Chapter 14

LAWSON, CECIL GORDON(1851-1882), English landscape painter, was the youngest son of William Lawson of Edinburgh, esteemed as a portrait painter. His mother also was known for her flower pieces. He was born near Shrewsbury on the 3rd of December 1851. Two of his brothers (one of them, Malcolm, a clever musician and song-writer) were trained as artists, and Cecil was from childhood devoted to art with the intensity of a serious nature. Soon after his birth the Lawsons moved to London. Lawson’s first works were studies of fruit, flowers, &c., in the manner of W. Hunt; followed by riverside Chelsea subjects. His first exhibit at the Royal Academy (1870) was “Cheyne Walk,” and in 1871 he sent two other Chelsea subjects. These gained full recognition from fellow-artists, if not from the public. Among his friends were now numbered Fred Walker, G. J. Pinwell and their associates. Following them, he made a certain number of drawings for wood-engraving. Lawson’s Chelsea pictures had been painted in somewhat low and sombre tones; in the “Hymn to Spring” of 1872 (rejected by the Academy) he turned to a more joyous play of colour, helped by work in more romantic scenes in North Wales and Ireland. Early in 1874 he made a short tour in Holland, Belgium and Paris; and in the summer he painted his large “Hop Gardens of England.” This was much praised at the Academy of 1876. But Lawson’s triumph was with the great luxuriant canvas “The Minister’s Garden,” exhibited in 1878 at the Grosvenor Gallery, and now in the Manchester Art Gallery. This was followed by several works conceivedin a new and tragic mood. His health began to fail, but he worked on. He married in 1879 the daughter of Birnie Philip, and settled at Haslemere. His later subjects are from this neighbourhood (the most famous being “The August Moon,” now in the National Gallery of British Art) or from Yorkshire. Towards the end of 1881 he went to the Riviera, returned in the spring, and died at Haslemere on the 10th of June 1882. Lawson may be said to have restored to English landscape the tradition of Gainsborough, Crome and Constable, infused with an imaginative intensity of his own. Among English landscape painters of the latter part of the 19th century his is in many respects the most interesting name.

See E. W. Gosse,Cecil Lawson, a Memoir(1883); Heseltine Owen, “In Memoriam: Cecil Gordon Lawson,”Magazine of Art(1894).

(L. B.)

LAWSON, SIR JOHN(d. 1665), British sailor, was born at Scarborough. Joining the parliamentary navy in 1642, he accompanied Penn to the Mediterranean in 1650, where he served for some time. In 1652 he served under Blake in the Dutch War and was present at the first action in the Downs and the battle of the Kentish Knock. At Portland, early in 1653, he was vice-admiral of the red, and his ship was severely handled. Lawson took part in the battles of June and July in the following summer. In 1654-1655 he commanded in the North Sea and the Channel. Appointed in January 1655-1656 as Blake’s second-in-command, Lawson was a few weeks later summarily dismissed from his command, probably for political reasons. He was a Republican and Anabaptist, and therefore an enemy to Cromwell. It is not improbable that like Penn and others he was detected in correspondence with the exiled Charles II., who certainly hoped for his support. In 1657, along with Harrison and others, he was arrested and, for a short time, imprisoned for conspiring against Cromwell. Afterwards he lived at Scarborough until the fall of Richard Cromwell’s government. During the troubled months which succeeded that event Lawson, flying his flag as admiral of the Channel fleet, played a marked political rôle. His ships escorted Charles to England, and he was soon afterwards knighted. Sent out in 1661 with Montagu, earl of Sandwich, to the Mediterranean, Lawson conducted a series of campaigns against the piratical states of the Algerian coast. Thence summoned to a command in the Dutch War, he was mortally wounded at Lowestoft. He died on the 29th of June 1665.

See Charnock,Biographia navalis, i. 20; Campbell,Lives of the Admirals, ii. 251; Penn,Life of Sir William Penn; Pepys,Diary.

