(A. M. C.)
1Œuvres, i. 15.2Méc. An., Advertisement to 1st ed.3E. Dühring,Kritische Gesch. der Mechanik, 220, 367; Lagrange,Méc. An.i. 166-172, 3rd ed.4Notice by J. Delambre,Œuvres de Lagrange, i. p. xlii.5Œuvres, iii. 441.6Théorie des fonctions, p. 6.7H. Suter,Geschichte der math. Wiss.ii. 222-223.8Œuvres, vi. 771.9Œuvres, v. 211 seq.10Grant,History of Physical Astronomy, p. 117.
1Œuvres, i. 15.
2Méc. An., Advertisement to 1st ed.
3E. Dühring,Kritische Gesch. der Mechanik, 220, 367; Lagrange,Méc. An.i. 166-172, 3rd ed.
4Notice by J. Delambre,Œuvres de Lagrange, i. p. xlii.
5Œuvres, iii. 441.
6Théorie des fonctions, p. 6.
7H. Suter,Geschichte der math. Wiss.ii. 222-223.
8Œuvres, vi. 771.
9Œuvres, v. 211 seq.
10Grant,History of Physical Astronomy, p. 117.
LAGRANGE-CHANCEL[Chancel],FRANÇOIS JOSEPH(1677-1758), French dramatist and satirist, was born at Périgueux on the 1st of January 1677. He was an extremely precocious boy, and at Bordeaux, where he was educated, he produced a play when he was nine years old. Five years later his mother took him to Paris, where he found a patron in the princesse de Conti, to whom he dedicated his tragedy ofJugurthaor, as it was called later,Adherbal(1694). Racine had given him advice and was present at the first performance, although he had long lived in complete retirement. Other plays followed:Oreste et Pylade(1697),Méléagre(1699),Amasis(1701), andIno et Mélicerte(1715). Lagrange hardly realized the high hopes raised by his precocity, although his only serious rival on the tragic stage was Campistron, but he obtained high favour at court, becomingmaître d’hôtelto the duchess of Orleans. This prosperity ended with the publication in 1720 of hisPhilippiques, odes accusing the regent, Philip, duke of Orleans, of the most odious crimes. He might have escaped the consequences of this libel but for the bitter enmity of a former patron, the duc de La Force. Lagrange found sanctuary at Avignon, but was enticed beyond the boundary of the papal jurisdiction, when he was arrested and sent as a prisoner to the isles of Sainte Marguerite. He contrived, however, to escape to Sardinia and thence to Spain and Holland, where he produced his fourth and fifthPhilippiques. On the death of the Regent he was able to return to France. He was part author of aHistoire de Périgordleft unfinished, and made a further contribution to history, or perhaps, more exactly, to romance, in a letter to Élie Fréron on the identity of the Man with the Iron Mask. Lagrange’s family life was embittered by a long lawsuit against his son. He died at Périgueux at the end of December 1758.
He had collected his own works (5 vols., 1758) some months before his death. His most famous work, thePhilippiques, was edited by M. de Lescure in 1858, and a sixth philippic by M. Diancourt in 1886.
He had collected his own works (5 vols., 1758) some months before his death. His most famous work, thePhilippiques, was edited by M. de Lescure in 1858, and a sixth philippic by M. Diancourt in 1886.
LA GRANJA, orSan Ildefonso, a summer palace of the kings of Spain; on the south-eastern border of the province of Segovia, and on the western slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, 7 m. by road S.E. of the city of Segovia. The royal estate is 3905 ft. above sea-level. The scenery of this region, especially in the gorge of the river Lozoya, with its granite rocks, its dense forest of pines, firs and birches, and its red-tiled farms, more nearly resembles the highlands of northern Europe than any other part of Spain. La Granja has an almost alpine climate, with a clear, cool atmosphere and abundant sunshine. Above the palace rise the wooded summits of the Guadarrama, culminating in the peak of Peñalara (7891 ft.); in front of it the wide plains of Segovia extend northwards. The village of San Ildefonso, the oldest part of the estate, was founded in 1450 by Henry IV., who built a hunting lodge and chapel here. In 1477 the chapel was presented by Ferdinand and Isabella to the monks of the Parral, a neighbouring Hieronymite monastery. The originalgranja(i.e.grange or farm), established by the monks, was purchased in 1719 by Philip V., after the destruction of his summer palace at Valsain, the ancientVallis Sapinorum, 2 m. S. Philip determined to convert the estate into a second Versailles. The palace was built between 1721 and 1723. Its façade is fronted by a colonnade in which the pillars reach to the roof. The state apartments contain some valuable 18th-century furniture, but the famous collection of sculptures was removed to Madrid in 1836, and is preserved there in the Museo del Prado. At La Granja it is represented by facsimiles in plaster. The collegiate church adjoining the palace dates from 1724, and contains the tombs of Philip V. and his consort Isabella Farnese. An artificial lake called El Mar, 4095 ft. above sea-level, irrigates the gardens, which are imitated from those of Versailles, and supplies water for the fountains. These, despite the antiquated and sometimes tasteless style of their ornamentation, are probably the finest in the world; it is noteworthy that, owing to the high level of the lake, no pumps or other mechanism are needed to supply pressure. There are twenty-six fountains besides lakes and waterfalls. Among the most remarkable are the group of “Perseus, Andromeda and the Sea-Monster,” which sends up a jet of water 110 ft. high, the “Fame,” which reaches 125 ft., and the very elaborate “Baths of Diana.” It is of the last that Philip V. is said to have remarked, “It has cost me three millions and amused me three minutes.” Most of the fountains were made by order of Queen Isabella in 1727, during the king’s absence. The glass factory of San Ildefonso was founded by Charles III.
