Chapter 2

1A complete list, showing all individual contributors, appears in the final volume.

PRINCIPAL UNSIGNED ARTICLES

Labiatae.

Lacrosse.

Lagos.

Lahore.

Lake District.

Lambeth Conferences.

Lanarkshire.

Lancashire.

Lantern.

Lapland.

Larceny.

Larch.

Lead Poisoning.

Leeds.

Legitimacy.

Leguminosae.

Leicestershire.

Leipzig.

Leith.

Lemnos.

Lemon.

Lent.

Leprosy.

Libel.

Liberal Party.

Liliaceae.

Lille.

Lily.

Limitation, Statutes of.

Lincoln.

Lincolnshire.

Lippe.

Lisbon.

La letter which was the twelfth letter of the Phoenician alphabet. It has in its history passed through many changes of form, ending curiously enough in its usual manuscript form with a shape almost identical with that which it had about 900B.C.(). As was the case with B and some other letters the Greeks did not everywhere keep the symbol in the position in which they had borrowed it. This, which was its oldest form in Attica and in the Chalcidian colonies of Italy, was the form adopted by the Romans, who in time converted it into the rectangle, which passed from them to the nations of western Europe. In the Ionic alphabet, however, from which the ordinary Greek alphabet is derived it appeared as. A still more common form in other parts of Greece was, with the legs of unequal length. The editors of Herodotus have not always recognized that the name of Labda, the mother of Cypselus, in the story (v. 92) of the founding of the great family of Corinthian despots, was derived from the fact that she was lame and so suggested the form of the Corinthian. Another formorwas practically confined to the west of Argolis. The name of the Greek letter is ordinarily given asLambda, but in Herodotus (above) and in Athenaeus x. p. 453e, where the names of the letters are given, the best authenticated form isLabda. The Hebrew name, which was probably identical with the Phoenician, isLamed, which, with a final vowel added as usual, would easily becomeLambda,bbeing inserted betweenmand another consonant. The pronunciation oflvaries a great deal according to the point at which the tongue makes contact with the roof of the mouth. The contact, generally speaking, is at the same point as ford, and this accounts for an interchange between these sounds which occurs in various languages,e.g.in Latinlacrimafrom the same root as the Greekδάκρυand the Englishtear. The change in Latin occurs in a very limited number of cases and one explanation of their occurrence is that they are borrowed (Sabine) words. In pronunciation the breath may be allowed to escape at one or both sides of the tongue. In most languageslis a fairly stable sound. Orientals, however, have much difficulty in distinguishing betweenlandr. In Old Persianlis found in only two foreign words, and in Sanskrit different dialects employrandldifferently in the same words. Otherwise, however, the interchanges betweenrandlwere somewhat exaggerated by the older philologists. Before other consonantslbecomes silent in not a few languages, notably in French, where it is replaced byu, and in English where it has occasionally been restored in recent times,e.g.infaultwhich earlier was spelt withoutl(as in French whence it was borrowed), and which Goldsmith could still rhyme withaught. In the 15th century the Scottish dialect of English droppedllargely both before consonants and finally afteraandū,a’ = all,fa’ = fall,pu’ = pull, ’oo’ = wool,bulkpronounced likebook, &c., while afteroit appears asw,row(pronouncedrau) = roll,know= knoll, &c. It is to be observed that= 50 does not come from this symbol, but was an adaptation of, the western Greek form of χ, which had no corresponding sound in Latin and was therefore not included in the ordinary alphabet. This symbol was first rounded intoand then changed first to, and ultimately to.

(P. Gi.)

LAACHER SEE,a lake of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 5 m. W. of Brohl on the Rhine, and N. of the village of Niedermendig. It occupies what is supposed to be a crater of the Eifel volcanic formation, and the pumice stone and basalt found in great quantities around it lend credence to this theory. It lies 850 ft. above the sea, is 5 m. in circumference and 160 ft. deep, and is surrounded by an amphitheatre of high hills. The water is sky blue in colour, very cold and bitter to the taste. The lake has no natural outlet and consequently is subjected to a considerable rise and fall. On the western side lies the Benedictine abbey of St Maria Laach (Abballa Lacensis) founded in 1093 by Henry II., count palatine of the Rhine. The abbey church, dating from the 12th century, was restored in 1838. The history of the monastery down to modern times appears to have been uneventful. In 1802 it was abolished and at the close of the Napoleonic wars it became a Prussian state demesne. In 1863 it passed into the hands of the Jesuits, who, down to their expulsion in 1873, published here a periodical, which still appears, entitledStimmen aus Maria Laach. In 1892 the monastery was again occupied by the Benedictines.

