert Scott, of whose work
this is by no means the only good example in Leeds. The city possesses
further notable buildings in its market-halls, theatres, clubs, &c.
Among open spaces devoted by the corporation to public use that of
Woodhouse Moor is the principal one within the city, but 3 m. N.E. of
the centre is Roundhay Park, a tract of 700 acres, beautifully laid out
and containing a picturesque lake. In 1889 there came into the
possession of the corporation the ground, lying 3 m. up the river from
the centre of the city, containing the celebrated ruins of Kirkstall
Abbey. The remains of this great foundation, of the middle of the 12th
century, are extensive, and so far typical of the usual arrangement of
Cistercian houses as to be described under the heading Abbey. The ruins
are carefully preserved, and form a remarkable contrast with the
surrounding industrial district. Apart from Kirkstall there are few
antiquarian remains in the locality. In Guildford Street, near the town
hall, is the Red Hall, where Charles I. lay during his enforced journey
under the charge of the army in 1647.
For manufacturing and commercial purposes the situation of Leeds is
highly advantageous. It occupies a central position in the railway
system of England. It has communication with Liverpool by the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal, and with Goole and the Humber by the Aire and Calder
Navigation. It is moreover the centre of an important coal and iron
district. Though regarded as the capital of the great manufacturing
district of the West Riding, Leeds is not in its centre but on its
border. Eastward and northward the country is agricultural, but westward
and southward lies a mass of manufacturing towns. The characteristic
industry is the woollen manufacture. The industry is carried on in a
great number of neighbouring townships, but the cloth is commonly
finished or dressed in the city itself, this procedure differing from
that of the wool manufacturers in Gloucestershire and the west of
England, who carry out the entire process in one factory. Formerly much
of the business between manufacturer and merchant was transacted in the
cloth halls, which formed a kind of market, but merchants now order
goods directly from the manufacturers. Artificial silk is important
among the textile products. Subsidiary to these leading industries is
the production of machine-made clothing, hats and caps. The leather
trade of Leeds is the largest in England, though no sole leather is
tanned. The supply comes chiefly from British India. Boots and shoes are
extensively manufactured. The iron trade in its different branches
rivals the woollen trade in wealth, including the casting of metal, and
the manufacture of steam engines, steam wagons, steam ploughs,
machinery, tools, nails, &c. Leeds was formerly famed for the production
of artistic pottery, and specimens of old Leeds ware are highly prized.
The industry lapsed about the end of the 18th century, but has been
revived in modern times. Minor and less specialized industries are
numerous.
The parliamentary borough is divided into five divisions (North,
Central, South, East and West), each returning one member. The county
borough was created in 1888. Leeds was raised to the rank of a city in
1893. The municipal borough is under a lord mayor (the title was
conferred in 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee),
16 aldermen and 48 councillors. Area, 21,572 acres.