It was in La Granja that Philip V. resigned the crown to his son in January 1724, to resume it after his son’s death seven months later; that the treaties of 1777, 1778, 1796 and 1800 were signed (seeSpain:History); that Ferdinand VII. summoned Don Carlos to the throne in 1832, but was induced to alter the succession in favour of his own infant daughter Isabella, thus involving Spain in civil war; and that in 1836 a military revolt compelled the Queen-regent Christina to restore the constitution of 1812.
It was in La Granja that Philip V. resigned the crown to his son in January 1724, to resume it after his son’s death seven months later; that the treaties of 1777, 1778, 1796 and 1800 were signed (seeSpain:History); that Ferdinand VII. summoned Don Carlos to the throne in 1832, but was induced to alter the succession in favour of his own infant daughter Isabella, thus involving Spain in civil war; and that in 1836 a military revolt compelled the Queen-regent Christina to restore the constitution of 1812.
LAGRENÉE, LOUIS JEAN FRANÇOIS(1724-1805), French painter, was a pupil of Carle Vanloo. Born at Paris on the 30th of December 1724, in 1755 he became a member of the Royal Academy, presenting as his diploma picture the “Rape of Deianira” (Louvre). He visited St Petersburg at the call of the empress Elizabeth, and on his return was named in 1781 director of the French Academy at Rome; he there painted the “Indian Widow,” one of his best-known works. In 1804 Napoleon conferred on him the cross of the legion of honour, and on the 19th of June 1805 he died in the Louvre, of which he was honorary keeper.
LA GUAIRA, orLa Guayra(sometimesLaguaira, &c.), a town and port of Venezuela, in the Federal district, 23 m. by rail and 6½ m. in a direct line N. of Caracas. Pop. (1904, estimate) 14,000. It is situated between a precipitous mountain side and a broad, semicircular indentation of the coast line which forms the roadstead of the port. The anchorage was long considered one of the most dangerous on the Caribbean coast, and landing was attended with much danger. The harbour has been improved by the construction of a concrete breakwater running out from the eastern shore line 2044 ft., built up from an extreme depth of 46 ft. or from an average depth of 29½ ft., and rising 19½ ft. above sea-level. This encloses an area of 76½ acres, having an average depth of nearly 28 ft. The harbour is further improved by 1870 ft. of concrete quays and 1397 ft. of retaining sea-wall, with several piers (three covered) projecting into deep water. These works were executed by a British company, known as the La Guaira Harbour Corporation, Ltd., and were completed in 1891 at a cost of about one million sterling. The concession is for 99 years and the additional charges which the company is authorized to impose are necessarily heavy. These improvements and the restrictions placed upon the direct trade between West Indian ports and the Orinoco have greatly increased the foreign trade of La Guaira, which in 1903 was 52% of that of the fourpuertos habilitadosof the republic. The shippingentries of that year numbered 217, of which 203 entered with general cargo and 14 with coal exclusively. The exports included 152,625 bags coffee, 114,947 bags cacao and 152,891 hides. For 1905-1906 the imports at La Guaira were valued officially at £767,365 and the exports at £663,708. The city stands on sloping ground stretching along the circular coast line with a varying width of 130 to 330 ft. and having the appearance of an amphitheatre. The port improvements added 18 acres of reclaimed land to La Guaira’s area, and the removal of old shore batteries likewise increased its available breadth. In this narrow space is built the town, composed in great part of small, roughly-made cabins, and narrow, badly-paved streets, but with good business houses on its principal street. From the mountain side, reddish-brown in colour and bare of vegetation, the solar heat is reflected with tremendous force, the mean annual temperature being 84° F. The seaside towns of Maiquetia, 2 m. W. and Macuto, 3 m. E., which have better climatic and sanitary conditions and are connected by a narrow-gauge railway, are the residences of many of the wealthier merchants of La Guaira.
La Guaira was founded in 1588, was sacked by filibusters under Amias Preston in 1595, and by the French under Grammont in 1680, was destroyed by the great earthquake of the 26th of March 1812, and suffered severely in the war for independence. In 1903, pending the settlement of claims of Great Britain, Germany and Italy against Venezuela, La Guaira was blockaded by a British-German-Italian fleet.
LA GUÉRONNIÈRE, LOUIS ÉTIENNE ARTHUR DUBREUIL HÉLION,Vicomte de(1816-1875), French politician, was the scion of a noble Poitevin family. Although by birth and education attached to Legitimist principles, he became closely associated with Lamartine, to whose organ,Le Bien Public, he was a principal contributor. After the stoppage of this paper he wrote forLa Presse, and in 1850 editedLe Pays. A character sketch of Louis Napoleon in this journal caused differences with Lamartine, and La Guéronnière became more and more closely identified with the policy of the prince president. Under the Empire he was a member of the council of state (1853), senator (1861), ambassador at Brussels (1868), and at Constantinople (1870), and grand officer of the legion of honour (1866). He died in Paris on the 23rd of December 1875. Besides hisÉtudes et portraits politiques contemporains(1856) his most important works are those on the foreign policy of the Empire:La France, Rome et Italie(1851),L’Abandon de Rome(1862),De la politique intérieure et extérieure de la France(1862).