LAAGER,a South African Dutch word (Dutchleger, Ger.lager, connected with Eng. “lair”) for a temporary defensive encampment, formed by a circle of wagons. The English word is “leaguer,” an armed camp, especially that of a besieging or “beleaguering” army. The Ger.lager, in the sense of “store,” is familiar as the name of a light beer (seeBrewing).

LAAS, ERNST(1837-1885), German philosopher, was born on the 16th of June 1837 at Fürstenwalde. He studied theology and philosophy under Trendelenburg at Berlin, and eventually became professor of philosophy in the new university of Strassburg. InKant’s Analogien der Erfahrung(1876) he keenly criticized Kant’s transcendentalism, and in his chief workIdealismus und Positivismus(3 vols., 1879-1884), he drew aclear contrast between Platonism, from which he derived transcendentalism, and positivism, of which he considered Protagoras the founder. Laas in reality was a disciple of Hume. Throughout his philosophy he endeavours to connect metaphysics with ethics and the theory of education.

His chief educational works wereDer deutsche Aufsatz in den obern Gymnasialklassen(1868; 3rd ed., part i., 1898, part ii, 1894), andDer deutsche Unterricht auf höhern Lehranstalten(1872; 2nd ed. 1886). He contributed largely to theVierteljahrsschr. f. wiss. Philos.(1880-1882); theLitterarischer Nachlass, a posthumous collection, was published at Vienna (1887). See Hanisch,Der Positivismus von Ernst Laas(1902); Gjurits,Die Erkenntnistheorie des Ernst Laas(1903); Falckenberg,Hist. of Mod. Philos.(Eng. trans., 1895).

LA BADIE, JEAN DE(1610-1674), French divine, founder of the school known as the Labadists, was born at Bourg, not far from Bordeaux, on the 13th of February 1610, being the son of Jean Charles de la Badie, governor of Guienne. He was sent to the Jesuit school at Bordeaux, and when fifteen entered the Jesuit college there. In 1626 he began to study philosophy and theology. He was led to hold somewhat extreme views about the efficacy of prayer and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit upon believers, and adopted Augustinian views about grace, free will and predestination, which brought him into collision with his order. He therefore separated from the Jesuits, and then became a preacher to the people, carrying on this work in Bordeaux, Paris and Amiens. At Amiens in 1640 he was appointed a canon and teacher of theology. The hostility of Cardinal Mazarin, however, forced him to retire to the Carmelite hermitage at Graville. A study of Calvin’sInstitutesshowed him that he had more in common with the Reformed than with the Roman Catholic Church, and after various adventures he joined the Reformed Church of France and became professor of theology at Montauban in 1650. His reasons for doing so he published in the same year in hisDéclaration de Jean de la Badie. His accession to the ranks of the Protestants was deemed a great triumph; no such man since Calvin himself, it was said, had left the Roman Catholic Church. He was called to the pastorate of the church at Orange on the Rhone in 1657, and at once became noted for his severity of discipline. He set his face zealously against dancing, card-playing and worldly entertainments. The unsettled state of the country, recently annexed to France, compelled him to leave Orange, and in 1659 he became a pastor in Geneva. He then accepted a call to the French church in London, but after various wanderings settled at Middelburg, where he was pastor to the French-speaking congregation at a Walloon church. His peculiar opinions were by this time (1666) well known, and he and his congregation found themselves in conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. The result was that la Badie and his followers established a separate church in a neighbouring town. In 1669 he moved to Amsterdam. He had enthusiastic disciples, Pierre Yvon (1646-1707) at Montauban, Pierre Dulignon (d. 1679), François Menuret (d. 1670), Theodor Untereyk (d. 1693), F. Spanheim (1632-1701), and, more important than any, Anna Maria v. Schürman (1607-1678), whose bookEucleriais perhaps the best exposition of the tenets of her master. At the head of his separatist congregation, la Badie developed his views for a reformation of the Reformed Churches: the church is a communion of holy people who have been born again from sin; baptism is the sign and seal of this regeneration, and is to be administered only to believers; the Holy Spirit guides the regenerate into all truth, and the church possesses throughout all time those gifts of prophecy which it had in the ancient days; the community at Jerusalem is the continual type of every Christian congregation, therefore there should be a community of goods, the disciples should live together, eat together, dance together; marriage is a holy ordinance between two believers, and the children of the regenerate are born without original sin, marriage with an unregenerate person is not binding. They did not observe the Sabbath, because—so they said—their life was a continual Sabbath. The life and separatism of the community brought them into frequent collision with their neighbours and with the magistrates, and in 1670 they acceptedSociety is in Miss Edith Sichel’sWomen and Men of the French Renaissance(1901). See also J. Favre,Olivier de Magny(1885).

