Chapter 19

See J. F. Boissonade,Notice sur la vie et les écrits de P. L.(1813); F. A. Wolf,Literarische Analecten, i. 205; D. A. Wyttenbach,Philomathia, iii. (1817).

LARCIUS(less accuratelyLartius),TITUS,probably surnamedFlavus, a member of an Etruscan family (cf. Lars Tolumnius, Lars Porsena) early settled in Rome. When consul in 501B.C.he was chosen dictator (the title and office being then introduced for the first time) to command against the thirty Latin cities, which had sworn to reinstate Tarquin in Rome. Other authorities put the appointment three years later, when the plebeians refused to serve against the Latins until they had been released from the burden of their debts. He opposed harsh measures against the Latins, and also interested himself in the improvement of the lot of the plebeians. His brother, Spurius, is associated with Horatius Cocles in the defence of the Sublician bridge against the Etruscans.

See Livy ii. 10, 18, 21, 29; Dion. Halic. v. 50-77, vi. 37; Cicero,De Re Publica, ii. 32.

LARD(Fr.lard, from Lat.laridum, bacon fat, related to Gr.λαρινόςfat,λαρόςdainty or sweet), the melted and strained fat of the common hog. Properly it is prepared from the “leaf” or fat of the bowel and kidneys, but in commerce the term as applied to products which include fat obtained from other parts of the animal and sometimes containing no “leaf” at all. Lard of various grades is made in enormous quantities by the great pork-packing houses at Chicago and elsewhere in America. “Neutral lard” is prepared at a temperature of 40°-50° C. from freshly killed hogs; the finest quality, used for making oleomargarine, is got from the leaf, while the second, employed by biscuit and pastry bakers, is obtained from the fat of the back. Steam heat is utilized in extracting inferior qualities, such as “choice lard” and “prime steam lard,” the source of the latter being any fat portion of the animal. Lard is a pure white fat of a butter-like consistence; its specific gravity is about 0.93, its solidifying point about 27°-30° C., and its melting point 35°-45° C. It contains about 60% of olein and 40% of palmitin and stearin. Adulteration is common, the substances used including “stearin” both of beef and of mutton, and vegetable oils such as cotton seed oil: indeed, mixtures have been sold as lard that contain nothing but such adulterants. In the pharmacopoeia lard figures asadepsand is employed as a basis for ointments. Benzoated lard, used for the same purpose, is prepared by heating lard with 3% of powdered benzoin for two hours; it keeps better than ordinary lard, but has slightly irritant properties.

Lard oil is the limpid, clear, colourless oil expressed by hydraulic pressure and gentle heat from lard; it is employed for burning and for lubrication. Of the solid residue, lard “stearine,” the best qualities are utilized for making oleomargarine, the inferior ones in the manufacture of candles.

See J. Lewkowitsch,Oils, Fats and Waxes(London, 1909).

LARDNER, DIONYSIUS(1793-1859), Irish scientific writer, was born at Dublin on the 3rd of April 1793. His father, a solicitor, wished his son to follow the same calling. After some years of uncongenial desk work, Lardner entered Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated B.A. in 1817. In 1828 he became professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at University College, London, a position he held till 1840, when he eloped with a married lady, and had to leave the country. After a lecturing tour through the principal cities of the United States, which realized £40,000, he returned to Europe in 1845. He settled at Paris, and resided there till within a few months of his death, which took place at Naples on the 29th of April 1859.

Though lacking in originality or brilliancy, Lardner showed himself to be a successful popularizer of science. He was the author of numerous mathematical and physical treatises on such subjects as algebraic geometry (1823), the differential and integral calculus (1825), the steam engine (1828), besides hand-books on various departments of natural philosophy (1854-1856); but it is as the editor ofLardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia(1830-1844) that he is best remembered. To this scientific library of 134 volumes many of the ablest savants of the day contributed, Lardner himself being the author of the treatises on arithmetic, geometry, heat, hydrostatics and pneumatics, mechanics (in conjunction with Henry Kater) and electricity (in conjunction with C. V. Walker). TheCabinet Library(12 vols., 1830-1832) and theMuseum of Science and Art(12 vols., 1854-1856) are his other chief undertakings. A few original papers appear in the Royal Irish Academy’sTransactions(1824), in the Royal Society’sProceedings(1831-1836) and in the Astronomical Society’sMonthly Notices(1852-1853); and twoReportsto the British Association on railway constants (1838, 1841) are from his pen.