Leeds (Loidis, Ledes) is mentioned by Bede as the district where the
Northumbrian kings had a royal vill in 627, and where Oswy, king of
Northumbria, defeated Penda, king of the Mercians, in 665. Before the
Norman Conquest seven thanes held it of Edward the Confessor as seven
manors, but William the Conqueror granted the whole to Ilbert de Lacy,
and at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held of him by Ralph
Paganel, who is said to have raised Leeds castle, possibly on the site
of an earlier fortification. In 1207 Maurice Paganel constituted the
inhabitants of Leeds free burgesses, granting them the same liberties
as Robert de Lacy had granted to Pontefract, including the right of
selling burgher land to whom they pleased except to religious houses,
and freedom from toll. He also appointed as the chief officer of the
town a reeve who was to be chosen by the lord of the manor, the
burgesses being "more eligible if only they would pay as much as
others for the office." The town was incorporated by Charles I. in
1626 under the title of an alderman, 7 principal burgesses and 24
assistants. A second charter granted by Charles II. in 1661 appointed
a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 assistants, and is still the governing
charter of the borough. The woollen manufacture is said to have been
introduced into Leeds in the 14th century, and owing to the facilities
for trade afforded by its position on the river Aire soon became an
important industry. Camden, writing about 1590, says, "Leeds is
rendered wealthy by its woollen manufactures," and the incorporation
charter of 1626 recites that "the inhabitants have for a long time
exercised the art of making cloth." The cloth was then, as it is now,
made in the neighbouring villages and only finished and sold in the
town. A successful attempt was made in the beginning of the 19th
century by Mr William Hirst to introduce goods of a superior quality
which were made and finished in his own factory. Other manufacturers
followed his example, but their factories are now only used for the
finishing process. The worsted trade which was formerly carried on to
some extent has now almost disappeared. The spinning of flax by
machinery was introduced early in the 19th century by Mr John
Marshall, a Holbeck manufacturer, who was one of the first to apply
Sir Richard Arkwright's water frame, invented for cotton manufacture,
to the spinning of linen yarn. The burgesses were represented in
parliament by one member during the Commonwealth, but not again until
by the Reform Act of 1832 they were allowed to return two members. In
1867 they were granted an additional member.
See James Wardell, _The Municipal History of the Borough of Leeds_
(1846); J. D. Whitaker, _Loidis and Elmete: or an Attempt to
illustrate the Districts described in these words by Bede_ (1816); D.
H. Atkinson, _Ralph Thoresby, the Topographer; his Town (Leeds) and
Times_ (1885-1887).
LEEK, a market town in the Leek parliamentary division of Staffordshire,
England, 157 m. N.W. from London, on the Churnet Valley branch of the
North Staffordshire railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 15,484. The
town lies high in a picturesque situation near the head of the river
Churnet. The church of St Edward the Confessor is mainly Decorated, and
stands in a churchyard commanding a beautiful view from an elevation of
some 640 ft. There is here a curious pillar of Danish work ornately
carved. An institute contains a free library, lecture hall, art gallery
and school of art. A grammar school was established in 1723. In the
vicinity are ruins of the Cistercian abbey De la Croix, or Dieulacresse,
erected in 1214 by Ralph de Blundevill, earl of Chester. The slight
remains are principally embodied in a farm-house. The silk manufacture
includes sewing silk, braids, silk buttons, &c. Cloud Hill, rising to
1190 ft. W. of the town, causes a curious phenomenon in the height of
summer, the sun sinking behind one flank to reappear beyond the other,
and thus appearing to set twice.
Leek (Lee, Leike, Leeke) formed part of the great estates of Ælfgar,
earl of Mercia; it escheated to William the Conqueror who held it at the
time of the Domesday Survey. Later it passed to the earls Palatine of
Chester, remaining in their hands until Ralph de Blundevill, earl of
Chester, gave it to the abbey of Dieulacresse, which continued to hold
it until its dissolution. The same earl in a charter which he gave to
the town (_temp._ John) calls it a borough and grants to his free
burgesses various privileges, including freedom from toll throughout
Cheshire. These privileges were confirmed by Richard, abbot of
Dieulacresse, but the town received no royal charter and failed to
establish its burghal position. The Wednesday market which is still held
dates from a grant of John to the earl of Chester: in the 17th century
it was very considerable. A fair, also granted by John, beginning on the
third day before the Translation of Edward the Confessor is still held.
The silk manufacture which can be traced to the latter part of the 17th
century is thought to have been aided by the settlement in Leek of some
Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In the 17th and
18th centuries the town was famous for its ale. Prince Charles Edward
passed through Leek on his march to Derby (1745) and again on his return
journey to Scotland. A story in connexion with the Civil Wars is told to
explain the expression "Now thus" occurring on the tombstone of a
citizen, who by this meaningless answer to all questions sought escape
on the plea of insanity.
