The Nuttall encyclopædia: being a concise and comprehensive dictionary of general knowledgeThe Nuttall encyclopædia

76 of 130 · about 27 min

Contents

Part 5 of 5

L

Louis XVI., the grandson of the preceding and his successor; had in 1770 married Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, and a woman young, beautiful, and accomplished, in high esteem for the purity of her character; his accession was hailed with enthusiasm, and he set himself to restore the ruined finances of the country by taking into his counsel those who could best advise him in her straitened state, but these one and all found the problem an impossible one, owing to the unwillingness of the nobility to sacrifice any of their privileges for the public good; this led to the summoning of the States-General in 1789, and the outbreak of the Revolution by the fall of the Bastille in July of that year; in the midst of this Louis, well-intentioned but without strength of character, was submissive to the wishes of his court and the queen, lost his popularity by his hesitating conduct, the secret support he gave to the Emigrants (q. v.), his attempt at flight, and by his negotiations with foreign enemies, and subjected himself to persecution at the hands of the nation; he was therefore suspended from his functions, shut up in the Temple, arraigned before the Convention, and condemned to death as "guilty of conspiracy against the liberty of the nation and a crime against the general safety of the State"; he was accordingly guillotined on the 21st January; he protested his innocence on the scaffold, but his voice was drowned by the beating of drums; he was accompanied by the Abbé Edgeworth, his confessor, who, as he laid his head on the block, exclaimed, "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven" (1754-1793).

Louis XVII., second son of the preceding, shut up in the Temple, was, after the execution of his mother, proclaimed king by the Emigrants, and handed over in his prison to the care of one Simon, a shoemaker, in service about the prison, to bring him up in the principles of Sansculottism; Simon taught him to drink, dance, and sing the carmagnole; he died in prison "amid squalor and darkness," his shirt not changed for six months (1785-1796).

Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI., and called Monsieur during his brother's reign, flew from Paris and joined the Emigrants along with his brother, Count d'Artois, and took up arms, which he was compelled to forego, to wander from one foreign Court to another and find refuge at last in England; on Napoleon's departure for Elba he returned to France and was installed on the throne as Louis le Desiré, but by the reappearance of the former on the scene he was obliged to seek refuge in Belgium, to return for good after the battle of Waterloo, July 9, 1815, with Talleyrand for minister and Fouché as minister of police; he reigned but a few years, his constitution being much enfeebled by a disease (1755-1824).

Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.), nephew of the first emperor, born at Paris, brought up at Augsburg and in Switzerland; became head of the family in 1832; he began a Bonapartist propaganda, and set himself to recover the throne of France; an abortive attempt in 1836 ended in a short exile in America and London, and a second at Boulogne in 1840 landed him in the fortress of Ham under sentence of perpetual imprisonment; escaping in 1846 he spent two years in England, returning to France after the Revolution of 1848; elected to the Constituent Assembly and the same year to the Presidency he assumed the headship of the Republic, and posed as the protector of popular liberties and national prosperity; struggles with the Assembly followed; he won the favour of the army, filled the most important posts with his friends, dissolved the Constitution in 1851 (Dec. 2), was immediately re-elected President for ten years, and a year later assumed the title of Emperor; he married the Spanish Countess Eugénie in 1853, and exerted himself by public works, exhibitions, courting of the clergy, gagging of the press, and so on to strengthen his hold on the populace; in the Crimean War (1854-56) and the Lombardy campaign (1859) he was supported by Britain; in 1860 he annexed Savoy and Nice; ten years later suspecting the enthusiasm of the army, he plunged into war with Germany to rekindle its ardour, on a protest arising from the scheme to put Leopold of Hohenzollern on the Spanish throne; France was unprepared, disaster followed disaster; the Emperor surrendered to the Germans at Sedan, Sept. 2, 1870; a prisoner till the close of the war, he came to England in 1871 and resided with the Empress at Chislehurst till his death (1808-1873).