LARDNER, NATHANIEL(1684-1768), English theologian, was born at Hawkhurst, Kent. After studying for the Presbyterian ministry in London, and also at Utrecht and Leiden, he took licence as a preacher in 1709, but was not successful. In 1713 he entered the family of a lady of rank as tutor and domestic chaplain, where he remained until 1721. In 1724 he was appointed to deliver the Tuesday evening lecture in the Presbyterian chapel, Old Jewry, London, and in 1729 he became assistant minister to the Presbyterian congregation in Crutched Friars. He was given the degree of D.D. by Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1745. He died at Hawkhurst on the 24th of July 1768.

An anonymous volume ofMemoirsappeared in 1769; and a life by Andrew Kippis is prefixed to the edition of theWorksof Lardner, published in 11 vols., 8vo in 1788, in 4 vols. 4to in 1817, and 10 vols. 8vo in 1827. The full title of his principal work—a work which, though now out of date, entitles its author to be regarded as the founder of modern critical research in the field of early Christian literature—isThe Credibility of the Gospel History; or the Principal Facts of the New Testament confirmed by Passages of Ancient Authors,who were contemporary with our Saviour or his Apostles, or lived near their time. Part i., in 2 vols. 8vo, appeared in 1727; the publication of part ii., in 12 vols. 8vo, began in 1733 and ended in 1755. In 1730 there was a second edition of part i., and theAdditions and Alterationswere also published separately. ASupplement, otherwise entitledA History of the Apostles and Evangelists, Writers of the New Testament, was added in 3 vols. (1756-1757), and reprinted in 1760. Other works by Lardner areA Large Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Revelation, with Notes and Observations(4 vols., 4to, 1764-1767);The History of the Heretics of the two first Centuries after Christ, published posthumously in 1780 and a considerable number of occasional sermons.

LAREDO,a city and the county-seat of Webb county, Texas, U.S.A., and a sub-port of entry, on the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and 150 m. S. of San Antonio. Pop. (1900) 13,429, of whom 6882 were foreign-born (mostly Mexicans) and 82 negroes; (1910 census) 14,855. It is served by the International & Great Northern, the National of Mexico, the Texas Mexican and the Rio Grande & Eagle Pass railways, and is connected by bridges with Nuevo Laredo. Among the principal buildings are the U.S. Government Building, the City Hall and the County Court House; and the city’s institutions include the Laredo Seminary (1882) for boys and girls, the Mercy Hospital, the National Railroad of Mexico Hospital and an Ursuline Convent. Loma Vista Park (65 acres) is a pleasure resort, and immediately W. of Laredo on the Rio Grande is Fort McIntosh (formerly Camp Crawford), a United States military post. Laredo is a jobbing centre for trade between the United States and Mexico, and is a sub-port of entry in the Corpus Christi Customs District. It is situated in a good farming and cattle-raising region, irrigated by water from the Rio Grande. The principal crop is Bermuda onions; in 1909 it was estimated that 1500 acres in the vicinity were devoted to this crop, the average yield per acre being about 20,000 ℔. There are coal mines about 25 m. above Laredo on the Rio Grande, and natural gas was discovered about 28 m. E. in 1908. The manufacture of bricks is an important industry. Laredo was named from the seaport in Spain, and was founded in 1767 as a Mexican town; it originally included what is now Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and was long the only Mexican town on the left bank of the river. It was captured in 1846 by a force of Texas Rangers, and in 1847 was occupied by U.S. troops under General Lamar. In 1852 it was chartered as a city of Texas.

LA RÉOLE,a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Gironde, on the right bank of the Gironde, 38 m. S.E. of Bordeaux by rail. Pop. (1906) 3469. La Réole grew up round a monastery founded in the 7th or 8th century, which was reformed in the 11th century and took the name ofRegula, whence that of the town. A church of the end of the 12th century and some of the buildings (18th century) are left. There is also a town hall of the 12th and 14th centuries. The town fortifications were dismantled by order of Richelieu, but remains dating from the 12th and 14th centuries are to be seen, as well as a ruined château built by Henry II. of England. La Réole has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a communal college and an agricultural school. The town is the centre of the district in which the well-known breed of Bazadais cattle is reared. It is an agricultural market and carries on trade in the wine of the region together with liqueur distillery and the manufacture of casks, rope, brooms, &c.