LEEK, the _Allium Porrum_ of botanists, a plant now considered as a mere
variety of _Allium Ampeloprasum_, wild leek, produced by cultivation.
The plant is probably of Eastern origin, since it was commonly
cultivated in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, and is so to the
present day; while as regards its first appearance in England both
Tusser and Gerard--two of the earliest writers on this class of
subjects, the former of whom flourished in the early part and the latter
in the later part of the 16th century--speak of it as being then
commonly cultivated and used.[1] The Romans, it would appear, made
great use of the leek for savouring their dishes, as seems proved by the
number of recipes for its use referred to by Celsius. Hence it is more
than probable that it was brought to England by the Romans. Italy was
celebrated for leeks in the time of Pliny (_H.N._ xix. c. 6), according
to whom they were brought into great esteem through the emperor Nero,
derisively surnamed "Porrophagus," who used to eat them for several days
in every month to clear his voice. The leek is very generally cultivated
in Great Britain as an esculent, but more especially in Scotland and in
Wales, being esteemed as an excellent and wholesome vegetable, with
properties very similar to those of the onion, but of a milder
character. In America it is not much cultivated except by market
gardeners in the neighbourhood of large cities. The whole plant, with
the exception of the fibrous roots, is used in soups and stews. The
sheathing stalks of the leaves lap over each other, and form a thickish
stem-like base, which is blanched, and is the part chiefly preferred.
These blanched stems are much employed in French cookery. They form an
important ingredient in Scotch winter broth, and particularly in the
national dish _cock-a-leekie_, and are also largely used boiled, and
served with toasted bread and white sauce, as in the case of asparagus.
Leeks are sown in the spring, earlier or later according to the soil and
the season, and are planted out for the summer, being dropped into holes
made with a stout dibble and left unfilled in order to allow the stems
space to swell. When they are thus planted deeply the holes gradually
fill up, and the base of the stem becomes blanched and prepared for use,
a process aided by drawing up the earth round about the stems as they
elongate. The leek is one of the most useful vegetables the cottager can
grow, as it will supply him with a large amount of produce during the
winter and spring. It is extremely hardy, and presents no difficulty in
its cultivation, the chief point, as with all succulent esculents, being
that it should be grown quickly upon well-enriched soil. The plant is of
biennial duration, flowering the second year, and perishing after
perfecting its seeds. The leek is the national symbol or badge of the
Welsh, who wear it in their hats on St David's Day. The origin of this
custom has received various explanations, all of which are more or less
speculative.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Tusser, in his verse for the month of March, writes:--
"Now leckes are in season, for pottage ful good,
And spareth the milck cow, and purgeth the blood,
These hauving with peason, for pottage in Lent,
Thou spareth both otemel and bread to be spent."
LEER, a town and river port in the Prussian province of Hanover, lying
in a fertile plain on the right bank of the Leda near its confluence
with the Ems, and at the junction of railways to Bremen, Emden and
Münster. Pop. (1905) 12,347. The streets are broad, well paved, and
adorned with many elegant buildings, among which are Roman Catholic,
Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and a new town hall with a tower 165
ft. high. Among its educational establishments are a classical school
and a school of navigation. Linen and woollen fabrics, hosiery, paper,
cigars, soap, vinegar and earthenware are manufactured, and there are
iron-foundries, distilleries, tanneries and shipbuilding yards. Many
markets for horses and cattle are held. The transit trade from the
regions traversed by the Westphalian and Oldenburg railways is
considerable. The principal exports are cattle, horses, cheese, butter,
honey, wax, flour, paper, hardware and Westphalian coal. Leer is one of
the principal ports for steamboat communication with the North Sea
watering-places of Borkum and Norderney. Leer is a very old place,
although it only obtained municipal privileges in 1823. Near the town is
the Plitenberg, formerly a heathen place of sacrifice.
LEEUWARDEN, the capital of the province of Friesland, Holland, on the
canal between Harlingen and Groningen, 33 m. by rail W. of Groningen.