His elder brother,Alfred Dubreuil Hélion, Comte de La Guéronnière (1810-1884), who remained faithful to the Legitimist party, was also a well-known writer and journalist. He was consistent in his opposition to the July Monarchy and the Empire, but in a series of books on the crisis of 1870-1871 showed a more favourable attitude to the Republic.
LAGUERRE, JEAN HENRI GEORGES(1858- ), French lawyer and politician, was born in Paris on the 24th of June 1858. Called to the bar in 1879, he distinguished himself by brilliant pleadings in favour of socialist and anarchist leaders, defending Prince Kropotkine at Lyons in 1883, Louise Michel in the same year; and in 1886, with A. Millerand as colleague he defended Ernest Roche and Duc Quercy, the instigators of the Decazeville strike. His strictures on theprocureur de la Républiqueon this occasion being declared libellous he was suspended for six months and in 1890 he again incurred suspension for an attack on the attorney-general, Quesnay de Beaurepaire. He also pleaded in the greatest criminal cases of his time, though from 1893 onwards exclusively in the provinces, his exclusion from the Parisian bar having been secured on the pretext of his connexion withLa Presse. He entered the Chamber of Deputies for Apt in 1883 as a representative of the extreme revisionist programme, and was one of the leaders of the Boulangist agitation. He had formerly written for Georges Clemenceau’s organLa Justice, but when Clemenceau refused to impose any shibboleth on the radical party he became director ofLa Presse. He rallied to the republican party in May 1801, some months before General Boulanger’s suicide. He was not re-elected to the Chamber in 1893. Laguerre was an excellent lecturer on the revolutionary period of French history, concerning which he had collected many valuable and rare documents. He interested himself in the fate of the “Little Dauphin” (Louis XVII.), whose supposed remains, buried at Ste Marguerite, he proved to be those of a boy of fourteen.
LAGUNA, orLa Laguna, an episcopal city and formerly the capital of the island of Teneriffe, in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands. Pop. (1900) 13,074. Laguna is 4 m. N. by W. of Santa Cruz, in a plain 1800 ft. above sea-level, surrounded by mountains. Snow is unknown here, and the mean annual temperature exceeds 63° F.; but the rainfall is very heavy, and in winter the plain is sometimes flooded. The humidity of the atmosphere, combined with the warm climate and rich volcanic soil, renders the district exceptionally fertile; wheat, wine and tobacco, oranges and other fruits, are produced in abundance. Laguna is the favourite summer residence of the wealthier inhabitants of Santa Cruz. Besides the cathedral, the city contains several picturesque convents, now secularized, a fine modern town hall, hospitals, a large public library and some ancient palaces of the Spanish nobility. Even the modern buildings have often an appearance of antiquity, owing to the decay caused by damp, and the luxuriant growth of climbing plants.
LA HARPE, JEAN FRANÇOIS DE(1739-1803), French critic, was born in Paris of poor parents on the 20th of November 1739. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud. Left an orphan at the age of nine, La Harpe was taken care of for six months by the sisters of charity, and his education was provided for by a scholarship at the Collège d’Harcourt. When nineteen he was imprisoned for some months on the charge of having written a satire against his protectors at the college. La Harpe always denied his guilt, but this culminating misfortune of an early life spent entirely in the position of a dependent had possibly something to do with the bitterness he evinced in later life. In 1763 his tragedy ofWarwickwas played before the court. This, his first play, was perhaps the best he ever wrote. The many authors whom he afterwards offended were always able to observe that the critic’s own plays did not reach the standard of excellence he set up.Timoléon(1764),Pharamond(1765) andGustave Wasa(1766) were failures.Mélaniewas a better play, but was never represented. The success ofWarwickled to a correspondence with Voltaire, who conceived a high opinion of La Harpe, even allowing him to correct his verses. In 1764 La Harpe married the daughter of a coffee house keeper. This marriage, which proved very unhappy and was dissolved, did not improve his position. They were very poor, and for some time were guests of Voltaire at Ferney. When, after Voltaire’s death, La Harpe in his praise of the philosopher ventured on some reasonable, but rather ill-timed, criticism of individual works, he was accused of treachery to one who had been his constant friend. In 1768 he returned from Ferney to Paris, where he began to write for theMercure. He was a born fighter and had small mercy on the authors whose work he handled. But he was himself violently attacked, and suffered under many epigrams, especially those of Lebrun-Pindare. No more striking proof of the general hostility can be given than his reception (1776) at the Academy, which Sainte-Beuve calls his “execution.” Marmontel, who received him, used the occasion to eulogize La Harpe’s predecessor, Charles Pierre Colardeau, especially for his pacific, modest and indulgent disposition. The speech was punctuated by the applause of the audience, who chose to regard it as a series of sarcasms on the new member. Eventually La Harpe was compelled to resign from theMercure, which he had edited from 1770. On the stage he producedLes Barmécides(1778),Philoctète,Jeanne de Naples(1781),Les Brames(1783),Coriolan(1784),Virginie(1786). In 