LARES(older formLases), Roman tutelary deities. The word is generally supposed to mean “lords,” and identified with Etruscanlarth,lar; but this is by no means certain. The attempt to harmonize the Stoic demonology with Roman religion led to the Lares being compared with the Greek “heroes” during the period of Greco-Roman culture, and the word is frequently translatedἥρωες. In the later period of the republic they are confounded with the Penates (and other deities), though the distinction between them was probably more sharply marked in earlier times. They were originally gods of the cultivated fields, worshipped by each household where its allotment joined those of others (see below). The distinction between public and private Lares existed from early times. The latter were worshipped in the house by the family alone, and the household Lar (familiaris) was conceived of as the centre-point of the family and of the family cult. The word itself (in the singular) came to be used in the general sense of “home.” It is certain that originally each household had only one Lar; the plural was at first only used to include other classes of Lares, and only gradually, after the time of Cicero, ousted the singular. The image of the Lar, made of wood, stone or metal, sometimes even of silver, stood in its special shrine (lararium), which in early times was in the atrium, but was afterwards transferred to other parts of the house, when the family hearth was removed from the atrium. In some of the Pompeian houses thelarariumwas represented by a niche only, containing the image of the lar. It was usually a youthful figure, dressed in a short, high-girt tunic, holding in one hand arhyton(drinking-horn), in the other apatera(cup). Under the Empire we find usually two of these, one on each side of the central figure of the Genius of the head of the household, sometimes of Vesta the hearth-deity. The whole group was called indifferently Lares or Penates. A prayer was said to the Lar every morning, and at each meal offerings of food and drink were set before him; a portion of these was placed on the hearth and afterwards shaken into the fire. Special sacrifices were offered on the kalends, nones, and ides of every month, and on the occasion of important family events. Such events were the birthday of the head of the household; the assumption of thetoga virilisby a son; the festival of the Caristia in memory of deceased members of the household; recovery from illness; the entry of a young bride into the house for the first time; return home after a long absence. On these occasions the Lares were crowned with garlands, and offerings of cakes and honey, wine and incense, but especially swine, were laid before them. Their worship persisted throughout the pagan period, although its character changed considerably in later times. The emperor Alexander Severus had images of Abraham, Christ and Alexander the Great among his household Lares.

The public Lares belonged to the state religion. Amongst these must be included, at least after the time of Augustus, theLares compitales. Originally two in number, mythologically the sons of Mercurius and Lara (or Larunda), they were the presiding deities of the cross-roads (compita), where they had their special chapels. It has been maintained by some that they are the twin brothers so frequent in early religions, the Romulus and Remus of the Roman foundation legends. Their sphere of influence included not only the cross-roads, but the whole neighbouring district of the town and country in which they were situated. They had a special annual festival, called Compitalia, to which public games were added some time during the republican period. When the colleges of freedmen and slaves, who assisted the presidents of the festival, were abolished by Julius Caesar, it fell into disuse. Its importance was revived by Augustus, who added to these Lares his own Genius, the religious personification of the empire.

The state itself had its own Lares, calledpraestites, the protecting patrons and guardians of the city. They had a temple and altar on the Via Sacra, near the Palatine, and were represented on coins as young men wearing the chlamys, carrying lances, seated, with a dog, the emblem of watchfulness, at their feet. Mention may also be made of theLares grundules, whose worship was connected with the white sow of Alba Longa and its thirty young (the epithet has been connected withgrunnire, to grunt): theviales, who protected travellers; thehostilii, who kept off the enemies of the state; thepermarini, connected with the sea, to whom L. Aemilius Regillus, after a naval victory over Antiochus (190B.C.), vowed a temple in the Campus Martius, which was dedicated by M. Aemilius Lepidus the censor in 179.

The old view that the Lares were the deified ancestors of the family has been rejected lately by Wissowa, who holds that the Lar was originally the protecting spirit of a man’s lot of arable land, with a shrine at thecompitum,i.e.the spot where the path bounding his arable met that of another holding; and thence found his way into the house.

In addition to the manuals of Marquardt and Preller-Jordan, and Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologie, see A. de Marchi,Il Culto privato di Roma antica(1896-1903), p. 28 foll.; G. Wissowa,Religion und Kultus der Römer(1902), p. 148 foll.;Archiv für Religionswissenschaft(1904, p. 42 foll.) and W. Warde Fowler in the same periodical (1906; p. 529).