LABEL(a French word, now represented bylambeau, possibly a variant; it is of obscure origin and may be connected with a Teutonic word appearing in the English “lap,” a flap or fold), a slip, ticket, or card of paper, metal or other material, attached to an object, such as a parcel, bottle, &c., and containing a name, address, description or other information, for the purpose of identification. Originally the word meant a band or ribbon of linen or other material, and was thus applied to the fillets (infulae) attached to a bishop’s mitre. In heraldry the “label” is a mark of “cadency.”

In architecture the term “label” is applied to the outer projecting moulding over doors, windows, arches, &c., sometimes called “Dripstone” or “Weather Moulding,” or “Hood Mould.” The former terms seem scarcely applicable, as this moulding is often inside a building where no rain could come, and consequently there is no drip. In Norman times the label frequently did not project, and when it did it was very little, and formed part of the series of arch mouldings. In the Early English styles they were not very large, sometimes slightly undercut, sometimes deeply, sometimes a quarter round with chamfer, and very frequently a “roll” or “scroll-moulding,” so called because it resembles the part of a scroll where the edge laps over the body of the roll. Labels generally resemble the string-courses of the period, and, in fact, often return horizontally and form strings. They are less common in Continental architecture than in English.

LABEO, MARCUS ANTISTIUS(c.50B.C.-A.D.18), Roman jurist, was the son of Pacuvius Antistius Labeo, a jurist who caused himself to be slain after the defeat of his party at Philippi. A member of the plebeian nobility, and in easy circumstances, the younger Labeo early entered public life, and soon rose to the praetorship; but his undisguised antipathy to the new régime, and the somewhat brusque manner in which in the senate he occasionally gave expression to his republican sympathies—what Tacitus (Ann.iii. 75) calls hisincorrupta libertas—proved an obstacle to his advancement, and his rival, Ateius Capito, who had unreservedly given in his adhesion to the ruling powers, was promoted by Augustus to the consulate, when the appointment should have fallen to Labeo; smarting under the wrong done him, Labeo declined the office when it was offered to him in a subsequent year (Tac.Ann.iii. 75; Pompon, in fr. 47,Dig.i. 2). From this time he seems to have devoted his whole time to jurisprudence. His training in the science had been derived principally from Trebatius Testa. To his knowledge of the law he added a wide general culture, devoting his attention specially to dialectics, philology (grammatica), and antiquities, as valuable aids in the exposition, expansion, and application of legal doctrine (Gell. xiii. 10). Down to the time of Hadrian his was probably the name of greatest authority; and several of his works were abridged and annotated by later hands. While Capito is hardly ever referred to, the dicta of Labeo are of constant recurrence in the writings of the classical jurists, such as Gaius, Ulpian and Paul; and no inconsiderable number of them were thought worthy of preservation in Justinian’sDigest. Labeo gets the credit of being the founder of the Proculian sect or school, while Capito is spoken of as the founder of the rival Sabinian one (Pomponius in fr. 47,Dig.i. 2); but it is probable that the real founders of the twoscholaewere Proculus and Sabinus, followers respectively of the methods of Labeo and Capito.

Labeo’s most important literary work was theLibri Posteriorum, so called because published only after his death. It contained a systematic exposition of the common law. HisLibri ad Edictumembraced a commentary, not only on the edicts of the urban and peregrine praetors, but also on that of the curule aediles. HisProbabilium(πιθανῶν)lib. VIII., a collection of definitions and axiomatic legal propositions, seems to have been one of his most characteristic productions.See van Eck, “De vita, moribus, et studiis M. Ant. Labeonis” (Franeker, 1692), in Oelrichs’sThes. nov., vol. i.; Mascovius,De sectis Sabinianor. et Proculianor.(1728); Pernice,M. Antistius Labeo. Das röm. Privatrecht im ersten Jahrhunderte der Kaizerzeit(Halle, 1873-1892).