Pop (1901) 32,203. It is one of the most prosperous towns in the
country. To the name of the Frisian Hague, it is entitled as well by
similarity of history as by similarity of appearance. As the Hague grew
up round the court of the counts of Holland, so Leeuwarden round the
court of the Frisian stadtholders; and, like the Hague, it is an
exceptionally clean and attractive town, with parks, pleasure grounds,
and drives. The old gates have been somewhat ruthlessly cleared away,
and the site of the town walls on the north and west competes with the
park called the Prince's Garden as a public pleasure ground. The
Prince's Garden was originally laid out by William Frederick of Nassau
in 1648, and was presented to the town by King William I. in 1819. The
royal palace, which was the seat of the Frisian court from 1603 to 1747,
is now the residence of the royal commissioner for Friesland. It was
restored in 1816 and contains a portrait gallery of the Frisian
stadtholders. The fine mansion called the Kanselary was begun in 1502 as
a residence for the chancellor of George of Saxony (1539), governor of
Friesland, but was only completed in 1571 and served as a court house
until 1811. It was restored at the end of the 19th century to contain
the important provincial library and national archives. Other noteworthy
buildings are the picturesque weigh-house (1595), the town hall (1715),
the provincial courts (1850), and the great church of St Jacob, once the
church of the Jacobins, and the largest monastic church in the
Netherlands. The splendid tombs of the Frisian stadtholders buried here
(Louis of Nassau, Anne of Orange, and others) were destroyed in the
revolution 1795. The unfinished tower of Oldehove dates from 1529-1532.
The museum of the Frisian Society is of modern foundation and contains a
collection of provincial antiquities, including two rooms from
Hindeloopen, an ancient village of Friesland, some 16th- and
17th-century portraits, some Frisian works in silver of the 17th and
18th centuries, and a collection of porcelain and faience.
Leeuwarden is the centre of a flourishing trade, being easily accessible
from all parts of the province by road, rail and canal. The chief
business is in stock of every kind, dairy and agricultural produce and
fresh-water fish, a large quantity of which is exported to France. The
industries include boat-building and timber yards, iron-foundries,
copper and lead works, furniture, organ, tobacco and other factories,
and the manufacture of gold and silver wares. The town is first
mentioned in documents of the 13th century.
LEEUWENHOEK, or LEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN (1632-1723), Dutch microscopist,
was born at Delft on the 24th of October 1632. For a short time he was
in a merchant's office in Amsterdam, but early devoted himself to the
manufacture of microscopes and to the study of the minute structure of
organized bodies by their aid. He appears soon to have found that single
lenses of very short focus were preferable to the compound microscopes
then in use; and it is clear from the discoveries he made with these
that they must have been of very excellent quality. His discoveries were
for the most part made public in the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the
Royal Society, to the notice of which body he was introduced by R. de
Graaf in 1673, and of which he was elected a fellow in 1680. He was
chosen a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1697.
He died at his native place on the 26th of August 1723. Though his
researches were not conducted on any definite scientific plan, his
powers of careful observation enabled him to make many interesting
discoveries in the minute anatomy of man, the higher animals and
insects. He confirmed and extended M. Malpighi's demonstration of the
blood capillaries in 1668, and six years later he gave the first
accurate description of the red blood corpuscles, which he found to be
circular in man but oval in frogs and fishes. In 1677 he described and
illustrated the spermatozoa in dogs and other animals, though in this
discovery Stephen Hamm had anticipated him by a few months; and he
investigated the structure of the teeth, crystalline lens, muscle, &c.
In 1680 he noticed that yeast consists of minute globular particles, and
he described the different structure of the stem in monocotyledonous and
dicotyledonous plants.