LA RÉVELLIÈRE-LÉPEAUX, LOUIS MARIE DE(1753-1824), French politician, member of the Directory, the son of J. B. de la Révellière, was born at Montaign (Vendée), on the 24th of August 1753. The name of Lépeaux he adopted from a small property belonging to his family, and he was known locally as M. de Lépeaux. He studied law at Angers and Paris, being called to the bar in 1775. A deputy to the states-general in 1789, he returned at the close of the session to Angers, where with his school-friends J. B. Leclerc and Urbain René Pilastre he sat on the council of Maine-et-Loire, and had to deal with the first Vendéen outbreaks. In 1792 he was returned by the department to the Convention, and on the 19th of November he proposed the famous decree by which France offered protection to foreign nations in their struggle for liberty. Although La Révellière-Lépeaux voted for the death of Louis XVI., he was not in general agreement with the extremists. Proscribed with the Girondins in 1793 he was in hiding until the revolution of 9.10 Thermidor (27th and 28th of July 1794). After serving on the commission to prepare the initiation of the new constitution he became in July 1795 president of the Assembly, and shortly afterwards a member of the Committee of Public Safety. His name stood first on the list of directors elected, and he became president of the Directory. Of his colleagues he was in alliance with Jean François Rewbell and to a less degree with Barras, but the greatest of his fellow-directors, Lazare Carnot, was the object of his undying hatred. His policy was marked by a bitter hostility to the Christian religion, which he proposed to supplant as a civilizing agent by theophilanthropy, a new religion invented by the English deist David Williams. The credit of thecoup d’étatof 18 Fructidor (4th of September 1797), by which the allied directors made themselves supreme, La Révellière arrogated to himself in hisMémoires, which in this as in other matters must be read with caution. Compelled to resign by the revolution of 30 Prairial (18th of June 1799) he lived in retirement in the country, and even after his return to Paris ten years later took no part in public affairs. He died on the 27th of March 1824.

TheMémoiresof La Révellière-Lépeaux were edited by R. D. D’Angers (Paris, 3 vols., 1895). See also E. Charavay,La Révellière-Lépeaux et ses mémoires(1895) and A. Meynier,Un Représentant de la bourgeoisie angevine(1905).

LARGENTIÈRE,a town of south-eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Ardèche, in the narrow valley of the Ligne, 29 m. S.W. of Privas by road. Pop. (1906) 1690. A church of the 12th, 13th and 15th centuries and the old castle of the bishops of Viviers, lords of Largentière, now used as a hospital, are the chief buildings. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and of a tribunal of first instance; and has silk-mills, and carries on silk-spinning, wine-growing and trade in fruit and silk. It owes its name to silver-mines worked in the vicinity in the middle ages.

LARGILLIÈRE, NICOLAS(1656-1746), French painter, was born at Paris on the 20th of October 1656. His father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three, and while a lad he spent nearly two years in London. The attempt to turn his attention to business having failed, he entered, some time after his return to Antwerp, the studio of Goubeau, quitting this at the age of eighteen to seek his fortune in England, where he was befriended by Lely, who employed him for four years at Windsor. His skill attracted the notice of Charles II., who wished to retain him in his service, but the fury aroused against Roman Catholics by the Rye House Plot alarmed Largillière, and he went to Paris, where he was well received by Le Brun and Van der Meulen. In spite of his Flemish training, his reputation, especially as a portrait-painter, was soon established; his brilliant colour and lively touch attracted all the celebrities of the day—actresses, public men and popular preachers flocking to his studio. Huet, bishop of Avranches, Cardinal de Noailles, the Duclos and President Lambert, with his beautiful wife and daughter, are amongst his most noted subjects. It is said that James II. recalled Largillière to England on his accession to the throne in 1685, that he declined the office of keeper of the royal collections, but that, during a short stay in London, he painted portraits of the king, the queen and the prince of Wales. This last is impossible, as the birth of the prince did not take place till 1688; the three portraits, therefore, painted by Largillière of the prince in his youth must all have been executed in Paris, to which city he returned some time before March 1686, when he was received by the Academy as a member, and presented as his diploma picture the fine portrait of Le Brun, now in the Louvre. He was received as an historical painter; but, although he occasionally produced works of that class (“Crucifixion,” engraved by Roettiers), and also treated subjects of still life, it was in historical portraits that he excelled. Horace Walpole states that he left in London those of Pierre van der Meulen and of Sybrecht. Several of his works are at Versailles. The church of St Étienne du Mont at Paris contains the finest example of Largillière’s work when dealing with large groups of figures; it is anex votooffered by the city to St Geneviève, painted in 1694, and containing portraits of all the leading officers of the municipality. Largillière passed through every post of honour in the Academy, until in 1743 he was made chancellor. He died on the 20th of March 1746. Jean Baptiste Oudry was the most distinguished of his pupils. Largillière’s work found skilful interpreters in Van Schuppen, Edelinck, Desplaces, Drevet, Pitou and other engravers.