See van Eck, “De vita, moribus, et studiis M. Ant. Labeonis” (Franeker, 1692), in Oelrichs’sThes. nov., vol. i.; Mascovius,De sectis Sabinianor. et Proculianor.(1728); Pernice,M. Antistius Labeo. Das röm. Privatrecht im ersten Jahrhunderte der Kaizerzeit(Halle, 1873-1892).

LABERIUS, DECIMUS(c.105-43B.C.), Roman knight and writer of mimes. He seems to have been a man of caustic wit, who wrote for his own pleasure. In 45 Julius Caesar ordered him to appear in one of his own mimes in a public contest with the actor Publilius Syrus. Laberius pronounced a dignified prologue on the degradation thus thrust on his sixty years, and directed several sharp allusions against the dictator. Caesar awarded the victory to Publilius, but restored Laberius to his equestrian rank, which he had forfeited by appearing as a mimus (Macrobius,Sat.ii. 7). Laberius was the chief of those who introduced the mimus into Latin literature towards the close of the republican period. He seems to have been a man of learning and culture, but his pieces did not escape the coarseness inherent to the class of literature to which they belonged; and Aulus Gellius (xvi. 7, 1) accuses him of extravagance in the coining of new words. Horace (Sat.i. 10) speaks of him in terms of qualified praise.

In addition to the prologue (in Macrobius), the titles of forty-four of his mimi have been preserved; the fragments have been collected by O. Ribbeck in hisComicorum Latinorum reliquiae(1873).

LABIATAE(i.e.“lipped,” Lat.labium, lip), in botany, a natural order of seed-plants belonging to the series Tubiflorae of the dicotyledons, and containing about 150 genera with 2800 species. The majority are annual or perennial herbs inhabiting the temperate zone, becoming shrubby in warmer climates. The stem is generally square in section and the simple exstipulate leaves are arranged in decussating pairs (i.e.each pair is in a plane at right angles to that of the pairs immediately above and below it); the blade is entire, or toothed, lobed or more or less deeply cut. The plant is often hairy, and the hairs are frequently glandular, the secretion containing a scent characteristic of the genus or species. The flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves or bracts; they are rarely solitary as inScutellaria(skull-cap), and generally form an apparent whorl (verticillaster) at the node, consisting of a pair of cymose inflorescences each of which is a simple three-flowered dichasium as inBrunella,Salvia, &c., or more generally a dichasium passing over into a pair of monochasial cymes as inLamium(fig. 1),Ballota,Nepeta, &c. A number of whorls may be crowded at the apex of the stem and the subtending leaves reduced to small bracts, the whole forming a raceme- or spike-like inflorescence as inMentha(fig. 2,5)Brunella, &c.; the bracts are sometimes large and coloured as inMonarda, species ofSalvia, &c., in the latter the apex of the stem is sometimes occupied with a cluster of sterile coloured bracts. The plan of the flower is remarkably uniform (fig. 1,3); it is bisexual, and zygomorphic in themedian plane, with 5 sepals united to form a persistent cup-like calyx, 5 petals united to form a two-lipped gaping corolla, 4 stamens inserted on the corolla-tube, two of which, generally the anterior pair, are longer than the other two (didynamous arrangement)—sometimes as inSalvia, the posterior pair is aborted—and two superior median carpels, each very early divided by a constriction in a vertical plane, the pistil consisting of four cells each containing one erect anatropous ovule attached to the base of an axile placenta; the style springs from the centre of the pistil between the four segments (gynobasic), and is simple with a bifid apex. The fruit comprises four one-seeded nutlets included in the persistent calyx; the seed has a thin testa and the embryo almost or completely fills it. Although the general form and plan of arrangement of the flower is very uniform, there are wide variations in detail. Thus the calyx may be tubular, bell-shaped, or almost spherical, or straight or bent, and the length and form of the teeth or lobes varies also; it may be equally toothed as in mint (Mentha) (fig. 2,3), and marjoram (Origanum), or two-lipped as in thyme (Thymus),Lamium(fig. 1) andSalvia(fig. 2,1); the number of nerves affords useful characters for distinction of genera, there are normally five main nerves between which simple or forked secondary nerves are more or less developed. The shape of the corolla varies widely, the differences being doubtless intimately associated with the pollination of the flowers by insect-agency. The tube is straight or variously bent and often widens towards the mouth. Occasionally the limb is equally five-toothed, or forms, as inMentha(fig. 2,3,4) an almost regular four-toothed corolla by union of the two posterior teeth. Usually it is two-lipped, the upper lip being formed by the two posterior, the lower lip by the three anterior petals (see fig. 1, and fig. 2,1,6); the median lobe of the lower lip is generally most developed and forms a resting-place for the bee or other insect when probing the flower for honey, the upper lip shows great variety in form, often, as inLamium(fig. 1),Stachys, &c., it is arched forming a protection from rain for the stamens, or it may be flat as in thyme. In the tribeOcimoideaethe four upper petals form the upper lip, and the single anterior one the lower lip, and inTeucriumthe upper lip is absent, all five lobes being pushed forward to form the lower. The posterior stamen is sometimes present as a staminode, but generally suppressed; the upper pair are often reduced to staminodes or more or less completely suppressed as inSalvia(fig. 2,2,6); rarely are these developed and the anterior pair reduced. InColeusthe stamens are monadelphous. InNepetaand allied genera the posterior pair are the longer, but this is rare, the didynamous character being generally the result of the anterior pair being the longer. The anthers are two-celled, each cell splitting lengthwise; the connective may be more or less developed between the cells; an extreme case is seen inSalvia(fig. 2,2), where the connective is filiform and jointed to the filament, while the anterior anther-cell is reduced to a sterile appendage. Honey is secreted by a hypogynous disk. In the more general type of flower the anthers and stigmas are protected by the arching upper lip as in dead-nettle (fig. 1) and many other British genera; the lower lip affords a resting-place for the insect which in probing the flower for the honey, secreted on the lower side of the disk, collects pollen on its back. Numerous variations in detail are found in the different genera; inSalvia(fig. 2), for instance, there is a lever mechanism, the barren half of each anther forming a knob at the end of a short arm which when touched by the head of an insect causes the anther at the end of the longer arm to descend on the insect’s back. In the less common type, where the anterior part of the flower is more developed, as in theOcimoideae, the stamens and style lie on the under lip and honey is secreted on the upper side of the hypogynous disk; the insect in probing the flower gets smeared with pollen on its belly and legs. Both types include brightly-coloured flowers with longer tubes adapted to the visits of butterflies and moths, as species ofSalvia,Stachys,Monarda, &c.; some South American species ofSalviaare pollinated by humming-birds. InMentha(fig. 2,3), thyme, marjoram (Origanum), and allied genera, the flowers are nearly regular and the stamens spread beyond the corolla.