Louis Philippe, king of the French from 1830 till 1848, born at Paris, eldest son of the Duke of Orleans, renounced his titles along with his father, and joined the National Guard and the Jacobins at the Revolution as M. Egalité; after the defeat of Neerwinden 1793, where he commanded the centre, he fled to Austria and Switzerland and supported himself by teaching; after three years in the United States he came to London in 1800, and on the fall of Napoleon repaired to Paris and recovered his estates; he gained popularity with the bourgeoisie, and when the Revolution of July 1830 overthrew Charles X. he succeeded to the throne as the elected sovereign of the people; under the "citizen king" France prospered; but his government gradually became reactionary and violent; he used his great wealth in giving bribes, tampered with trial by jury and the freedom of the press, and so raised against him both the old aristocracy and the working-classes; political agitation culminated in the Revolution of February 1848; he was forced to abdicate and escaped with his queen to England, where he died (1773-1850).

Louis-d'Or, an old French gold coin which ranged in value from 16s. 7d. to 18s. 9¾d., and ceased to be issued in 1795.

Louisiana (1,119), an American State on the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mississippi and Sabine Rivers, with Arkansas on the N. and traversed diagonally by the Red River, is half upland and half alluvial; much of the lower level in the S. is marshy, subject to tidal flow or river inundation, and is covered by swampy woods, but is being reclaimed and planted with rice; on the uplands cattle are grazed, there are pine and oak forests, while the arable land is under cotton, sugar, oranges, and figs; the principal manufactures are shingles and tanks, cotton-seed oil, tobacco, and clothing; there is a State University and agricultural and mechanical college at Baton Rouge; the Southern and Tulane Universities are in New Orleans; free schools are throughout the State. Founded by France, but held by Spain from 1762 till 1800, ceded again to France and sold to the United States by Napoleon, it was admitted to the Union in 1812. In the Civil War a hundred battles were fought within the State and New Orleans was captured, which left ruin behind; but since 1880 prosperity has returned, property is increasing fast, and finances are healthy.

Louisville (205), on the left bank of the Ohio River, the largest city in Kentucky, is well built and regular, with a Roman Catholic cathedral, many colleges and charitable institutions; it is the largest tobacco market in the world, has pork packing, distilling, tanning, and many other industries.

Lourdes, a French town in the dep. of the Hautes-Pyrénées, with a grotto near by in which the Virgin Mary, as is alleged, appeared to a girl of the place in 1858, and to which multitudes have since resorted in the hope of being healed of their maladies from the waters which spring up on the spot.

Louth (71), the smallest Irish county, in Leinster, stretches from Carlingford Bay to the estuary of the Boyne, washed by the Irish Sea; the country is flat and the soil fertile, potatoes, oats, and barley are grown; there are coarse linen manufactures and oyster fisheries; rich in antiquities, its chief towns are Dundalk (12), Drogheda (12), and Ardee (2).

Louvet, French romancer, born in Paris; author of the "Chevalier de Faublas," which gives a picture of French society on the eve of the Revolution, in which the author played a part (1760-1797).

Louvois, Marquis of, War Minister of Louis XIV., born in Paris; was a man of great administrative ability in his department, but for the glory of France and his own was savage for war and relentless in the conduct of it, till one day in his obstinate zeal, as he threatened to lay the cathedral city of Trèves in ashes, the king, seizing the tongs from the chimney, was about to strike him therewith, and would have struck him, had not Madame de Maintenon, his mistress, interfered and stayed his hand; he died suddenly, to the manifest relief of his royal master (1641-1691).

Louvre, an open turret or lantern on ancient roofs for the escape of smoke or foul air.

Louvre, a great art museum and gallery in Paris, containing Egyptian, Assyrian, classic, mediæval, and modern relics and art treasures of priceless value; here is housed the Venus of Milo.