LARGS,a police burgh and watering place of Ayrshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 3246. It is situated 43 m. W. by S. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway. Its fine beach and dry, bracing climate have attracted many wealthy residents, and the number of summer visitors is also large. The public buildings include the Clark hospital, the Victoria infirmary convalescent home and the Stevenson institute and mechanics’ library. Skelmorlie Aisle, the sole relic of the old parish church of St Columba, was converted into a mausoleum in 1636. Near it a mound covers remains, possibly those of the Norwegians who fell in the battle (1263) between Alexander III. and Haco, king of Norway. The harbour is used mainly by Clyde passenger steamers and yachtsmen. From the quay a broad esplanade has been constructed northwards round the bay, and there is an excellent golf course. Kelburne Castle, 2 m. S., a seat of the earl of Glasgow, stands in romantic scenery.Fairlie, 3 m. S., another seaside resort, with a station on the Glasgow & South-Western railway, is the connecting-point for Millport on Great Cumbrae. Once a fishing village, it has acquired a great reputation for its yachts.

LARGUS, SCRIBONIUS,court physician to the emperor Claudius. AboutA.D.47, at the request of Gaius Julius Callistus, the emperor’s freedman, he drew up a list of 271 prescriptions (Compositiones), most of them his own, although he acknowledged his indebtedness to his tutors, to friends and to the writings of eminent physicians. Certain old wives’ remedies are also included. The work has no pretensions to style, and contains many colloquialisms. The greater part of it was transferred without acknowledgment to the work of Marcellus Empiricus (c.410),De Medicamentis Empiricis, Physicis, et Rationabilibus, which is of great value for the correction of the text of Largus.

See the edition of theCompositionesby G. Helmreich (Teubner series, 1887).

LARINO(anc.Larinum) a town and episcopal see of the Molise (province of Campobasso), Italy, 32 m. N.E. of Campobasso by rail (20 m. direct), 984 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 7044. The cathedral, completed in 1319, has a good Gothic façade; the interior has to some extent been spoilt by later restoration. The campanile rests upon a Gothic arch erected in 1451. The Palazzo Comunale has a courtyard of the 16th century. That the ancient town (which is close to the modern) existed before the Roman supremacy had extended so far is proved by the coins. It lay in the 2nd Augustan region (Apulia), but the people belonged to the Frentani by race. Its strong position gaveit importance in the military history of Italy from the Hannibalic wars onwards. The town was amunicipium, situated on the main road to the S.E., which left the coast at Histonium (Vasto) and ran from Larinum E. to Sipontum. From Larinum a branch road ran to Bovianum Vetus. Remains of its city walls, of its amphitheatre and also of baths, &c., exist, and it did not cease to be inhabited until after the earthquake of 1300, when the modern city was established. Cluentius, the client of Cicero, who delivered a speech in his favour, was a native of Larinum, his father having been praetor of the allied forces in the Social War.

(T. As.)

LARISSA(Turk.Yeni Shehr, “new town”), the most important town of Thessaly, situated in a rich agricultural district on the right bank of the Salambria (Peneios, Peneus, Peneius), about 35 m. N.W. of Volo, with which it is connected by rail. Pop. (1889) 13,610, (1907) 18,001. Till 1881 it was the seat of a pasha in the vilayet of Jannina; it is now the capital of the Greek province and the seat of a nomarch. Its long subjection to Turkey has left little trace of antiquity, and the most striking features in the general view are the minarets of the disused mosques (only four are now in use) and the Mahommedan burying-grounds. It was formerly a Turkish military centre and most of the people were of Turkish blood. In the outskirts is a village of Africans from the Sudan—a curious remnant of the forces collected by Ali Pasha. The manufactures include Turkish leather, cotton, silk and tobacco; trade and industry, however, are far from prosperous, though improving owing to the immigration of the Greek commercial element. Fevers and agues are prevalent owing to bad drainage and the overflowing of the river; and the death-rate is higher than the birth-rate. A considerable portion of the Turkish population emigrated in 1881; a further exodus took place in 1898. The department of Larissa had in 1907 a population of 95,066.