The persistent calyx encloses the ripe nutlets, and aids in their distribution in various ways, by means of winged spiny or hairy lobes or teeth; sometimes it forms a swollen bladder. A scanty endosperm is sometimes present in the seed; the embryo is generally parallel to the fruit axis with a short inferior radicle and generally flat cotyledons.

The order occurs in all warm and temperate regions; its chief centre is the Mediterranean region, where some genera such asLavandula,Thymus,Rosmarinusand others form an important feature in the vegetation. The tribeOcimoideaeis exclusively tropical and subtropical and occurs in both hemispheres. The order is well represented in Britain by seventeen native genera;Mentha(mint) including alsoM. piperita(peppermint) andM. Pulegium(pennyroyal);Origanum vulgare(marjoram);Thymus Serpyllum(thyme);Calamintha(calamint), including alsoC. Clinopodium(wild basil) andC. Acinos(basil thyme);Salvia(sage), includingS. Verbenaca(clary);Nepeta Cataria(catmint),N. Glechoma(ground-ivy);Brunella(self-heal);Scutellaria(skull-cap);Stachys(woundwort);S. Betonicais wood betony;Galeopsis(hemp-nettle);Lamium(dead-nettle);Ballota(black horehound);Teucrium(germander); andAjuga(bugle).Labiatae are readily distinguished from all other orders of the series excepting Verbenaceae, in which, however, the style is terminal; but several genera,e.g.Ajuga,TeucriumandRosmarinus, approach Verbenaceae in this respect, and in some genera of that order the style is more or less sunk between the ovary lobes. The fruit-character indicates an affinity with Boraginaceae from which, however, they differ in habit and by characters of ovule and embryo.The presence of volatile oil renders many genera of economic use, such are thyme, marjoram (Origanum), sage (Salvia), lavender (Lavandula), rosemary (Rosmarinus), patchouli (Pogostemon). The tubers ofStachys Sieboldiare eaten in France.

Labiatae are readily distinguished from all other orders of the series excepting Verbenaceae, in which, however, the style is terminal; but several genera,e.g.Ajuga,TeucriumandRosmarinus, approach Verbenaceae in this respect, and in some genera of that order the style is more or less sunk between the ovary lobes. The fruit-character indicates an affinity with Boraginaceae from which, however, they differ in habit and by characters of ovule and embryo.