Lovat, Simon Fraser, Lord, a Highland chief connected with Inverness, who, being outlawed, fled to France and got acquainted with the Pretender, in whose interest he returned to Scotland to excite a rising, but betraying the secret to the government was imprisoned in the Bastille on his going back to France; on his release and return he opposed the Pretender in 1715, but in 1745 espoused the cause of Prince Edward; was arrested for treason, convicted, and beheaded on Tower Hill (1667-1747).

Lovedale, a mission station in South Africa, 650 m. NE. of Cape Town, founded in 1841, and supported by the Free Church of Scotland.

Lovelace, one of the principal characters in Richardson's "Clarissa Harlowe"; is the type of a young heartless seducer.

Lovelace, Richard, English cavalier and poet, born at Woolwich, heir of great wealth, but lost his all in supporting the royal cause, and died a ruined man; was the handsomest man of his time, and the author of a collection of poems entitled "Lucasta" (1618-1658).

Lover, Samuel, an Irish novelist and poet, born in Dublin; started as a painter, but soon gave himself to literature; was the author of "Rory O'More" and "Handy Andy," as also of some lyrics and ballads of a stirring character (1797-1868).

Low Church, that section of the Church of England which, in contrast with the High Church party, is not exclusive in its assertion of Church authority and observances, and in contrast with the Broad Church party is narrowly evangelical in its teaching.

Low Latin, Latin as spoken and written in the Middle Ages, being a degeneration of the classical which began as early as the time of Cicero and developed unchecked with the dismemberment of the Roman empire.

Low Mass, mass performed by a single priest and without musical accompaniment.

Low Sunday, name given in Catholic countries to the next Sunday after Easter, in contrast with the style of the festival just closed.

Lowe, Sir Hudson, English general, born in Ireland; served with credit in various military enterprises, and was appointed governor of St. Helena in 1815, and held that office during Napoleon's incarceration there; a much abused-man for his treatment of his prisoner, particularly by the French, who dub him "Napoleon's jailer"; died in London in poor circumstances; wrote a defence of his conduct (1770-1844).

Lowell, James Russell, American essayist, poet, and diplomatist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of a clergyman; graduated at Harvard in 1838, studied law, but acquiring extensive scholarship devoted himself to literature; volumes of poems were published by him in 1840 and 1844, but the Mexican War of 1846 and the Civil War of 1861-65 called forth respectively the first and second series of "Biglow Papers," in rustic dialect, the highest expression of his genius and the finest modern English satire; he was an ardent abolitionist; succeeding Longfellow in the chair of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard in 1855, he visited Europe to study, returned as U.S. minister to Spain in 1877, was transferred to England 1880-1885; of his prose work "My Study Windows" and "Among my Books" are essays on literary subjects, "Fireside Travels" contain reminiscences, and his last work was a "Life of Hawthorne"; he died at Cambridge in the house of his birth (1818-1891).

Lower Empire, name given to the Byzantine empire.

Lowestoft (23), seaport and watering-place at the mouth of the Waveney, in Suffolk, 120 m. NE. of London, the most easterly town in England; has a good harbour, an old parish church, and a large fish-market; the Dutch were defeated off Lowestoft in 1665.

Lowth, Robert, a distinguished English prelate, born in Hants; was professor of Poetry in Oxford, and bishop in succession of St. Davids, Oxford, and London; wrote "Prelectiones" on the poetry of the Hebrews, a celebrated work, and executed a translation of Isaiah (1710-1787).

Loyola, Ignatius, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits, born in the castle of Loyola, in the Basque Provinces of Spain, of a noble Spanish family; entered the army, and served with distinction, but being severely wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he gave himself up to a life of austere religious devotion, and conceived the idea of enlisting and organising a spiritual army for the defence of the Church at home and the propagation of the faith in the realms of heathendom; it seemed to him a time when such an organisation should be formed, and he by-and-by got a number of kindred spirits to join him, with the result that he and his confederates did, on Ascension Day, 1534, solemnly pledge themselves in the subterranean chapel of the Abbey of Montserrat to, through life and death, embark in this great undertaking; the pledge thus given was confirmed by the pope, Pope Pius III., the Order formed, and Ignatius, in 1547, installed as general, with absolute authority subject only to the Pope, to receive canonisation by Gregory XV. in 1622 (1481-1566).