Larissa, written Larisa on ancient coins and inscriptions, is near the site of the Homeric Argissa. It appears in early times, when Thessaly was mainly governed by a few aristocratic families, as an important city under the rule of the Aleuadae, whose authority extended over the whole district of Pelasgiotis. This powerful family possessed for many generations before 369B.C.the privilege of furnishing the Tagus, or generalissimo, of the combined Thessalian forces. The principal rivals of the Aleuadae were the Scopadae of Crannon, the remains of which (called by the TurksOld Larissa) are about 14 m. to the S.W. The inhabitants sided with Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and during the Roman invasion their city was of considerable importance. Since the 5th century it has been the seat of an archbishop, who has now fifteen suffragans. Larissa was the headquarters of Ali Pasha during the Greek War of Independence, and of the crown prince Constantine during the Greco-Turkish War; the flight of the Greek army from this place to Pharsala took place on the 23rd of April 1897. Notices of some ancient inscriptions found at Larissa are given by Miller inMélanges philologiques(Paris, 1880); several sepulchral reliefs were found in the neighbourhood in 1882. A few traces of the ancient acropolis and theatre are still visible.The name Larissa was common to many “Pelasgian” towns, and apparently signified a fortified city orburg, such as the citadel of Argos. Another town of the name in Thessaly was Larissa Cremaste, surnamed Pelasgia (Strabo ix. p. 440), situated on the slope of Mt. Othrys.

The name Larissa was common to many “Pelasgian” towns, and apparently signified a fortified city orburg, such as the citadel of Argos. Another town of the name in Thessaly was Larissa Cremaste, surnamed Pelasgia (Strabo ix. p. 440), situated on the slope of Mt. Othrys.

(J. D. B.)

LĀRISTĀN,a sub-province of the province of Fars in Persia, bounded E. and N.E. by Kerman and S. by the Persian Gulf. It lies between 26° 30′ and 28° 25′ N. and between 52° 30′ and 55° 30′ E. and has an extreme breadth and length of 120 and 210 m. respectively, with an area of about 20,000 sq. m. Pop. about 90,000. Laristan consists mainly of mountain ranges in the north and east, and of arid plains varied with rocky hills and sandy valleys stretching thence to the coast. In the highlands, where some fertile upland tracts produce corn, dates and other fruits, the climate is genial, but elsewhere it is extremely sultry, and on the low-lying coast lands malarious. Good water is everywhere so scarce that but for the rain preserved in cisterns the country would be mostly uninhabitable. Many cisterns are infested with Guinea worm (filaria medinensis, Gm.). The coast is chiefly occupied by Arab tribes who were virtually independent, paying merely a nominal tribute to the shah’s government until 1898. They reside in small towns and mud forts scattered along the coast. The people of the interior are mostly of the old Iranian stock, and there are also a few nomads of the Turkish Bahārlū tribe which came to Persia in the 11th century when the province was subdued by a Turkish chief. Laristan remained an independent state under a Turkish ruler until 1602, when Shah Ibrahim Khan was deposed and put to death by Shah ‘Abbas the Great. The province is subdivided into eight districts: (1) Lar, the capital and environs, with 34 villages; (2) Bikhah Ihsham with 11; (3) Bikhah Fal with 10; (4) Jehangiriyeh with 30; (5) Shibkuh with 36; (6) Fumistan with 13; (7) Kauristan with 4; (8) Mazayijan with 6 villages. Lingah, with its principal place Bander Lingah and 11 villages, formerly a part of Laristan, is now included in the “Persian Gulf Ports,” a separate administrative division. Laristan is famous for the condiment calledmāhiābeh(fish-jelly), a compound of pounded small sprat-like fish, salt, mustard, nutmeg, cloves and other spices, used as a relish with nearly all foods.

LARIVEY, PIERRE(c.1550-1612), French dramatist, of Italian origin, was the son of one of the Giunta, the famous printers of Florence and Venice. The family was established at Troyes and had taken the name of Larivey or L’Arrivey, by way of translation fromgiunto. Pierre Larivey appears to have cast horoscopes, and to have acted as clerk to the chapter of the church of St Étienne, of which he eventually became a canon. He has no claim to be the originator of French comedy. TheCorrivauxof Jean de la Taille dates from 1562, but Larivey naturalized the Italian comedy of intrigue in France. He adapted, rather than translated, twelve Italian comedies into French prose. The first volume of theComédies facétieusesappeared in 1579, and the second in 1611. Only nine in all were printed.1The licence of the manners depicted in these plays is matched by the coarseness of the expression. Larivey’s merit lies in the use of popular language in dialogue, which often rises to real excellence, and was not without influence on Molière and Regnard. Molière’sL’Avareowes something to the scene in Larivey’s masterpiece,Les Esprits, where Séverin laments the loss of his purse, and the opening scene of the piece seems to have suggested Regnard’sRetour imprévu. It is uncertain whether Larivey’s plays were represented, though they were evidently written for the stage. In any case prose comedy gained very little ground in popular favour before the time of Molière. Larivey was the author of many translations, varying in subject from theFacétieuses nuits(1573) of Straparola to theHumanité de Jésus-Christ(1604) from Pietro Aretino.