The presence of volatile oil renders many genera of economic use, such are thyme, marjoram (Origanum), sage (Salvia), lavender (Lavandula), rosemary (Rosmarinus), patchouli (Pogostemon). The tubers ofStachys Sieboldiare eaten in France.

LABICANA, VIA,an ancient highroad of Italy, leading E.S.E. from Rome. It seems possible that the road at first led to Tusculum, that it was then prolonged to Labici, and later still became a road for through traffic; it may even have superseded the Via Latina as a route to the S.E., for, while the distance from Rome to their main junction at Ad Bivium (or to another junction at Compitum Anagninum) is practically identical, the summit level of the former is 725 ft. lower than that of the latter, a little to the west of the pass of Algidus. After their junction it is probable that the road bore the name Via Latina rather than Via Labicana. The course of the road after the first six miles from Rome is not identical with that of any modern road, but can be clearly traced by remains of pavement and buildings along its course.

See T. Ashby inPapers of the British School at Rome, i. 215 sqq.

(T. As.)

LABICHE, EUGÈNE MARIN(1815-1888), French dramatist, was born on the 5th of May 1815, ofbourgeoisparentage. He read for the bar, but literature had more powerful attractions, and he was hardly twenty when he gave to theChérubin—an impertinent little magazine, long vanished and forgotten—ashort story, entitled, in the cavalier style of the period,Les plus belles sont les plus fausses. A few others followed much in the same strain, but failed to catch the attention of the public. He tried his hand at dramatic criticism in theRevue des théâtres, and in 1838 made a double venture on the stage. The small Théâtre du Panthéon produced, amid some signs of popular favour, a drama of his,L’Avocat Loubet, while a vaudeville,Monsieur de Coislin ou l’homme infiniment poli, written in collaboration with Marc Michel, and given at the Palais Royal, introduced for the first time to the Parisians a provincial actor who was to become and to remain a great favourite with them, Grassot, the famous low comedian. In the same year Labiche, still doubtful about his true vocation, published a romance calledLa Clé des champs. M. Léon Halévy, his successor at the Academy and his panegyrist, informs us that the publisher became a bankrupt soon after the novel was out. “A lucky misadventure, for,” the biographer concludes, “this timely warning of Destiny sent him back to the stage, where a career of success was awaiting him.” There was yet another obstacle in the way. When he married, he solemnly promised his wife’s parents that he would renounce a profession then considered incompatible with moral regularity and domestic happiness. But a year afterwards his wife spontaneously released him from his vow, and Labiche recalled the incident when he dedicated the first edition of his complete works: “To my wife.” Labiche, in conjunction with Varin,1Marc Michel,2Clairville,3Dumanoir,4and others contributed comic plays interspersed with couplets to various Paris theatres. The series culminated in the memorable farce in five acts,Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie(August 1851). It remains an accomplished specimen of the Frenchimbroglio, in which some one is in search of something, but does not find it till five minutes before the curtain falls. Prior to that date Labiche had been only a successfulvaudevillisteamong a crowd of others; but a twelvemonth later he made a new departure inLe Misanthrope et l’Auvergnat. All the plays given for the next twenty-five years, although constructed on the old plan, contained a more or less appreciable dose of that comic observation and good sense which gradually raised the French farce almost to the level of the comedy of character and manners. “Of all the subjects,” he said, “which offered themselves to me, I have selected thebourgeois. Essentially mediocre in his vices and in his virtues, he stands half-way between the hero and the scoundrel, between the saint and the profligate.” During the second period of his career Labiche had the collaboration of Delacour,5Choler,6and others. When it is asked what share in the authorship and success of the plays may be claimed for those men, we shall answer in Émile Augier’s words: “The distinctive qualities which secured a lasting vogue for the plays of Labiche are to be found in all the comedies written by him with different collaborators, and are conspicuously absent from those which they wrote without him.” A more useful and more important collaborator he found in Jean Marie Michel Geoffroy (1813-1883) whom he had known as adébutantin his younger days, and who remained his faithful interpreter to the last. Geoffroy impersonated thebourgeoisnot only to the public, but to the author himself; and it may be assumed that Labiche, when writing, could see and hear Geoffroy acting the character and uttering, in his pompous, fussy way, the words that he had just committed to paper.Célimare le bien-aimé(1863),Le Voyage de M. Perrichon(1860),La Grammaire,Un Pied dans le crime,La Cagnotte(1864), may be quoted as the happiest productions of Labiche.