Lubbock, Sir John, scientist, born in London; banker by profession; as a member of Parliament has accomplished several economic reforms; is author of "Prehistoric Times," "The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man," and various books on natural science; his "Pleasures of Life" has been very popular, and gone through between 30 and 40 editions; b. 1834.

Lübeck (64), a German free city on the Trave, an old-fashioned place, but with wide, open streets, 12 m. from the Baltic, 40 m. NE. of Hamburg; joined the North German Federation in 1866, and the Customs Union in 1868. It has a 12th-century cathedral, some fine old churches, scientific and art collections; with unimportant industries; its Baltic and German transit trade is extensive.

Lucan, a Latin poet, born at Corduba (Cordova), in Spain; was a nephew of Seneca, and brought early to Rome; gave offence to Nero, and was banished from the city; joined in a conspiracy against the tyrant, and was convicted, whereupon he caused his veins to be opened and bled to death, repeating the while the speech he had composed of a wounded soldier on the battlefield dying a like death; he was the author of a poem entitled "Pharsalia" on the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey (39-65).

Lucaris, Cyril, eminent ecclesiastic in the Greek Church, born in Crete, who embraced and propagated Protestantism; became a victim of persecution, and had a mysterious fate (1572-1637).

Lucca (20), cap. of the Italian prov. of Lucca (309), on the Serchio, 12 m. NE. of Pisa; has an extensive trade in olive-oil, silk, and capers, the specialty of the province. Its cathedral has a very ancient cedar crucifix, fine paintings, and valuable archives. There are other ancient churches, scientific and artistic institutes, and a wonderful aqueduct of 459 arches. The natives are known over Europe as stucco figure-sellers and organ-grinders.

Lucerne (36), a Swiss canton E. of Berne, mountainous in the S., where cattle are pastured and much cheese made; in the N. and in the valleys fertile with corn and fruit crops; is German speaking, and Roman Catholic; its highest elevation, Mount Pilatus, is 7000 ft. Stretching from the eastern corner is Lake Lucerne, one of the most beautiful in Europe. The cap. Lucerne (20), on the shores of the lake, is a busy tourist centre; outside its walls is the famous Lion of Lucerne, designed by Thorwaldsen, in memory of the Swiss Guard slain while defending the Tuileries in Paris in 1792, and cut out of the solid rock.

Lucian, a Greek writer, born in Samosata, in Syria, in the early part of the 2nd century; he travelled much in his youth; acquired a cynical view of the world, and gave himself to ridicule the philosophical sects and the pagan mythology; his principal writings consist of "Dialogues," of which the "Dialogues of the Dead" are the best known, the subject being one affording him scope for exposing the vanity of human pursuits; he was an out and out sceptic, found nothing worthy of reverence in heaven or on earth.

Lucifer (i. e. light-bringer), name given to Venus as the morning star, and by the Church Fathers to Satan in interpretation of Isaiah xiv. 12.

Lücke, Friedrich, German theologian, professor first at Bonn and then at Göttingen; wrote commentaries on John's Gospel and the Apocalypse (1791-1855).

Lucknow (273), fourth city in India, cap. of the prov. of Oudh, on the Gumti, a tributary of the Ganges, 200 m. NW. of Benares; is a centre of Indian culture and Mohammedan theology, an industrial and commercial city. It has many magnificent buildings, Canning and Martinière Colleges, various schools and Government offices. It manufactures brocades, shawls, muslins, and embroideries, and trades in country products, European cloth, salt, and leather. Its siege from July 1857 to March 1858, its relief by Havelock and Outram, and final deliverance by Sir Colin Campbell, form the most stirring incidents of the Indian Mutiny.