1Le Laquais, from theRagazzoof Ludovico Dolce;La Veuve, from theVedovaof Nicolo Buonaparte;Les Esprits, from theAridosioof Lorenzino de Medicis;Le Morfondu, from theGelosiaof Antonio Grazzini;Les Jaloux, from theGelosiof Vincent Gabbiani; andLes Escolliers, from theCeccaof Girolamo Razzi, in the first volume; and in the second,Constance, from theCostanzaof Razzi;Le Fidèle, from theFedeleof Luigi Pasqualigo; andLes Tromperies, from theInganniof N. Secchi.

LARK(O. Eng.láwerce, Ger.Lerche, Dan.Laerke, DutchLeeuwerik), a bird’s name used in a rather general sense, the specific meaning being signified by a prefix, as skylark, titlark, woodlark. It seems to be nearly conterminous with the LatinAlaudaas used by older authors; and, though this was to some extent limited by Linnaeus, several of the species included by him under the genus he so designated have long since been referred elsewhere. By Englishmen the word lark, used without qualification, almost invariably means the skylark,Alauda arvensis, which, as the best-known and most widely spread species throughout Europe, has been invariably considered the type of the genus. Of all birds it holds unquestionably the foremost place in English literature. It is one of the most favourite cage birds, as it will live for many years in captivity, and, except in the season of moult, will pour forth its thrilling song many times in an hour for weeks or months together. The skylark is probably the most plentiful of the class in western Europe. Not only does it frequent almost all unwooded districts in that quarter of the globe, but, unlike most birds, its numbers increase with the spread of agricultural improvement. Nesting chiefly in the growing corn, its eggs and young are protected in a great measure from molestation; and, as each pair of birds will rear several broodsin the season, their produce on the average may be set down as at least quadrupling the original stock—the eggs in each nest varying from five to three. Young larks leave their birthplace as soon as they can shift for themselves. When the stubbles are cleared, old and young congregate in flocks.

In Great Britain in the autumn they give place to others coming from more northerly districts, and then as winter succeeds in great part vanish, leaving but a tithe of the numbers previously present. On the approach of severe weather great flocks arrive from the continent of Europe. On the east coast of both Scotland and England this immigration has been noticed as occurring in a constant stream for as many as three days in succession. Farther inland the birds are observed “in numbers simply incalculable,” and “in countless hundreds.” In these migrations enormous numbers are netted for the markets, but the rate of reproduction is so rapid, and the conditions of life so favourable in Europe that there is no reason to fear any serious diminution in the numbers of the species.

The skylark’s range extends across the Old World from the Faeroe to the Kurile Islands. In winter it occurs in North China, Nepal, the Punjab, Persia, Palestine, Lower Egypt and Barbary. It sometimes strays to Madeira, and has been killed in Bermuda, though its unassisted appearance there is doubtful. It has been successfully introduced on Long Island, in the state of New York, into Hawaii and into New Zealand—in which latter it has become as troublesome a denizen as are some other subjects upon which acclimatization societies have exercised their activity.

Allied to the skylark a considerable number of species have been described, of which perhaps a dozen may be deemed valid, besides a supposed local race,Alauda agrestis, the difference between which and the normal bird is shown in the annexed woodcut (fig. 1), kindly lent to this work by H. E. Dresser, in whoseBirds of Europeit is described at length. These are found in various parts of Africa and Asia.

The woodlark,Lullula arborea, is a much more local and, therefore, a far less numerous bird than the skylark, from which it may be easily distinguished by its finer bill, shorter tail, more spotted breast and light superciliary stripe. Though not actually inhabiting woods, as its common name might imply, it is seldom found far from trees. Its song wants the variety and power of the skylark’s, but has a resonant sweetness peculiarly its own. The bird, however, requires much care in captivity. It has by no means so wide a range as the skylark, and perhaps the most eastern locality recorded for it is Erzerum, while its appearance in Egypt and even in Algeria must be accounted rare.