In 1877 he brought his connexion with the stage to a close, and retired to his rural property in Sologne. There he could be seen, dressed as a farmer, with low-brimmed hat, thick gaiters and an enormous stick, superintending the agricultural work and busily engaged in reclaiming land and marshes. His lifelong friend, Augier, visited him in his principality, and, being left alone in the library, took to reading his host’s dramatic productions, scattered here and there in the shape of theatricalbrochures. He strongly advised Labiche to publish a collected and revised edition of his works. The suggestion, first declined as a joke and long resisted, was finally accepted and carried into effect. Labiche’s comic plays, in ten volumes, were issued during 1878 and 1879. The success was even greater than had been expected by the author’s most sanguine friends. It had been commonly believed that these plays owed their popularity in great measure to the favourite actors who had appeared in them; but it was now discovered that all, with the exception of Geoffroy, had introduced into them a grotesque and caricatural element, thus hiding from the spectator, in many cases, the true comic vein and delightful delineation of human character. The amazement turned into admiration, and theengouementbecame so general that very few dared grumble or appear scandalized when, in 1880, Labiche was elected to the French Academy. It was fortunate that, in former years, he had never dreamt of attaining this high distinction; for, as M. Pailleron justly observed, while trying to get rid of the little faults which were in him, he would have been in danger of losing some of his sterling qualities. But when the honour was bestowed upon him, he enjoyed it with his usual good sense and quiet modesty. He died in Paris on the 23rd of January 1888.

Some foolish admirers have placed him on a level with Molière, but it will be enough to say that he was something better than a publicamuseur. Many of his plays have been transferred to the English stage. They are, on the whole, as sound as they are entertaining. Love is practically absent from his theatre. In none of his plays did he ever venture into the depths of feminine psychology, and womankind is only represented in them by pretentious old maids and silly, insipid, almost dumb, young ladies. He ridiculed marriage according to the invariable custom of French playwrights, but in a friendly and good-natured manner which always left a door open to repentance and timely amendment. He is never coarse, never suggestive. After he died the French farce, which he had raised to something akin to literature, relapsed into its former grossness and unmeaning complexity.

(A. Fi.)

HisThéâtre complet(10 vols., 1878-1879) contains a preface by Émile Augier.

1Victor Varin, pseudonym of Charles Voirin (1798-1869).2Marc Antoine Amédée Michel (1812-1868), vaudevillist.3Louis François Nicolaise, called Clairville (1811-1879), part-author of the famousFille de Mme Angot(1872).4Philippe François Pinel, called Dumanoir (1806-1865).5Alfred Charlemagne Lartigue, called Delacour (1815-1885). For a list of this author’s pieces see O. Lorenz,Catalogue Général(vol. ii., 1868).6Adolphe Joseph Choler (1822-1889).

1Victor Varin, pseudonym of Charles Voirin (1798-1869).

2Marc Antoine Amédée Michel (1812-1868), vaudevillist.

3Louis François Nicolaise, called Clairville (1811-1879), part-author of the famousFille de Mme Angot(1872).

4Philippe François Pinel, called Dumanoir (1806-1865).

5Alfred Charlemagne Lartigue, called Delacour (1815-1885). For a list of this author’s pieces see O. Lorenz,Catalogue Général(vol. ii., 1868).

6Adolphe Joseph Choler (1822-1889).

LABICI,an ancient city of Latium, the modern Monte Compatri, about 17 m. S.E. from Rome, on the northern slopes of the Alban Hills, 1739 ft. above sea-level. It occurs among the thirty cities of the Latin League, and it is said to have joined the Aequi in 419B.C.and to have been captured by the Romans in 418. After this it does not appear in history, and in the time of Cicero and Strabo was almost entirely deserted if not destroyed. Traces of its ancient walls have been noticed. Its place was taken by therespublica Lavicanorum Quintanensium, the post-station established in the lower ground on the Via Labicana (seeLabicana, Via), a little S.W. of the modern village of Colonna, the site of which is attested by various inscriptions and by the course of the road itself.

See T. Ashby inPapers of the British School at Rome, i. 256 sqq.

(T. As.)