Lucretia, a Roman matron, the wife of Collatinus, whose rape by a son of Tarquinus Superbus led to the dethronement of the tyrant, the expulsion of his family from Rome, and the establishment of the Roman republic.

Lucretius, Titus Carus, a Roman poet of whose personal history nothing is known, only that he was the author of a poem entitled "De Rerum Naturâ," a philosophic, didactic composition in six books, in which he expounds the atomic theory of Leucippus, and the philosophy of Epicurus; the philosophy of the work commends itself only to the atheist and the materialist, but the style is the admiration of all scholars, and has ensured its translation into most modern languages (about 95-31 B.C.).

Lucullus, Lucius, a Roman general, celebrated as conqueror of Mithridates, king of Pontus, and for the luxurious life he afterwards led at Rome on the wealth he had amassed in Asia and brought home with him; one day as he sat down to dine alone, and he observed his servant had provided for him a less sumptuous repast than usual, he took him sharply to task, and haughtily remarked, "Are you not aware, sirrah, that Lucullus dines with Lucullus to-day?"

Luddism, fanatical opposition to the introduction of machinery as it originally manifested itself among the hand-loom weavers of the Midlands.

Luddites name assumed by the anti-machinery rioters of 1812-1861, after a Leicestershire idiot, Ned Ludd, of 1780; appearing first at Nottingham, the agitation spread through Derby, Leicester, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, finally merging in the wider industrial and political agitations and riots that marked the years that followed the peace after Waterloo.

Ludlow, Edmund, a republican leader in the Civil War against Charles I., born in Wiltshire of good family; entered the army of the Parliament, and was present in successive engagements, but opposed Cromwell on his assumption of the Protectorate, and was put under arrest; reasserted his republicanism on Cromwell's death, but died in exile after the Restoration; left "Memoirs" (1630-1693).

Ludovicus Vives, a humourist, born in Valentia, Spain; studied at Paris, wrote against scholasticism, taught at Oxford, was imprisoned for opposing Henry VIII.'s divorce; died at Bruges (1472-1540).

Luga`no, a lake partly in the Swiss canton of Ticino and partly in the Italian province of Como, 15 m. by 2 m., in the midst of picturesque grand scenery, with a town of the name on the NW. side amid vineyards and olive plantations.

Luini, Bernardino, a painter of the Lombard school, born at Luino, in the territory of Milan, and a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, so that some of his works, which though they show a grace and delicacy of their own, pass for those of his master; is famed for his works in oil as well as in fresco; is, in Ruskin's regard, one of the master painters of the world (1460-1540).

Luke or Lucanus, author of the third Gospel, as well as the Acts, born in Antioch, a Greek by birth and a physician by profession, probably a convert, as he was a companion, of St. Paul; is said to have suffered martyrdom and been buried at Constantinople; is the patron saint of artists, and represented in Christian art with an ox lying near him, or in the act of painting; his Gospel appears to have been written before the year 63, and shows a Pauline interest in Christ, who is represented as the Saviour of Jew and Gentile alike; it was written for a Gentile Christian and in correspondence with eye-witnesses of Christ's life and death.

Lulli, a composer of operatic music, born in Provence; was director of the French opera in the reign of Louis XIV. (1633-1687).

Lully, Raymond, the Doctor Illuminatus, as he was called, born at Palma, in Majorca, who was early smitten with a zeal for the conversion of the Mohammedans, in the prosecution of which mission he invented a new method of dialectic, called after him Ars Lullia; held public discussions with the Mohammedans, who showed themselves as zealous to convert him as he was to convert them, till he ventured in his over-zeal when in Africa among them to threaten them with divine judgment if they did not abjure their faith, upon which they waxed furious, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death in the year 1315; his works, several on alchemy, fill 16 volumes.

Lunar Cycle, a period of time at the close of which the new moons return on the same days of the year.