LAWSON, SIR WILFRID, Bart. (1829-1906), English politician and temperance leader, son of the 1st baronet (d. 1867), was born on the 4th of September 1829. He was always an enthusiast in the cause of total abstinence, and in parliament, to which he was first elected in 1859 for Carlisle, he became its leading spokesman. In 1864 he first introduced his Permissive Bill, giving to a two-thirds majority in any district a veto upon the granting of licences for the sale of intoxicating liquors; and though this principle failed to be embodied in any act, he had the satisfaction of seeing a resolution on its lines accepted by a majority in the House of Commons in 1880, 1881 and 1883. He lost his seat for Carlisle in 1865, but in 1868 was again returned as a supporter of Mr Gladstone, and was member till 1885; though defeated for the new Cockermouth division of Cumberland in 1885, he won that seat in 1886, and he held it till the election of 1900, when his violent opposition to the Boer War caused his defeat, but in 1903 he was returned for the Camborne division of Cornwall and at the general election of 1906 was once more elected for his old constituency in Cumberland. During all these years he was the champion of the United Kingdom Alliance (founded 1853), of which he became president. An extreme Radical, he also supported disestablishment, abolition of the House of Lords, and disarmament. Though violent in the expression of his opinions, Sir Wilfrid Lawson remained very popular for his own sake both in and out of the House of Commons; he became well known for his humorous vein, his faculty for composing topical doggerel being often exercised on questions of the day. He died on the 1st of July 1906.

LAY,a word of several meanings. Apart from obsolete and dialectical usages, such as the East Anglian word meaning “pond,” possibly cognate with Lat.lacus, pool or lake, or its use in weaving for the batten of a loom, where it is a variant form of “lath,” the chief uses are as follows: (1) A song or, more accurately, a short poem, lyrical or narrative, which could be sung or accompanied by music; such were the romances sung by minstrels. Such an expression as the “Lay of the Nibelungen” is due to mistaken association of the word with Ger.Lied, song, which appears in Anglo-Saxon asléoð. “Lay” comes from O. Fr.lai, of which the derivation is doubtful. TheNew English Dictionaryrejects Celtic origins sometimes put forward, such as Ir.laoidh, Welshllais, and takes O. Mid. and High Ger.leichas the probable source. (2) “Non-clerical” or “unlearned.” In this sense “lay” comes directly from Fr.lai(laïque, the learned form nearer to the Latin, is now used) from Lat.laicus, Gr.λαϊκός, of or belonging to the people (λαός, Atticλεώς). The word is now specially applied to persons who are not in orders, and more widely to those who do not belong to other learned professions, particularly the law and medicine. TheNew English Dictionaryquotes two examples from versions of the Bible. In the Douai version of 1 Sam. xxi. 4, Ahimelech tells David that he has “no lay bread at hand but only holy bread”; here the Authorized Version has “common bread,” the Vulgatelaicos panes. In Coverdale’s version of Acts iv. 13, the high priest and his kindred marvel at Peter and John as being “unlearned and lay people”; the Authorized Version has “unlearned and ignorant men.” In a cathedral of the Church of England “lay clerks” and “lay vicars” sing such portions of the service as may be performed by laymen and clergy in minor orders. “Lay readers” are persons who are granted a commission by the bishop to perform certain religious duties in a particular parish. The commission remains in force until it is revoked by the bishop or his successors, or till there is a new incumbent in the parish, when it has to be renewed. In a religious order a “lay brother” is freed from duties at religious services performed by the other members, and from their studies, but is bound by vows of obedience and chastity and serves the order by manual labour. For “lay impropriator” seeAppropriation, and for “lay rector” seeRectorandTithes; see furtherLaymen, House of. (3) “Lay” as a verb means “to make to lie down,” “to place upon the ground,” &c. The past tense is “laid”; it is vulgarly confused with the verb “to lie,” of which the past is “lay.” The common root of both “lie” and “lay” is represented by O. Teut.leg; cf. Dutchleggen, Ger.legen, and Eng. “ledge.”1(4) “Lay-figure” is the name commonly given to articulated figures of human beings or animals, made of wood, papier-maché or other materials; draped and posed, such figures serve as models for artists (seeModels,Artists). The word has no connexion with “to lay,” to place in position, but is an adaptation of the word “layman,” commonly used with this meaning in the 18th century. This was adapted from Dutchleeman(the older form isledenman) and meant an “articulated or jointed man” fromled, nowlid, a joint; cf. Ger.Gliedermann.

1The verb “to lie,” to speak falsely, to tell a falsehood, is in O. Eng.léogan; it appears in most Teutonic languages,e.g.Dutchlugen, Ger.lügen.