1786 he began a course of literature at the newly-established Lycée. In these lectures, published as theCours de littérature ancienne et moderne, La Harpe is at his best, for he found a standpoint more or less independent of contemporary polemics. He is said to be inexact in dealing with the ancients,and he had only a superficial knowledge of the middle ages, but he is excellent in his analysis of 17th-century writers. Sainte-Beuve found in him the best critic of the French school of tragedy, which reached its perfection in Racine. La Harpe was a disciple of the “philosophes”; he supported the extreme party through the excesses of 1792 and 1793. In 1793 he edited theMercure de Francewhich adhered blindly to the revolutionary leaders. But in April 1794 he was nevertheless seized as a “suspect.” In prison he underwent a spiritual crisis which he described in convincing language, and he emerged an ardent Catholic and a reactionist in politics. When he resumed his chair at the Lycée, he attacked his former friends in politics and literature. He was imprudent enough to begin the publication (1801-1807) of hisCorrespondance littéraire(1774-1791) with the grand-duke, afterwards the emperor Paul of Russia. In these letters he surpassed the brutalities of theMercure. He contracted a second marriage, which was dissolved after a few weeks by his wife. He died on the 11th of February 1803 in Paris, leaving in his will an incongruous exhortation to his fellow countrymen to maintain peace and concord. Among his posthumous works was aProphétie de Cazottewhich Sainte-Beuve pronounces his best work. It is a sombre description of a dinner-party of notables long before the Revolution, when Jacques Cazotte is made to prophesy the frightful fates awaiting the various individuals of the company.
Among his works not already mentioned are:—Commentaire sur Racine(1795-1796), published in 1807;Commentaire sur le théâtre de Voltaireof earlier date (published posthumously in 1814), and an epic poemLa Religion(1814). HisCours de littératurehas been often reprinted. To the edition of 1825-1826 is prefixed a notice by Pierre Daunou. See also Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du lundi, vol. v.; G. Peignot,Recherches historiques, bibliographiques et littéraires ... sur La Harpe(1820).
Among his works not already mentioned are:—Commentaire sur Racine(1795-1796), published in 1807;Commentaire sur le théâtre de Voltaireof earlier date (published posthumously in 1814), and an epic poemLa Religion(1814). HisCours de littératurehas been often reprinted. To the edition of 1825-1826 is prefixed a notice by Pierre Daunou. See also Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du lundi, vol. v.; G. Peignot,Recherches historiques, bibliographiques et littéraires ... sur La Harpe(1820).
LAHIRE, LAURENT DE(1606-1656), French painter, was born at Paris on the 27th of February 1606. He became a pupil of Lallemand, studied the works of Primaticcio at Fontainebleau, but never visited Italy, and belongs wholly to that transition period which preceded the school of Simon Vouet. His picture of Nicolas V. opening the crypt in which he discovers the corpse of St Francis of Assisi standing (Louvre) was executed in 1630 for the Capuchins of the Marais; it shows a gravity and sobriety of character which marked Lahire’s best work, and seems not to have been without influence on Le Sueur. The Louvre contains eight other works, and paintings by Lahire are in the museums of Strasburg, Rouen and Le Mans. His drawings, of which the British Museum possesses a fine example, “Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple,” are treated as seriously as his paintings, and sometimes show simplicity and dignity of effect. The example of the Capuchins, for whom he executed several other works in Paris, Rouen and Fécamp, was followed by the goldsmiths’ company, for whom he produced in 1635 “St Peter healing the Sick” (Louvre) and the “Conversion of St Paul” in 1637. In 1646, with eleven other artists, he founded the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Richelieu called Lahire to the Palais Royal; Chancellor Séguier, Tallemant de Réaux and many others entrusted him with important works of decoration; for the Gobelins he designed a series of large compositions. Lahire painted also a great number of portraits, and in 1654 united in one work for the town-hall of Paris those of the principal dignitaries of the municipality. He died on the 28th of December 1656.
LAHN, a river of Germany, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine. Its source is on the Jagdberg, a summit of the Rothaar Mountains, in the cellar of a house (Lahnhof), at an elevation of 1975 ft. It flows at first eastward and then southward to Giessen, then turns south-westward and with a winding course reaches the Rhine between the towns of Oberlahnstein and Niederlahnstein. Its valley, the lower part of which divides the Taunus hills from the Westerwald, is often very narrow and picturesque; among the towns and sites of interest on its banks are Marburg and Giessen with their universities, Wetzlar with its cathedral, Runkel with its castle, Limburg with its cathedral, the castles of Schaumburg, Balduinstein, Laurenburg, Langenau, Burgstein and Nassau, and the well-known health resort of Ems. The Lahn is about 135 m. long; it is navigable from its mouth to Giessen, and is partly canalized. A railway follows the valley practically throughout. In 1796 there were here several encounters between the French under General Jourdan and the troops of the archduke Johan, which resulted in the retreat of the French across the Rhine.