Lunar Month, a month of 29 days, the time of the revolution of the moon, a lunar year consisting of 12 times the number.

Lunar Theory, an explanation by mathematical reasoning of perturbations in the movements of the moon founded on the law of gravitation.

Lunar Year, a period of 12 synodic lunar months, being about 354.5 days.

Lund (14), a city in the S. of Sweden, 10 m. NE. of Malmö, once the capital of the Danish kingdom, the seat of an archbishop, with a Romanesque cathedral and a flourishing university.

Lundy Island, a precipitous rugged island 3 m. long by 1 m. broad, belonging to Devon, with the remains of an old castle, and frequented by myriads of sea-fowl.

Lüneburg (21), on the Ilmenau, 30 m. SE. of Hamburg, an ancient German city with old Gothic churches, once the capital of an independent duchy, now in Hanover; has salt and gypsum mines, iron and chemical manufactures; the British royal house is descended from the princes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Lupercalia, a Roman festival held on Feb. 15 in honour of Lupercus, regarded as the god of fertility, in the celebration of which dogs and goats were sacrificed and their skins cut up into thongs, with which the priests ran through the city striking every one, particularly women, that threw themselves in their way.

Lupercus, an ancient Italian god, worshipped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves.

Lupus, a chronic disease of the skin, characterised by the tuberculous eruptions which eat into the skin, particularly of the face, and disfigure it.

Lusatia, a district of Germany, between the Elbe and the Oder, originally divided into Upper and Lower, belongs partly to Saxony and partly to Prussia; it swarmed at one time with Wends.

Lusiad or Lusiades, a poem of Camoëns in ten cantos, in celebration of the discoveries of the Portuguese in the East Indies, and in which Vasco da Gama is the principal figure; it is a genuine national epic, in which the poet passes in review all the celebrated exploits and feats that glorify the history of Portugal.

Lusitania, the ancient name of Portugal, still used as the name of it in modern poetry.

Lustrum, a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors of Rome in name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census, and which took place after a period of five years, so that the name came to denote a period of that length.

Lutetia, the ancient name of Paris, Lutetia Parisiorum, mud-town of the borderers, as Carlyle translates it.

Luther, Martin, the great Protestant Reformer, born at Eisleben, in Prussian Saxony, the son of a miner, was born poor and brought up poor, familiar from his childhood with hardship; was sent to study law at Erfurt, but was one day at the age of 19 awakened to a sense of higher interests, and in spite of remonstrances became a monk; was for a time in deep spiritual misery, till one day he found a Bible in the convent, which taught him for the first time that "a man was not saved by singing masses, but by the infinite grace of God"; this was his awakening from death to life, and to a sense of his proper mission as a man; at this stage the Elector of Saxony was attracted to him, and he appointed him preacher and professor at Wittenberg; on a visit to Rome his heart sank within him, but he left it to its evil courses to pursue his own way apart; if Rome had let him alone he would have let it, but it would not; monk Tetzel arrived at Wittenberg selling indulgences, and his indignation was roused; remonstrance after remonstrance followed, but the Pope gave no heed, till the agitation being troublesome, he issued his famous "fire-decree," condemning Luther's writings to the flames; this answer fired Luther to the quick, and he "took the indignant step of burning the decree in 1520 at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg, Wittenberg looking on with shoutings, the whole world looking on"; after this Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms, and he appeared there before the magnates, lay and clerical, of the German empire on April 17, 1521; how he demeaned himself on that high occasion is known to all the world, and his answer as well: "Here stand I; I can do no other; so help me God"; "it was the grandest moment in the modern history of man"; of the awakening this produced Luther was the ruling spirit, as he had been the moving one, and he continued to be so to the end of his life; his writings show the man as well as his deeds, and amid all the turmoil that enveloped him he found leisure to write and leave behind him 25 quarto volumes; it is known the German Bible in use is his work, executed by him in the Castle of Wartburg; it was begun by him with his back to the wall, as it were, and under the protestation, as it seemed to him, of the prince of darkness himself, and finished in this obstructive element pretty much throughout, the New Testament in 1522, the Pentateuch in 1523, and the whole, the Apocrypha included, in 1534; he was fond of music, and uttered many an otherwise unutterable thing in the tones of his flute; "the devils fled from his flute," he says; "death-defiance on the one hand, and such love of music on the other, I could call these," says Carlyle, "the two opposite poles of a great soul, between these two all great things had room.... Luther," he adds, "was a true great man, great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and integrity,... great as an Alpine mountain, but not setting up to be great at all—his, as all greatness is, an unconscious greatness" (1488-1546).