LAYA, JEAN LOUIS(1761-1833), French dramatist, was born in Paris on the 4th of December 1761 and died in August 1833. He wrote his first comedy in collaboration with Gabriel M. J. B. Legouvé in 1785, but the piece, though accepted by the Comédie Française, was never represented. In 1789 he produced a plea for religious toleration in the form of a five-act tragedy in verse,Jean Calas; the injustice of the disgrace cast on a family by the crime of one of its members formed the theme ofLes Dangers de l’opinion(1790); but it is by hisAmi des lois(1793) that Laya is remembered. This energetic protest against mob-rule, with its scarcely veiled characterizations of Robespierre as Nomophage and of Marat as Duricrâne, was an act of the highest courage, for the play was produced at the Théâtre Français (temporarily Théâtre de la Nation) onlynineteen days before the execution of Louis XVI. Ten days after its first production the piece was prohibited by the commune, but the public demanded its representation; the mayor of Paris was compelled to appeal to the convention, and the piece was played while some 30,000 Parisians guarded the hall. Laya went into hiding, and several persons convicted of having a copy of the obnoxious play in their possession were guillotined. At the end of the Terror Laya returned to Paris. In 1813 he replaced Delille in the Paris chair of literary history and French poetry; he was admitted to the Academy in 1817. Laya produced in 1797Les Deux Stuarts, and in 1799Falkland, the title-rôle of which provided Talma with one of his finest opportunities. Laya’s works, which chiefly owe their interest to the circumstances attending their production, were collected in 1836-1837.

SeeNotice biographique sur J. L. Laya(1833); Ch. Nodier,Discours de réception, 26th December (1833); Welschinger,Théâtre de la révolution(1880).

LAYAMON,early English poet, was the author of a chronicle of Britain entitledBrut, a paraphrase of theBrut d’Angleterreby Wace, a native of Jersey, who is also known as the author of theRoman de Rou. The excellent edition of Layamon by Sir F. Madden (Society of Antiquaries, London, 1847) should be consulted. All that is known concerning Layamon is derived from two extant MSS., which present texts that often vary considerably, and it is necessary to understand their comparative value before any conclusions can be drawn. The older text (here called the A-text) lies very near the original text, which is unfortunately lost, though it now and then omits lines which are absolutely necessary to the sense. The later text (here called the B-text) represents a later recension of the original version by another writer who frequently omits couplets, and alters the language by the substitution of better-known words for such as seemed to be obsolescent;e.g.harme(harm) in place ofbalewe(bale), anddeadin place offeie(fated to die, or dead). Hence little reliance can be placed on the B-text, its chief merit being that it sometimes preserves couplets which seem to have been accidentally omitted in A; besides which, it affords a valuable commentary on the original version.

We learn from the brief prologue that Layamon was a priest among the people, and was the son of Leovenath (a late spelling of A.-S. Leofnoth); also, that he lived at Ernley, at a noble church on Severn bank, close by Radstone. This is certainly Areley Regis, or Areley Kings, close by Redstone rock and ferry, 1 m. to the S. of Stourport in Worcestershire. The B-text turns Layamon into the later form Laweman,i.e.Law-man, correctly answering to Chaucer’s “Man of Lawe,” though here apparently used as a mere name. It also turns Leovenath into Leuca,i.e.Leofeca, a diminutive of Leofa, which is itself a pet-name for Leofnoth; so that there is no real contradiction. But it absurdly substitutes “with the good knight,” which is practically meaningless, for “at a noble church.”

We know no more about Layamon except that he was a great lover of books; and that he procured three books in particular which he prized above others, “turning over the leaves, and beholding them lovingly.” These were: the English book that St Beda made; another in Latin that St Albin and St Austin made; whilst the third was made by a French clerk named Wace, who (in 1155) gave a copy to the noble Eleanor, who was queen of the high king Henry (i.e.Henry II.).

The first of these really means the Anglo-Saxon translation of Beda’sEcclesiastical History, which begins with the words: “Ic Beda, Cristes theow,”i.e.“I, Beda, Christ’s servant.” The second is a strange description of the original of the translation,i.e.Albinus Beda’s own Latin book, the second paragraph of which begins with the words: “Auctor ante omnes atque adiutor opusculi huius Albinus Abba reverentissimus vir per omnia doctissimus extitit”; which Layamon evidently misunderstood. As to the share of St Augustine in this work, see Book I., chapters 23-34, and Book II., chapters 1 and 2, which are practically all concerned with him and occupy more than a tenth of the whole work. The third book was Wace’s poem,Brut d’Angleterre. But we find that although Layamon had ready access to all three of these works, he soon settled down to the translation of the third, without troubling much about the others. His chief obligation to Beda is for the well-known story about Pope Gregory and the English captives at Rome; see Layamon, vol. iii. 180.