LAHNDA(properlyLahndāorLahindā, western, orLahndē-dī bōlī, the language of the West), an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the western Punjab. In 1901 the number of speakers was 3,337,917. Its eastern boundary is very indefinite as the language gradually merges into the Panjabi immediately to the east, but it is conventionally taken as the river Chenab from the Kashmir frontier to the town of Ramnagar, and thence as a straight line to the south-west corner of the district of Montgomery. Lahnda is also spoken in the north of the state of Bahawalpur and of the province of Sind, in which latter locality it is known as Siraiki. Its western boundary is, roughly speaking, the river Indus, across which the language of the Afghan population is Pashto (Pushtu), while the Hindu settlers still speak Lahnda. In the Derajat, however, Lahnda is the principal language of all classes in the plains west of the river.
Lahnda is also known as Western Panjabi and as Jatki, or the language of the Jats, who form the bulk of the population whose mother-tongue it is. In the Derajat it is called Hindko or the language of Hindus. In 1819 the Serampur missionaries published a Lahnda version of the New Testament. They called the language Uchchī, from the important town of Uch near the confluence of the Jhelam and the Chenab. This name is commonly met with in old writings. It has numerous dialects, which fall into two main groups, a northern and a southern, the speakers of which are separated by the Salt Range. The principal varieties of the northern group are Hindki (the same in meaning as Hindko) and Pōthwārī. In the southern group the most important are Khētrānī, Multānī, and the dialect of Shahpur. The language possesses no literature.
Lahnda belongs to the north-western group of the outer band of Indo-Aryan languages (q.v.), the other members being Kashmiri (q.v.) and Sindhi, with both of which it is closely connected. SeeSindhi; alsoHindostani.
Lahnda belongs to the north-western group of the outer band of Indo-Aryan languages (q.v.), the other members being Kashmiri (q.v.) and Sindhi, with both of which it is closely connected. SeeSindhi; alsoHindostani.
(G. A. Gr.)
LA HOGUE, BATTLE OF, the name now given to a series of encounters which took place from the 19th to the 23rd (O.S.) of May 1692, between an allied British and Dutch fleet and a French force, on the northern and eastern sides of the Cotentin in Normandy. A body of French troops, and a number of Jacobite exiles, had been collected in the Cotentin. The government of Louis XIV. prepared a naval armament to cover their passage across the Channel. This force was to have been composed of the French ships at Brest commanded by the count of Tourville, and of a squadron which was to have joined him from Toulon. But the Toulon ships were scattered by a gale, and the combination was not effected. The count of Tourville, who had put to sea to meet them, had with him only 45 or 47 ships of the line. Yet when the reinforcement failed to join him, he steered up Channel to meet the allies, who were known to be in strength. On the 15th of May the British fleet of 63 sail of the line, under command of Edward Russell, afterwards earl of Orford, was joined at St Helens by the Dutch squadron of 36 sail under Admiral van Allemonde. The apparent rashness of the French admiral in seeking an encounter with very superior numbers is explained by the existence of a general belief that many British captains were discontented, and would pass over from the service of the government established by the Revolution of 1688 to their exiled king, James II. It is said that Tourville had orders from Louis XIV. to attack in any case, but the story is of doubtful authority. The British government, aware of the Jacobite intrigues in its fleet, and of the prevalence of discontent, took the bold course of appealing to the loyalty and patriotism of its officers. At a meeting of the flag-officers on board the “Britannia,” Russell’s flag-ship, on the 15th of May, they protested their loyalty, and the whole allied fleet put to sea on the 18th. On the 19th of May, when Cape Barfleur, thenorth-eastern point of the Cotentin, was 21 m. S.W. of them, they sighted Tourville, who was then 20 m. to the north of Cape La Hague, the north-western extremity of the peninsula, which must not be confounded with La Houque, or La Hogue, the place at which the fighting ended. The allies were formed in a line from S.S.W. to N.N.E. heading towards the English coast, the Dutch forming the White or van division, while the Red or centre division under Russell, and the Blue or rear under Sir John Ashby, were wholly composed of British ships. The wind was from the S.W. and the weather hazy. Tourville bore down and attacked about mid-day, directing his main assault on the centre of the allies, but telling off some ships to watch the van and rear of his enemy. As this first encounter took place off Cape Barfleur, the battle was formerly often called by the name. On the centre, where Tourville was directly opposed to Russell, the fighting was severe. The British flag-ship the “Britannia” (100), and the French, the “Soleil Royal” (100), were both completely crippled. After several hours of conflict, the French admiral, seeing himself outnumbered, and that the allies could outflank him and pass through the necessarily wide intervals in his extended line, drew off without the loss of a ship. The wind now fell and the haze became a fog. Till the 23rd, the two fleets remained off the north coast of the Cotentin, drifting west with the ebb tide or east with the flood, save when they anchored. During the night of the 19th/20th some British ships became entangled, in the fog, with the French, and drifted through them on the tide, with loss. On the 23rd both fleets were near La Hague. About half the French, under D’Amfreville, rounded the cape, and fled to St Malo through the dangerous passage known as the Race of Alderney (le Ras Blanchard). The others were unable to get round the cape before the flood tide set in, and were carried to the eastward. Tourville now transferred his own flag, and left his captains free to save themselves as they best could. He left the “Soleil Royal,” and sent her with two others to Cherbourg, where they were destroyed by Sir Ralph Delaval. The others now ran round Cape Barfleur, and sought refuge on the east side of the Cotentin at the anchorage of La Houque, called by the English La Hogue, where the troops destined for the invasion were encamped. Here 13 of them were burnt by Sir George Rooke, in the presence of the French generals and of the exiled king James II. From the name of the place where the last blow was struck, the battle has come to be known by the name of La Hogue.