Lutheranism, that form of Protestantism which prevails in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Northern Germany. See Lutherans.

Lutherans, the name given to that school of the Protestant Church which accepted Luther's doctrine, especially that of the Eucharist, in opposition to that of the members of the Reformed Church, who assented to the views in that matter of Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer; the former maintaining the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and that the grace of Christ is communicated in the celebration of it, and the latter maintaining that it is a merely commemorative ordinance, and the means of grace to the believing recipient only.

Lutterworth, a small town in Leicestershire, on the Swift, 8 m. NE. of Rugby, of the church of which Wiclif was rector, and where he was buried, though his bones were afterwards, in 1428, dug up and burned, and the ashes cast into the river.

Lützen, a small town in Prussian Saxony, the vicinity of it the scene of a victory of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, and of another by Napoleon over the combined forces of Russia and Prussia in 1813.

Lux, the name given to the unit of the intensity of electric light.

Lux, Adam, a young Parisian; smitten with love for Charlotte Corday, proposed a statue to her with the inscription "Greater than Brutus," which brought him to the guillotine.

Luxemburg (211), grand-duchy, a small, independent territory at the corner where Belgium, France, and Rhenish Prussia meet, is a plateau watered by the Moselle on its eastern boundary, and the tributary Sauer; is well wooded and fertile, yielding wheat, flax, hemp, and wine. Iron ore is mined and smelted; leather, pottery, sugar, and spirits manufactured. The population is Low-German and Roman Catholic; the language of the educated, French. The government is in the hands of a grand-duke, the Duke of Nassau, and a house of 42 representatives. For commercial purposes Luxemburg belongs to the German Customs Union. The capital is Luxemburg (18). There is a Belgian province of Luxemburg (212), until 1839 part of the grand-duchy.

Luzon (3,200), the largest of the Philippines; about one-half larger than Ireland; is the most northerly of the group; is clad with forests, and yields grain, sugar, hemp, and numerous tropical products. The capital is Manila.

Lycaon, a king of Arcadia; changed into a wolf for offering human flesh to Zeus, who came, disguised as mortal, to his palace on the same errand as the angels who visited Lot in Sodom. According to another tradition he was consumed, along with his sons, by fire from heaven.

Lyceum, a promenade in Athens where Aristotle taught his pupils as he walked to and fro within its precincts.

Lycias, an Athenian orator, who flourished in the 4th century B.C.; assisted in the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants, and distributed among the citizens his large fortune which the Tyrants had confiscated.

Lycidas, the name of an exquisite dirge by Milton over the death by drowning of his friend Edward King.

Lycurgus, the legislator of Sparta, who lived in the 9th century B.C.; in the interest of it as king visited the wise in other lands, and returned with the wise lessons he had learned from them to frame a code of laws for his country, which was fast lapsing into a state of anarchy; when he had finished his work under the sanction of the oracle at Delphi he set put again on a journey to other lands, but previously took oath of the citizens that they would observe his laws till his return; it was his purpose not to return, and he never did, in order to bind his countrymen to maintain the constitution he gave them inviolate for ever.

Lydgate, John, an early English poet; was a monk of Bury St. Edmunds in the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries; was a teacher of rhetoric as well as a poet, and a man of some note in his day.