Not far removed from the foregoing is a group of larks characterized by a larger crest, a stronger and more curved bill, a rufous lining to the wings, and some other minor features. This group has been generally termedGalerita, and has for its type the crested lark, theAlauda cristataof Linnaeus, a bird common enough in parts of France and some other countries of the European continent, and one which has been obtained several times in the British Islands. Many of the birds of this group frequent the borders if not the interior of deserts, and such as do so exhibit a more or less pale coloration, whereby they are assimilated in hue to that of their haunts. The same characteristic may be observed in several other groups—especially those known as belonging to the generaCalandrella,AmmomanesandCerthilauda, some species of which are of a light sandy or cream colour. The genus last named is of very peculiar appearance, presenting in some respects an extraordinary resemblance to the hoopoes, so much so that the first specimen described was referred to the genusUpupa, and namedU. alaudipes. The resemblance, however, is merely one of analogy.

There is, however, abundant evidence of the susceptibility of the Alaudine structure to modification from external circumstances—in other words, of its plasticity; and perhaps no homogeneous group ofPasserescould be found which better displays the working of natural selection. Almost every character that among Passerine birds is accounted most sure is in the larks found subject to modification. The form of the bill varies in an extraordinary degree. In the woodlark (fig. 2, A), already noticed, it is almost as slender as a warbler’s; inAmmomanesit is short; inCerthilauda(fig. 2, B) it is elongated and curved; inPyrrhulaudaandMelanocorypha(fig. 3, A) it is stout and finchlike; while inRhamphocorys(fig. 3, B) it is exaggerated to an extent that surpasses almost any Fringilline form, exceeding in its development that found in some members of the perplexing genusParadoxornis, and even presenting a resemblance to the same feature in the far-distantAnastomus—the tomia of the maxilla not meeting those of the mandibula along their whole length, but leaving an open space between them. The hind claw, generally greatly elongated in larks, is inCalandrella(fig. 4) and some other genera reduced to a very moderate size. The wings exhibit almost every modification, from the almost entire abortion of the first primary in the skylark to its considerable development (fig. 5), and from tertials and scapulars of ordinary length to the extreme elongation found in theMotacillidaeand almost in certainLimicolae. The most constant character indeed of theAlaudidaewould seem to be that afforded by thepodothecaor covering of the tarsus, which is scutellate behind as well as in front, but a character easily overlooked.1

In the Old World larks are found in most parts of thePalaearctic, Ethiopian and Indian regions; but only one genus,Mirafra, inhabits Australia, where it is represented by, so far as is ascertained, a single species,M. horsfieldi; and there is no true lark indigenous to New Zealand. In the New World there is also only one genus,Otocorys, where it is represented by many races, some of which closely approach the Old World shore-lark,O. alpestris. The shore-lark is in Europe a native of only the extreme north, but is very common near the shores of the Varanger Fjord, and likewise breeds on mountain-tops farther south-west, though still well within the Arctic circle. The mellow tone of its call-note has obtained for it in Lapland a name signifying “bell-bird,” and the song of the cock is lively, though not very loud. The bird trustfully resorts to the neighbourhood of houses, and even enters the villages of East Finmark in search of its food. It produces at least two broods in the season, and towards autumn migrates to lower latitudes in large flocks. These have been observed in winter on the east coast of Great Britain, and the species instead of being regarded, as it once was, in the light of an accidental visitor to the United Kingdom, must now be deemed an almost regular visitor, though in very varying numbers. The observations on its habits made by Audubon in Labrador have long been known, and often reprinted. Other congeners of this bird are theO. penicillataof south-eastern Europe, Palestine and central Asia—to which are referred by H. E. Dresser (B. Europe, iv. 401) several other forms originally described as distinct. All these birds, which have been termed horned larks, from the tuft of elongated black feathers growing on each side of the head, form a little group easily recognized by their peculiar coloration, which calls to mind some of the ringed plovers,Aegialitis.

The name of lark is also frequently applied to many birds which do not belong to theAlaudidaeas now understood. The mud-lark, rock-lark, tit-lark and tree-lark are pipits (q.v.). The grasshopper-lark is one of the aquatic warblers (q.v.), while the so-called meadow-lark of America is an Icterus (q.v.). Sand-lark and sea-lark are likewise names often given to some of the smaller members of theLimicolae. Of the true larks,Alaudidae, there may be perhaps about one hundred species, and it is believed to be a physiological character of the family that they moult but once in the year, while the pipits, which in general appearance much resemble them, undergo a double moult, as do others of theMotacillidae, to which they are most nearly allied.

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