Sufficient accounts of the battle may be found in Lediard’sNaval History(London, 1735), and for the French side in Tronde’sBatailles navales de la France(Paris, 1867). The escape of D’Amfreville’s squadron is the subject of Browning’s poem “Hervé Riel.”
Sufficient accounts of the battle may be found in Lediard’sNaval History(London, 1735), and for the French side in Tronde’sBatailles navales de la France(Paris, 1867). The escape of D’Amfreville’s squadron is the subject of Browning’s poem “Hervé Riel.”
(D. H.)
LAHORE,an ancient city of British India, the capital of the Punjab, which gives its name to a district and division. It lies in 31° 35′ N. and 74° 20′ E. near the left bank of the River Ravi, 1706 ft. above the sea, and 1252 m. by rail from Calcutta. It is thus in about the same latitude as Cairo, but owing to its inland position is considerably hotter than that city, being one of the hottest places in India in the summer time. In the cold season the climate is pleasantly cool and bright. The native city is walled, about 1¼ m. in length W. to E. and about ¾ m. in breadth N. to S. Its site has been occupied from early times, and much of it stands high above the level of the surrounding country, raised on the remains of a succession of former habitations. Some old buildings, which have been preserved, stand now below the present surface of the ground. This is well seen in the mosque now called Masjid Niwin (or sunken) built in 1560, the mosque of Mullah Rahmat, 7 ft. below, and the Shivali, a very old Hindu temple, about 12 ft. below the surrounding ground. Hindu tradition traces the origin of Lahore to Loh or Lava, son of Rama, the hero of theRamayana. The absence of mention of Lahore by Alexander’s historians, and the fact that coins of the Graeco-Bactrian kings are not found among the ruins, lead to the belief that it was not a place of any importance during the earliest period of Indian history. On the other hand, Hsüan Tsang, the Chinese Buddhist, notices the city in hisItinerary(A.D.630); and it seems probable, therefore, that Lahore first rose into prominence between the 1st and 7th centuriesA.D.Governed originally by a family of Chauhan Rajputs, a branch of the house of Ajmere, Lahore fell successively under the dominion of the Ghazni and Ghori sultans, who made it the capital of their Indian conquests, and adorned it with numerous buildings, almost all now in ruins. But it was under the Mogul empire that Lahore reached its greatest size and magnificence. The reigns of Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb form the golden period in the annals and architecture of the city. Akbar enlarged and repaired the fort, and surrounded the town with a wall, portions of which remain, built into the modern work of Ranjit Singh. Lahore formed the capital of the Sikh empire of that monarch. At the end of the second Sikh War, with the rest of the Punjab, it came under the British dominion.
The architecture of Lahore cannot compare with that of Delhi. Jahangir in 1622-1627 erected the Khwabgah or “sleeping-place,” a fine palace much defaced by the Sikhs but to some extent restored in modern times; the Moti Masjid or “pearl mosque” in the fort, used by Ranjit Singh and afterwards by the British as a treasure-house; and also the tomb of Anarkali, used formerly as the station church and now as a library. Shah Jahan erected a palace and other buildings near the Khwabgah, including the beautiful pavilion called the Naulakha from its cost of nine lakhs, which was inlaid with precious stones. The mosque of Wazir Khan (1634) provides the finest example ofkashior encaustic tile work. Aurangzeb’s Jama Masjid, or “great mosque,” is a huge bare building, stiff in design, and lacking the detailed ornament typical of buildings at Delhi. The buildings of Ranjit Singh, especially his mausoleum, are common and meretricious in style. He was, moreover, responsible for much of the despoiling of the earlier buildings. The streets of the native city are narrow and tortuous, and are best seen from the back of an elephant. Two of the chief features of Lahore lie outside its walls at Shahdara and Shalamar Gardens respectively. Shahdara, which contains the tomb of the emperor Jahangir, lies across the Ravi some 6 m. N. of the city. It consists of a splendid marble cenotaph surrounded by a grove of trees and gardens. The Shalamar Gardens, which were laid out inA.D.1637 by Shah Jahan, lie 6 m. E. of the city. They are somewhat neglected except on festive occasions, when the fountains are playing and the trees are lit up by lamps at night.
The modern city of Lahore, which contained a population of 202,964 in 1901, may be divided into four parts: the native city, already described; the civil station or European quarter, known as Donald Town; the Anarkali bazaar, a suburb S. of the city wall; and the cantonment, formerly called Mian Mir. The main street of the civil station is a portion of the grand trunk road from Calcutta to Peshawar, locally known as the Mall. The chief modern buildings along this road, west to east, are the Lahore museum, containing a fine collection of Graeco-Buddhist sculptures, found by General Cunningham in the Yusufzai country, and arranged by Mr Lockwood Kipling, a former curator of the museum; the cathedral, begun by Bishop French, in Early English style, and consecrated in 1887; the Lawrence Gardens and Montgomery Halls, surrounded by a garden that forms the chief meeting-place of Europeans in the afternoon; and opposite this government house, the official residence of the lieutenant-governor of the Punjab; next to this is the Punjab club for military men and civilians. Three miles beyond is the Lahore cantonment, where the garrison is stationed, except a company of British infantry, which occupies the fort. It is the headquarters of the 3rd division of the northern army. Lahore is an important junction on the North-Western railway system, but has little local trade or manufacture. The chief industries are silk goods, gold and silver lace, metal work and carpets which are made in the Lahore gaol. There are also cotton mills, flour mills, an ice-factory, and several factories for mineral waters, oils, soap, leather goods, &c. Lahore is an important educational centre. Here are the Punjab University with five colleges, medical and law colleges, a central trainingcollege, the Aitchison Chiefs’ College for the sons of native noblemen, and a number of other high schools and technical and special schools.