It is impossible to enter here upon a discussion of the numerous points of interest which a proper examination of this vast and important work would present to any careful inquirer. Only a few bare results can be here enumerated. The A-text may be dated about 1205, and the B-text (practically by another writer) about 1275. Both texts, the former especially, are remarkably free from admixture with words of French origin; the lists that have been given hitherto are inexact, but it may be said that the number of French words in the A-text can hardly exceed 100, or in the B-text 160. Layamon’s work is largely original; Wace’sBrutcontains 15,300 lines, and Layamon’s 32,240 lines of a similar length; and many of Layamon’s additions to Wace are notable, such as his story “regarding the fairy elves at Arthur’s birth, and his transportation by them after death in a boat to Avalon, the abode of Argante, their queen”; see Sir F. Madden’s pref. p. xv. Wace’sBrutis almost wholly a translation of the Latin chronicle concerning the early history of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who said that he obtained his materials from a manuscript written in Welsh. The name Brut is the French form of Brutus, who was the fabulous grandson of Ascanius, and great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, the hero of Virgil’sAeneid. After many adventures, this Brutus arrived in England, founded Troynovant or New Troy (better known as London), and was the progenitor of a long line of British kings, among whom were Locrine, Bladud, Leir, Gorboduc, Ferrex and Porrex, Lud, Cymbeline, Constantine, Vortigern, Uther and Arthur; and from this mythical Brutus the name Brut was transferred so as to denote the entire chronicle of this British history. Layamon gives the whole story, from the time of Brutus to that of Cadwalader, who may be identified with the Caedwalla of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, baptized by Pope Sergius in the year 688. Both texts of Layamon are in a south-western dialect; the A-text in particular shows the Wessex dialect of earlier times (commonly called Anglo-Saxon) in a much later form, and we can hardly doubt that the author, as he intimates, could read the old version of Beda intelligently. The remarks upon the B-text in Sir F. Madden’s preface are not to the point; the peculiar spellings to which he refers (such assameforshame) are by no means due to any confusion with the Northumbrian dialect, but rather to the usual vagaries of a scribe who knew French better than English, and had some difficulty in acquiring the English pronunciation and in representing it accurately. At the same time, he was not strong in English grammar, and was apt to confuse the plural form with the singular in the tenses of verbs; and this is the simple explanation of most of the examples of so-called “nunnation” in this poem (such as the use ofwoldenforwolde), which only existed in writing and must not be seriously considered as representing real spoken sounds. The full proof of this would occupy too much space; but it should be noticed that, in many instances, “this pleonasticnhas been struck out or erased by a second hand.” In other instances it has escaped notice, and that is all that need be said. The peculiar metre of the poem has been sufficiently treated by J. Schipper. An abstract of the poem has been given by Henry Morley; and good general criticisms of it by B. ten Brink and others.

SeeLayamon’s Brut, or a Chronicle of Britain;a Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of the Brut of Wace; ...by Sir F. Madden (1847); B. ten Brink,Early English Literature, trans. by H. M. Kennedy (in Bonn’s Standard Library, 1885); H. Morley,English Writers, vol. iii. (1888); J. Schipper,Englische Metrik, i. (Bonn, 1882), E. Guest,A History of English Rhythms(new ed. by W. W. Skeat, 1882), Article “Layamon,” in theDict. Nat. Biog.; Six Old English Chronicles, including Gildas, Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth (in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library);Le Roux de Lincy, Le Roman de Brut, par Wace, avec un commentaire et des notes(Rouen, 1836-1838), E. Mätzner,Altenglische Sprachproben(Berlin, 1867).

(W. W. S.)