Lydia, a country of Asia Minor; seat of an early civilisation, and a centre of influences which affected both the religion and culture of Greece; was noted for its music and purple dyes.

Lyell, Sir Charles, celebrated English geologist, born at Kinnordy, in Forfarshire; bred for and called to the bar; he left his practice, and gave himself to the study of geology, to which he had been attracted by Alexander Buckland's lectures when he was at Oxford; his great work was his "Principles of Geology," which, published in 1830, created quite a revolution in the science; it was followed by his "Student's Elements of Geology," which was modified by his conversion to Darwin's views, and by "Antiquity of Man," written in defence of Darwin's theory (17971875).

Lyly, John, English dramatist, born in Kent; was the author of nine plays on classical subjects, written for the court, which were preceded in 1579 by his once famous "Euphues, or Anatomy of Wit," followed by a second part next year, and entitled "Euphues and his England," and that from the fantastic, pompous, and affected style in which they were written gave a new word, Euphuism, to the English language (1553-1606).

Lynch Law, the name given in America to the trial and punishment of offenders without form of law, or by mob law; derived from the name of a man Lynch, dubbed Judge, who being referred to used to administer justice in the far West in this informal way.

Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, thrice Lord Chancellor of England, born at Boston, Massachusetts, son of an artist; was brought up in London, educated at Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1804; acquiring fame in the treason trials of the second decade, he entered Parliament in 1808, was Solicitor-General 1819, Attorney-General 1819, Master of the Rolls 1826, and Lord Chancellor in three governments 1827-30; Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1830-34; he was Lord Chancellor in Peel's administrations of 1834-35 and 1841-46; he was great as a debater, and a clear-headed lawyer, but not earnest enough for a statesman (1772-1863).

Lynedoch, Thomas Graham, Lord, soldier, born in Perthshire; raised in 1793 the 90th Regiment of Foot, and served with it at Quibéron and Isle Dieu; thereafter distinguished himself in various ways at Minorca 1798, and Malta 1800, in the Peninsular wars, and in Holland; founded the Senior United Service Club in 1817; was created baron and general 1821, and died in London (1748-1843).

Lyon Court, the Herald's College of Scotland, consisting of three heralds and three pursuivants.

Lyon King of Arms, the legal heraldic officer of Scotland, who presides over the Lyon Court.

Lyons (398), the second city of France, at the junction of the Rhône and Saône, 250 m. S. of Paris; has a Roman Catholic university, and valuable museum, library, and art collections, many old churches and buildings, and schools of art and industries; the staple industry is silk, weaving, dyeing, and printing; there are also chemical, machinery, and fancy ware manufactures, and it is an emporium of commerce between Central and Southern Europe; of late years Lyons has been a hot-bed of ultra-republicanism.

Lyric Poetry, poetry originally accompanied by the lyre, in which the poet sings his own passions, sure of a sympathetic response from others in like circumstances with himself.

Lysander, a Spartan general and admiral who put an end to the Peloponnesian War by defeat of the Athenian fleet off Ægospotami, and of whom Plutarch says in characterisation of him, he knew how to sew the skin of the fox on that of the lion; fell in battle in 395 B.C.

Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who became king of Thrace and afterwards of Macedonia; d. 281 B.C.

Lytton, Edward Robert, Earl of, statesman and novelist, under the nom de plume of Owen Meredith; entered the diplomatic service at an early age, became viceroy of India in 1876, and ambassador at Paris in 1892.

Lytton, George Edward Bulwer, Lord, statesman and novelist, born in London; entered Parliament at the age of 26, began his parliamentary career as a Whig, but became a Conservative and ranked in that party for the greater part of his life; "Pelham," published in 1828, was his first novel, and this was followed by a long list of others of endless variety, all indicative of the conspicuous ability of the author, and to the last giving no sign of decay in power; he was the author of plays as well as novels (1803-1873).

We’ll remember where you stopped. All chapters