TheDistrict of Lahorehas an area of 3704 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 1,162,109, consisting chiefly of Punjabi Mahommedans with a large admixture of Hindus and Sikhs. In the north-west the district includes a large part of the barren Rechna Doab, while south of the Ravi is a desolate alluvial tract, liable to floods. The Manjha plateau, however, between the Ravi and the Beas, has been rendered fertile by the Bari Doab canal. The principal crops are wheat, pulse, millets, maize, oil-seeds and cotton. There are numerous factories for ginning and pressing cotton. Irrigation is provided by the main line of the Bari Doab canal and its branches, and by inundation-cuts from the Sutlej. The district is crossed in several directions by lines of the North-Western railway. Lahore, Kasur, Chunian and Raiwind are the chief trade centres.
TheDivision of Lahoreextends along the right bank of the Sutlej from the Himalayas to Multan. It comprises the six districts of Sialkot, Gujranwala, Montgomery, Lahore, Amritsar and Gurdaspur. Total area, 17,154 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 5,598,463. The commissioner for the division also exercises political control over the hill slate of Chamba. The common language of the rural population and of artisans is Punjabi; while Urdu or Hindustani is spoken by the educated classes. So far from the seaboard, the range between extremes of winter and summer temperature in the sub-tropics is great. The mean temperature in the shade in June is about 92° F., in January about 50°. In midsummer the thermometer sometimes rises to 115° in the shade, and remains on some occasions as high as 105° throughout the night. In winter the morning temperature is sometimes as low as 20°. The rainfall is uncertain, ranging from 8 in. to 25, with an average of 15 in. The country as a whole is parched and arid, and greatly dependent on irrigation.
LA HOZ Y MOTA, JUAN CLAUDIO DE(1630?-1710?), Spanish dramatist, was born in Madrid. He became a knight of Santiago in 1653, and soon afterwards succeeded his father asregidorof Burgos. In 1665 he was nominated to an important post at the Treasury, and in his later years acted as official censor of the Madrid theatres. On the 13th of August 1709 he signed his play entitledJosef, salvador de Egipto, and is presumed to have died in the following year. Hoz is not remarkable for originality of conception, but his recasts of plays by earlier writers are distinguished by an adroitness which accounts for the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries.El Montañés Juan PascalandEl castigo de la miseria, reprinted in theBiblioteca de Autores Españoles, give a just idea of his adaptable talent.
LAHR, a town in the grand-duchy of Baden, on the Schutter, about 9 m. S. of Offenburg, and on the railway Dinglingen-Lahr. Pop. (1900) 13,577. One of the busiest towns in Baden, it carries on manufactures of tobacco and cigars, woollen goods, chicory, leather, pasteboard, hats and numerous other articles, has considerable trade in wine, while among its other industries are printing and lithography. Lahr first appears as a town in 1278, and after several vicissitudes it passed wholly to Baden in 1803.
See Stein,Geschichte und Beschreibung der Stadt Lahr(Lahr, 1827); and Sütterlin,Lahr und seine Umgebung(Lahr, 1904).
See Stein,Geschichte und Beschreibung der Stadt Lahr(Lahr, 1827); and Sütterlin,Lahr und seine Umgebung(Lahr, 1904).
LAIBACH(Slovenian,Ljubljana), capital of the Austrian duchy of Carniola, 237 m. S.S.W. of Vienna by rail. Pop. (1900) 36,547, mostly Slovene. It is situated on the Laibach, near its influx into the Save, and consists of the town proper and eight suburbs. Laibach is an episcopal see, and possesses a cathedral in the Italian style, several beautiful churches, a town hall in Renaissance style and a castle, built in the 15th century, on the Schlossberg, an eminence which commands the town. Laibach is the principal centre of the national Slovenian movement, and it contains a Slovene theatre and several societies for the promotion of science and literature in the native tongue. The Slovenian language is in general official use, and the municipal administration is purely Slovenian. The industries include manufactures of pottery, bricks, oil, linen and woollen cloth, fire-hose and paper.
Laibach is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Emona or Aemona, founded by the emperor Augustus in 34B.C.It was besieged by Alaric in 400, and in 451 it was desolated by the Huns. In 900 Laibach suffered much from the Magyars, who were, however, defeated there in 914. In the 12th century the town passed into the hands of the dukes of Carinthia; in 1270 it was taken by Ottocar of Bohemia; and in 1277 it came under the Habsburgs. In the early part of the 15th century the town was several times besieged by the Turks. The bishopric was founded in 1461. On the 17th of March 1797 and again on the 3rd of June 1809 Laibach was taken by the French, and from 1809 to 1813 it became the seat of their general government of the Illyrian provinces. From 1816 to 1849 Laibach was the capital of the kingdom of Illyria. The town is also historically known from the congress of Laibach, which assembled here in 1821 (see below). Laibach suffered severely on the 14th of April 1895 from an earthquake.