LAYARD, SIR AUSTEN HENRY(1817-1894), British author and diplomatist, the excavator of Nineveh, was born in Paris on the 5th of March 1817. The Layards were of Huguenot descent. His father, Henry P. J. Layard, of the Ceylon Civil Service, was the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of Bristol, and grandson of Daniel Peter Layard, the physician. Through his mother, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate, he inherited Spanish blood. This strain of cosmopolitanism must have been greatly strengthened by the circumstances of his education. Much of his boyhood was spent in Italy, where he received part of his schooling, and acquired a taste for the fine arts and a love of travel; but he was at school also in England, France and Switzerland. After spending nearly six years in the office of his uncle, Benjamin Austen, a solicitor, he was tempted to leave England for Ceylon by the prospect of obtaining an appointment in the civil service, and he started in 1839 with the intention of making an overland journey across Asia. After wandering for many months, chiefly in Persia, and having abandoned his intention of proceeding to Ceylon, he returned in 1842 to Constantinople, where he made the acquaintance of Sir Stratford Canning, the British ambassador, who employed him in various unofficial diplomatic missions in European Turkey. In 1845, encouraged and assisted by Canning, Layard left Constantinople to make those explorations among the ruins of Assyria with which his name is chiefly associated. This expedition was in fulfilment of a design which he had formed, when, during his former travels in the East, his curiosity had been greatly excited by the ruins of Nimrud on the Tigris, and by the great mound of Kuyunjik, near Mosul, already partly excavated by Botta. Layard remained in the neighbourhood of Mosul, carrying on excavations at Kuyunjik and Nimrud, and investigating the condition of various tribes, until 1847; and, returning to England in 1848, publishedNineveh and its Remains: with an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-worshippers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians(2 vols., 1848-1849). To illustrate the antiquities described in this work he published a large folio volume ofIllustrations of the Monuments of Nineveh(1849). After spending a few months in England, and receiving the degree of D.C.L. from the university of Oxford, Layard returned to Constantinople as attaché to the British embassy, and, in August 1849, started on a second expedition, in the course of which he extended his investigations to the ruins of Babylon and the mounds of southern Mesopotamia. His record of this expedition,Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, which was illustrated by another folio volume, calledA Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh, was published in 1853. During these expeditions, often in circumstances of great difficulty, Layard despatched to England the splendid specimens which now form the greater part of the collection of Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum. Apart from the archaeological value of his work in identifying Kuyunjik as the site of Nineveh, and in providing a great mass of materials for scholars to work upon, these two books of Layard’s are among the best-written books of travel in the language.

Layard now turned to politics. Elected as a Liberal member for Aylesbury in 1852, he was for a few weeks under-secretary for foreign affairs, but afterwards freely criticized the government, especially in connexion with army administration. He was present in the Crimea during the war, and was a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the conduct of the expedition. In 1855 he refused from Lord Palmerston an office not connected with foreign affairs, was elected lord rector of Aberdeen university, and on 15th June moved a resolution in the House of Commons (defeated by a large majority) declaring that in public appointments merit had been sacrificed to private influence and an adherence to routine. After being defeated at Aylesbury in 1857, he visited India to investigate the causes of the Mutiny. He unsuccessfully contested York in 1859, but was elected for Southwark in 1860, and from 1861 to 1866 was under-secretary for foreign affairs in the successive administrations of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell. In 1866 he was appointed a trustee of the British Museum, and in 1868 chief commissioner of works in W. E. Gladstone’s government and a member of the Privy Council. He retired from parliament in 1869, on being sent as envoy extraordinary to Madrid. In 1877 he was appointed by Lord Beaconsfield ambassador at Constantinople, where he remained until Gladstone’s return to power in 1880, when he finally retired from public life. In 1878, on the occasion of the Berlin conference, he received the grand cross of the Bath. Layard’s political life was somewhat stormy. His manner was brusque, and his advocacy of the causes which he had at heart, though always perfectly sincere, was vehement to the point sometimes of recklessness. Layard retired to Venice, where he devoted much of his time to collecting pictures of the Venetian school, and to writing on Italian art. On this subject he was a disciple of his friend G. Morelli, whose views he embodied in his revision of F. Kugler’sHandbook of Painting, Italian Schools(1887). He wrote also an introduction to Miss Ffoulkes’s translation of Morelli’sItalian Painters(1892-1893), and edited that part of Murray’sHandbook of Rome(1894) which deals with pictures. In 1887 he published, from notes taken at the time, a record of his first journey to the East, entitledEarly Adventures in Persia, Susiana and Babylonia. An abbreviation of this work, which as a book of travel is even more delightful than its predecessors, was published in 1894, shortly after the author’s death, with a brief introductory notice by Lord Aberdare. Layard also from time to time contributed papers to various learned societies, including the Huguenot Society, of which he was first president. He died in London on the 5th of July 1894.

(A. Gl.)