His researches in the life-history of various of the lower forms of
animal life were in opposition to the doctrine that they could be
"produced spontaneously, or bred from corruption." Thus he showed that
the weevils of granaries, in his time commonly supposed to be bred
_from_ wheat, as well as _in_ it, are grubs hatched from eggs
deposited by winged insects. His chapter on the flea, in which he not
only describes its structure, but traces out the whole history of its
metamorphoses from its first emergence from the egg, is full of
interest--not so much for the exactness of his observations, as for
its incidental revelation of the extraordinary ignorance then
prevalent in regard to the origin and propagation of "this minute and
despised creature," which some asserted to be produced from sand,
others from dust, others from the dung of pigeons, and others from
urine, but which he showed to be "endowed with as great perfection in
its kind as any large animal," and proved to breed in the regular way
of winged insects. He even noted the fact that the pupa of the flea is
sometimes attacked and fed upon by a mite--an observation which
suggested the well known lines of Swift. His attention having been
drawn to the blighting of the young shoots of fruit-trees, which was
commonly attributed to the ants found upon them, he was the first to
find the _Aphides_ that really do the mischief; and, upon searching
into the history of their generation, he observed the young within the
bodies of their parents. He carefully studied also the history of the
ant and was the first to show that what had been commonly reputed to
be "ants' eggs" are really their pupae, containing the perfect insect
nearly ready for emersion, whilst the true eggs are far smaller, and
give origin to "maggots" or larvae. Of the sea-mussel, again, and
other shell-fish, he argued (in reply to a then recent defence of
Aristotle's doctrine by F. Buonanni, a learned Jesuit of Rome) that
they are not generated out of the mud or sand found on the seashore or
the beds of rivers at low water, but from spawn, by the regular course
of generation; and he maintained the same to be true of the
fresh-water mussel (_Unio_), whose ova he examined so carefully that
he saw in them the rotation of the embryo, a phenomenon supposed to
have been first discovered long afterwards. In the same spirit he
investigated the generation of eels, which were at that time supposed,
not only by the ignorant vulgar, but by "respectable and learned men,"
to be produced from dew without the ordinary process of generation.
Not only was he the first discoverer of the rotifers, but he showed
"how wonderfully nature has provided for the preservation of their
species," by their tolerance of the drying-up of the water they
inhabit, and the resistance afforded to the evaporation of the fluids
of their bodies by the impermeability of the casing in which they then
become enclosed. "We can now easily conceive," he says, "that in all
rain-water which is collected from gutters in cisterns, and in all
waters exposed to the air, animalcules may be found; for they may be
carried thither by the particles of dust blown about by the winds."
Leeuwenhoek's contributions to the _Philosophical Transactions_
amounted to one hundred and twelve; he also published twenty-six
papers in the _Memoirs of the Paris Academy of Sciences_. Two
collections of his works appeared during his life, one in Dutch
(Leiden and Delft, 1685-1718), and the other in Latin (_Opera omnia s.
Arcana naturae ope exactissimorum microscopiorum selecta_, Leiden,
1715-1722); and a selection from them was translated by S. Hoole and
published in English (London, 1781-1798).
LEEWARD ISLANDS, a group in the West Indies. They derive their name from
being less exposed to the prevailing N.E. trade wind than the adjacent
Windward Islands. They are the most northerly of the Lesser Antilles,
and form a curved chain stretching S.W. from Puerto Rico to meet St
Lucia, the most northerly of the Windward Islands. They consist of the
Virgin Islands, with St Kitts, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe,
Dominica, Martinique and their various dependencies. The Virgin Islands
are owned by Great Britain and Denmark, Holland having St Eustatius,
with Saba, and part of St Martin. France possesses Guadeloupe,
Martinique, St Bartholomew and the remainder of St Martin. The rest of
the islands are British, and (with the exception of Sombrero, a small
island used only as a lighthouse-station) form, under one governor, a
colony divided into five presidencies, namely: Antigua (with Barbuda and
Redonda), St Kitts (with Nevis and Anguilla), Dominica, Montserrat and
the Virgin Islands. Total pop. (1901) 127,536. There is one federal
executive council nominated by the crown, and one federal legislative
council--ten nominated and ten elected members. Of the latter, four are
chosen by the unofficial members of the local legislative council of
Antigua, two by those of Dominica, and four by the non-official members
of the local legislative council of St Kitts-Nevis. The federal
legislative council meets once annually, usually at St John, Antigua.