Laibach is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Emona or Aemona, founded by the emperor Augustus in 34B.C.It was besieged by Alaric in 400, and in 451 it was desolated by the Huns. In 900 Laibach suffered much from the Magyars, who were, however, defeated there in 914. In the 12th century the town passed into the hands of the dukes of Carinthia; in 1270 it was taken by Ottocar of Bohemia; and in 1277 it came under the Habsburgs. In the early part of the 15th century the town was several times besieged by the Turks. The bishopric was founded in 1461. On the 17th of March 1797 and again on the 3rd of June 1809 Laibach was taken by the French, and from 1809 to 1813 it became the seat of their general government of the Illyrian provinces. From 1816 to 1849 Laibach was the capital of the kingdom of Illyria. The town is also historically known from the congress of Laibach, which assembled here in 1821 (see below). Laibach suffered severely on the 14th of April 1895 from an earthquake.
Congress or Conference of Laibach.—Before the break-up of the conference of Troppau (q.v.), it had been decided to adjourn it till the following January, and to invite the attendance of the king of Naples, Laibach being chosen as the place of meeting. Castlereagh, in the name of Great Britain, had cordially approved this invitation, as “implying negotiation” and therefore as a retreat from the position taken up in the Troppau Protocol. Before leaving Troppau, however, the three autocratic powers, Russia, Austria and Prussia, had issued, on the 8th of December 1820, a circular letter, in which they reiterated the principles of the Protocol,i.e.the right and duty of the powers responsible for the peace of Europe to intervene to suppress any revolutionary movement by which they might conceive that peace to be endangered (Hertslet, No. 105). Against this view Castlereagh once more protested in a circular despatch of the 19th of January 1821, in which he clearly differentiated between the objectionable general principles advanced by the three powers, and the particular case of the unrest in Italy, the immediate concern not of Europe at large, but of Austria and of any other Italian powers which might consider themselves endangered (Hertslet, No. 107).
The conference opened on the 26th of January 1821, and its constitution emphasized the divergences revealed in the above circulars. The emperors of Russia and Austria were present in person, and with them were Counts Nesselrode and Capo d’Istria, Metternich and Baron Vincent; Prussia and France were represented by plenipotentiaries. But Great Britain, on the ground that she had no immediate interest in the Italian question, was represented only by Lord Stewart, the ambassador at Vienna, who was not armed with full powers, his mission being to watch the proceedings and to see that nothing was done beyond or in violation of the treaties. Of the Italian princes, Ferdinand of Naples and the duke of Modena came in person; the rest were represented by plenipotentiaries.
It was soon clear that a more or less open breach between Great Britain and the other powers was inevitable, Metternich was anxious to secure an apparent unanimity of the powers to back the Austrian intervention in Naples, and every device was used to entrap the English representative into subscribing a formula which would have seemed to commit Great Britain to the principles of the other allies. When these devices failed, attempts were made unsuccessfully to exclude Lord Stewart from the conferences on the ground of defective powers. Finally he was forced to an open protest, which he caused to be inscribed on the journals, but the action of Capo d’Istria in reading to the assembled Italian ministers, who were by no means reconciled to the large claims implied in the Austrian intervention, a declaration in which as the result of the “intimate union established by solemn acts between all the European powers” the Russian emperor offered to the allies “the aid of his arms, should new revolutions threaten new dangers,” an attempt to revive that idea of a “universal union” based on the Holy Alliance (q.v.) against which Great Britain had consistently protested.
The objections of Great Britain were, however, not so much to an Austrian intervention in Naples as to the far-reaching principles by which it was sought to justify it. King Ferdinand had been invited to Laibach, according to the circular of the8th of December, in order that he might be free to act as “mediator between his erring peoples and the states whose tranquillity they threatened.” The cynical use he made of his “freedom” to repudiate obligations solemnly contracted is described elsewhere (seeNaples,History). The result of this action was the Neapolitan declaration of war and the occupation of Naples by Austria, with the sanction of the congress. This was preceded, on the 10th of March, by the revolt of the garrison of Alessandria and the military revolution in Piedmont, which in its turn was suppressed, as a result of negotiations at Laibach, by Austrian troops. It was at Laibach, too, that, on the 19th of March, the emperor Alexander received the news of Ypsilanti’s invasion of the Danubian principalities, which heralded the outbreak of the War of Greek Independence, and from Laibach Capo d’Istria addressed to the Greek leader the tsar’s repudiation of his action.
The conference closed on the 12th of May, on which date Russia, Austria and Prussia issued a declaration (Hertslet, No. 108) “to proclaim to the world the principles which guided them” in coming “to the assistance of subdued peoples,” a declaration which once more affirmed the principles of the Troppau Protocol. In this lay the European significance of the Laibach conference, of which the activities had been mainly confined to Italy. The issue of the declaration without the signatures of the representatives of Great Britain and France proclaimed the disunion of the alliance, within which—to use Lord Stewart’s words—there existed “a triple understanding which bound the parties to carry forward their own views in spite of any difference of opinion between them and the two great constitutional governments.”