LAYMEN, HOUSES OF,deliberative assemblies of the laity of the Church of England, one for the province of Canterbury, and the other for the province of York. That of Canterbury was formed in 1886, and that of York shortly afterwards. They are merely consultative bodies, and the primary intention of their foundation was to associate the laity in the deliberations of convocation. They have no legal status. The members are elected by the various diocesan conferences, which are in turn elected by the laity of their respective parishes or rural deaneries. Ten members are appointed for the diocese of London, six for each of the dioceses of Winchester, Rochester, Lichfield and Worcester; and four for each of the remaining dioceses. The president of each house has the discretionary power of appointing additional laymen, not exceeding ten in number.

LAYNEZ(orLainez),DIEGO(1512-1565), the second general of the Society of Jesus, was born in Castile, and after studying at Alcala joined Ignatius of Loyola in Paris, being one of the six who with Loyola in August 1534 took the vow of missionary work in Palestine in the Montmartre church. This plan fell through, and Laynez became professor of scholastic theology at Sapienza. After the order had been definitely established (1540) Laynez was sent to Germany. He was one of the pope’s theologians at the council of Trent (q.v.), where he played a weighty and decisive part. When Loyola died in 1556 Laynez acted as vicar of the society, and two years later became general. Before his death at Rome, on the 19th of January 1565, he had immensely strengthened the despotic constitution of the order and developed its educational activities (seeJesuits).

HisDisputationes Tridentinaewere published in 2 volumes in 1886. Lives by Michel d’Esne (Douai, 1597) and Pet. Ribadeneira (Madrid, 1592; Lat. trans. by A. Schott, Antwerp, 1598). See also H. Müller,Les Origines de la Compagnie de Jésus: Ignace et Lainez(1898).

LAZAR,one afflicted with the disease of leprosy (q.v.). The term is an adaptation in medieval Latin of the name of Lazarus (q.v.), in Luke xvi. 20, who was supposed to be a leper. The word was not confined to persons suffering from leprosy; thus Caxton (The Life of Charles the Great, 37), “there atte laste were guarysshed and heled viij lazars of the palesey.”

LazarettoorLazar-Houseis a hospital for the reception of poor persons suffering from the plague, leprosy or other infectious or contagious diseases. A peculiar use of “lazaretto” is found in the application of the term, now obsolete, to a place in the after-part of a merchant vessel for the storage of provisions, &c.Lazzarone, a name now often applied generally to beggars, is an Italian term, particularly used of the poorest class of Neapolitans, who, without any fixed abode, live by odd jobs and fishing, but chiefly by begging.

LAZARITES(LazaristsorLazarians), the popular names of the “Congregation of Priests of the Mission” in the Roman Catholic Church. It had its origin in the successful mission to the common people conducted by St Vincent de Paul (q.v.) and five other priests on the estates of the Gondi family. More immediately it dates from 1624, when the little community acquired a permanent settlement in the collège des Bons Enfans in Paris. Archiepiscopal recognition was obtained in 1626; by a papal bull of the 12th of January 1632, the society was constituted a congregation, with St Vincent de Paul at its head. About the same time the canons regular of St Victor handed over to the congregation the priory of St Lazarus (formerly a lazar-house) in Paris, whence the name of Lazarites or Lazarists. Within a few years they had acquired another house in Paris and set up other establishments throughout France; missions were also sent to Italy (1638), Tunis (1643), Algiers and Ireland (1646), Madagascar (1648) and Poland (1651). A fresh bull of Alexander VII. in April 1655 further confirmed the society; this was followed by a brief in September of the same year, regulating its constitution. The rules then adopted, which were framed on the model of those of the Jesuits, were published at Paris in 1668 under the titleRegulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis. The special objects contemplated were the religious instruction of the lower classes, the training of the clergy and foreign missions. During the French Revolution the congregation was suppressed and St Lazare plundered by the mob; it was restored by Napoleon in 1804 at the desire of Pius VII., abolished by him in 1809 in consequence of a quarrel with the pope, and again restored in 1816. The Lazarites were expelled from Italy in 1871 and from Germany in 1873. The Lazarite province of Poland was singularly prosperous; at the date of its suppression in 1796 it possessed thirty-five establishments. The order was permitted to return in 1816, but is now extinct there. In Madagascar it had a mission from 1648 till 1674. In 1783 Lazarites were appointed to take the place of the Jesuits in the Levantine and Chinese missions; they still have some footing in China, and in 1874 their establishments throughout the Turkish empire numbered sixteen. In addition, they established branches in Persia, Abyssinia, Mexico, the South American republics, Portugal, Spain and Russia, some of which have been suppressed. In the same year they had fourteen establishments in the United States of America. The total number of Lazarites throughout the world is computed at about 3000. Amongst distinguished members of the congregation may be mentioned: P. Collet (1693-1770), writer on theology and ethics; J. de la Grive (1689-1757), geographer; E. Boré (d. 1878), orientalist; P. Bertholon (1689-1757), physician; and Armand David, Chinese missionary and traveller.