LE FANU, JOSEPH SHERIDAN (1814-1873), Irish journalist and author, was
born of an old Huguenot family at Dublin on the 28th of August 1814. He
entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1833. At an early age he had given
proof of literary talent, and in 1837 he joined the staff of the _Dublin
University Magazine_, of which he became later editor and proprietor. In
1837 he produced the Irish ballad _Phaudhrig Croohore_, which was
shortly afterwards followed by a second, _Shamus O'Brien_, successfully
recited in the United States by Samuel Lover. In 1839 he became
proprietor of the _Warder_, a Dublin newspaper, and, after purchasing
the _Evening Packet_ and a large interest in the _Dublin Evening Mail_,
he combined the three papers under the title the _Evening Mail_, a
weekly reprint from which was issued as the _Warder_. After the death of
his wife in 1858 he lived in retirement, and his best work was produced
at this period of his life. He wrote some clever novels, of a
sensational order, in which his vigorous imagination and his Irish love
of the supernatural have full play. He died in Dublin on the 7th of
February 1873. His best-known novels are _The House by the Churchyard_
(1863) and _Uncle Silas, a Tale of Bartram Haugh_ (1864). _The Purcell
Papers_, Irish stories dating from his college days, were edited with a
memoir of the author by A. P. Graves in 1880.
LEFEBVRE, PIERRE FRANÇOIS JOSEPH, duke of Danzig (1755-1820), marshal of
France, was born at Rouffach in Alsace on the 20th of October 1755. At
the outbreak of the Revolution he was a sergeant in the Gardes
françaises, and with many of his comrades of this regiment took the
popular side. He distinguished himself by bravery and humanity in many
of the street fights in Paris, and becoming an officer and again
distinguishing himself--this time against foreign invaders--he was made
a general of division in 1794. He took part in the Revolutionary Wars
from Fleurus to Stokach, always resolute, strictly obedient and calm. At
Stokach (1799) he received a severe wound and had to return to France,
where he assisted Napoleon during the _coup d'état_ of 18 Brumaire. He
was one of the first generals of division to be made marshal at the
beginning of the First Empire. He commanded the guard infantry at Jena,
conducted the siege of Danzig 1806-1807 (from which town he received his
title in 1808), commanded a corps in the emperor's campaign of 1808-1809
in Spain, and in 1809 was given the difficult task of commanding the
Bavarian contingent, which he led in the containing engagements of
Abensberg and Rohr and at the battle of Eckmühl. He commanded the
Imperial Guard in Russia, 1812, fought through the last campaign of the
Empire, and won fresh glory at Montmirail, Areis-sur-Aube and
Champaubert. He was made a peer of France by Louis XVIII. but joined
Napoleon during the Hundred Days, and was only amnestied and permitted
to resume his seat in the upper chamber in 1819. He died at Paris on the
14th of September 1820. Marshal Lefebvre was a simple soldier, whose
qualifications for high rank, great as they were, came from experience
and not from native genius. He was incapable of exercising a supreme
command, even of leading an important detachment, but he was absolutely
trustworthy as a subordinate, as brave as he was experienced, and
intensely loyal to his chief. He maintained to the end of his life a
rustic simplicity of speech and demeanour. Of his wife (formerly a
_blanchisseuse_ to the Gardes Françaises) many stories have been told,
but in so far as they are to her discredit they seem to be false, she
being, like the marshal, a plain "child of the people."
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 3 - "Latin Language" to "Lefebvre, François-Joseph"" ***
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