LABĪD(Abū ‘Aqīl Labīd ibn Rabī’a) (c.560-c.661), Arabian poet, belonged to the Banī ’Āmir, a division of the tribe of the Hawāzin. In his younger years he was an active warrior and his verse is largely concerned with inter-tribal disputes. Later, he was sent by a sick uncle to get a remedy from Mahomet at Medina and on this occasion was much influenced by a part of the Koran. He accepted Islam soon after, but seems then to have ceased writing. In Omar’s caliphate he is said to have settled in Kufa. Tradition ascribes to him a long life, but dates given are uncertain and contradictory. One of his poems is contained in theMo‘allakat(q.v.).

Twenty of his poems were edited by Chalidī (Vienna, 1880); another thirty-five, with fragments and a German translation of thewhole, were edited (partly from the remains of A. Huber) by C. Brockelmann (Leiden, 1892); cf. A. von Kremer,Über die Gedichte des Lebyd(Vienna, 1881). Stories of Labīd are contained in theKitābul-Aghāni, xiv. 93 ff. and xv. 137 ff.

(G. W. T.)

LABIENUS,the name of a Roman family, said (without authority) to belong to the gens Atia. The most important member wasTitus Labienus. In 63B.C., at Caesar’s instigation, he prosecuted Gaius Rabirius (q.v.) for treason; in the same year, as tribune of the plebs, he carried a plebiscite which indirectly secured for Caesar the dignity of pontifex maximus (Dio Cassius xxxvii. 37). He served as a legatus throughout Caesar’s Gallic campaigns and took Caesar’s place whenever he went to Rome. His chief exploits in Gaul were the defeat of the Treviri under Indutiomarus in 54, his expedition against Lutetia (Paris) in 52, and his victory over Camulogenus and the Aedui in the same year. On the outbreak of the civil war, however, he was one of the first to desert Caesar, probably owing to an overweening sense of his own importance, not adequately recognized by Caesar. He was rapturously welcomed on the Pompeian side; but he brought no great strength with him, and his ill fortune under Pompey was as marked as his success had been under Caesar. From the defeat at Pharsalus, to which he had contributed by affecting to despise his late comrades, he fled to Corcyra, and thence to Africa. There he was able by mere force of numbers to inflict a slight check upon Caesar at Ruspina in 46. After the defeat at Thapsus he joined the younger Pompey in Spain, and was killed at Munda (March 17th, 45).

LABLACHE, LUIGI(1794-1858), Franco-Italian singer, was born at Naples on the 6th of December 1794, the son of a merchant of Marseilles who had married an Irish lady. In 1806 he entered the Conservatorio della Pieta de Turchini, where he studied music under Gentili and singing under Valesi, besides learning to play the violin and violoncello. As a boy he had a beautiful alto voice, and by the age of twenty he had developed a magnificent bass with a compass of two octaves from E♭ below to E♭ above the bass stave. After making his first appearance at Naples he went to Milan in 1817, and subsequently travelled to Turin, Venice and Vienna. His first appearances in London and Paris in 1830 led to annual engagements in both the English and French capitals. His reception at St Petersburg a few years later was no less enthusiastic. In England he took part in many provincial musical festivals, and was engaged by Queen Victoria to teach her singing. On the operatic stage he was equally successful in comic or tragic parts, and with his wonderfully powerful voice he could express either humour or pathos. Among his friends were Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Mercadante. He was one of the thirty-two torch-bearers chosen to surround the coffin at Beethoven’s funeral in 1827. He died at Naples on the 23rd of January 1858 and was buried at Maison Lafitte, Paris. Lablache’s Leporello inDon Giovanniwas perhaps his most famous impersonation; among his principal other rôles were Dandini inCenerentola(Rossini), Assur inSemiramide(Rossini), Geronimo inLa Gazza Ladra(Rossini), Henry VIII. inAnna Bolena(Donizetti), the Doge inMarino Faliero(Donizetti), the title-rôle inDon Pasquale(Donizetti), Geronimo inIl Matrimonio Segreto(Cimarosa), Gritzenko inL’Étoile du Nord(Meyerbeer), Caliban inThe Tempest(Halévy).

LABOR DAY,in the United States, a legal holiday in nearly all of the states and Territories, where the first Monday in September is observed by parades and meetings of labour organizations. In 1882 the Knights of Labor paraded in New York City on this day; in 1884 another parade was held, and it was decided that this day should be set apart for this purpose. In 1887 Colorado made the first Monday in September a legal holiday; and in 1909 Labor Day was observed as a holiday throughout the United States, except in Arizona and North Dakota; in Louisiana it is a holiday only in New Orleans (Orleans parish), and in Maryland, Wyoming and New Mexico it is not established as a holiday by statute, but in each may be proclaimed as such in any year by the governor.

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