SeeRegulae seu constitutiones communes congregationis missionis(Paris, 1668);Mémoires de la congrégation de la mission(1863);Congrégation de la mission. Répertoire historique(1900);Notices bibliographiques sur les écrivains de la congrégation de la mission(Angoulême, 1878); P. Hélyot,Dict. des ordres religieux, viii. 64-77; M. Heimbrecher,Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche, ii. (1897); C. Stork in Wetzer and Welte’sKirchenlexikon(Catholic), vii.; E. Bougaud,History of St Vincent de Paul(1908).

LAZARUS(a contracted form of the Heb. name Eleazar, “God has helped,” Gr.Λάζαρος), a name which occurs in the New Testament in two connexions.

1.Lazarus of Bethany, brother of Martha and Mary. The story that he died and after four days was raised from the dead is told by John (xi., xii.) only, and is not mentioned by the Synoptists. By many this is regarded as the greatest of Christ’s miracles. It produced a great effect upon many Jews; theActa Pilatisays that Pilate trembled when he heard of it, and, according to Bayle’sDictionary, Spinoza declared that if he were persuaded of its truth he would become a Christian. The story has been attacked more vigorously than any other portion of the Fourth Gospel, mainly on two grounds, (i.) the fact that, in spite of its striking character, it is omitted by the Synoptists, and (ii.) its unique significance. The personality of Lazarus in John’s account, his relation to Martha and Mary, and the possibility that John reconstructed the story by the aid of inferences from the story of the supper in Luke x. 40, and that of the anointing of Christ in Bethany given by Mark and Matthew, are among the chief problems. The controversy has given rise to a great mass of literature, discussions of which will be found in the lives of Christ, the biblical encyclopaedias and the commentaries on St John.

2.Lazarusis also the name given by Luke (xvi. 20) to the beggar in the parable known as that of “Lazarus and Dives,”1illustrating the misuse of wealth. There is little doubt that the name is introduced simply as part of the parable, and not with any idea of identifying the beggar with Lazarus of Bethany. It is curious, not only that Luke’s story does not appear in the other gospels, but also that in no other of Christ’s parables is a name given to the central character. Hence it was in early times thought that the story was historical, not allegorical (seeLazar).

1The English Bible does not use Lat.Dives(rich) as a proper name, saying merely “a certain rich man.” The idea that Dives was a proper name arose from the Vulgatequidam dives, whence it became a conventional name for a rich man.

LAZARUS, EMMA(1849-1887), American Jewish poetess, was born in New York. When the Civil War broke out she was soon inspired to lyric expression. Her first book (1867) included poems and translations which she wrote between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. As yet her models were classic and romantic. At the age of twenty-one she publishedAdmetus and other Poems(1871).Admetusis inscribed to Emerson, who greatly influenced her, and with whom she maintained a regular correspondence for several years. She led a retired life, and had a modest conception of her own powers. Much of her next work appeared inLippincott’s Magazine, but in 1874 she published a prose romance (Alide) based on Goethe’s autobiography, and received a generous letter of admiration from Turgeniev. Two years later she visited Concord and made the acquaintance of the Emerson circle, and while there read the proof-sheets of her tragedyThe Spagnoletto. In 1881 she published her excellent translations of Heine’s poems. Meanwhile events were occurring which appealed to her Jewish sympathies and gave a new turn to her feeling. The Russian massacres of 1880-1881 were a trumpet-call to her. So far her Judaism had been latent. She belonged to the oldest Jewish congregation of New York, but she had not for some years taken a personal part in the observances of the synagogue. But from this time she took up the cause of her race, and “her verse rang out as it had never rung before, a clarion note, calling a people to heroic action and unity; to the consciousness and fulfilment of a grand destiny.” Her poems, “The Crowing of the Red Cock” and “The Banner of the Jew” (1882) stirred the Jewish consciousness and helped to produce the new Zionism (q.v.). She now wrote another drama, theDance to Death, the scene of which is laid in Nordhausen in the 14th century; it is based on the accusation brought against the Jews of poisoning the wells and thus causing the Black Death. TheDance to Deathwas included (with some translations of medieval Hebrew poems) inSongs of a Semite(1882), which she dedicated to George Eliot. In 1885 she visited Europe. She devoted much of the short remainder of her life to the cause of Jewish nationalism. In 1887 appearedBy the waters of Babylon, which consists of a series of “prose poems,” full of prophetic fire. She died in New York on the 19th of November 1887. A sonnet by Emma Lazarus is engraved on a memorial tablet on the colossal Bartholdi statue of Liberty, New York.

See article in theCentury Magazine, New Series, xiv. 875 (portrait p. 803), afterwards prefixed as aMemoirto the collected edition ofThe poems of Emma Lazarus(2 vols., 1889).

(I. A.)

LAZARUS, HENRY(1815-1895), British clarinettist, was born in London on the 1st of January 1815, and was a pupil of Blizard, bandmaster of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, and subsequently of Charles Godfrey, senior, bandmaster of the Coldstream Guards. He made his first appearance as a soloist at a concert of Mme Dulcken’s, in April 1838, and in that yearhe was appointed as second clarinet to the Sacred Harmonic Society. From Willman’s death in 1840 Lazarus was principal clarinet at the opera, and all the chief festivals and orchestral concerts. His beautiful tone, excellent phrasing and accurate execution were greatly admired. He was professor of the clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music from 1854 until within a short time of his death, and was appointed to teach his instrument at the Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, in 1858. His last public appearance was at a concert for his benefit in St James’s Hall, in June 1892, and he died on the 6th of March 1895.

LAZARUS, MORITZ(1824-1903), German philosopher, was born on the 15th of September 1824 at Filehne, Posen. The son of a rabbinical scholar, he was educated in Hebrew literature and history, and subsequently in law and philosophy at the university of Berlin. From 1860 to 1866 he was professor in the university of Berne, and subsequently returned to Berlin as professor of philosophy in the kriegsakademie (1868) and later in the university of Berlin (1873). On the occasion of his seventieth birthday he was honoured with the title ofGeheimrath. The fundamental principle of his philosophy was that truth must be sought not in metaphysical or a priori abstractions but in psychological investigation, and further that this investigation cannot confine itself successfully to the individual consciousness, but must be devoted primarily to society as a whole. The psychologist must study mankind from the historical or comparative standpoint, analysing the elements which constitute the fabric of society, with its customs, its conventions and the main tendencies of its evolution. ThisVölkerpsychologie(folk- or comparative psychology) is one of the chief developments of the Herbartian theory of philosophy; it is a protest not only against the so-called scientific standpoint of natural philosophers, but also against the individualism of the positivists. In support of his theory he founded, in combination with H. Steinthal, theZeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft(1859). His own contributions to this periodical were numerous and important. His chief work wasDas Leben der Seele(Berlin, 1855-1857; 3rd edition, 1883). Other philosophical works were:—Ueber den Ursprung der Sitten(1860 and 1867),Ueber die Ideen in der Geschichte(1865 and 1872);Zur Lehre von den Sinnestäuschungen(1867);Ideale Fragen(1875 and 1885),Erziehung und Geschichte(1881);Unser Standpunkt(1881);Ueber die Reize des Spiels(1883). Apart from the great interest of his philosophical work, Lazarus was pre-eminent among the Jews of the so-called Semitic domination in Germany. Like Heine, Auerbach and Steinthal, he rose superior to the narrower ideals of the German Jews, and took a leading place in German literature and thought. He protested against the violent anti-Semitism of the time, and, in spite of the moderate tone of his publications, drew upon himself unqualified censure. He wrote in this connexion a number of articles collected in 1887 under the titleTreu und Frei. Reden und Vorträge über Juden und Judenthum. In 1869 and 1871 he was president of the first and second Jewish Synods at Leipzig and Augsburg.

See R. Flint,The Philosophy of History in Europe; M. Brasch,Gesammelte Essays und Characterköpfe zur neuen Philos. und Literatur; E. Berliner,Lazarus und die öffentliche Meinung; M. Brasch, “Der Begründer de Völkerpsychologie,” inNord et Sud, (September 1894).

LAZARUS, ST, ORDER OF,a religious and military order founded in Jerusalem about the middle of the 12th century. Its primary object was the tending of the sick, especially lepers, of whom Lazarus (seeLazar) was regarded as the patron. From the 13th century, the order made its way into various countries of Europe—Sicily, Lower Italy and Germany (Thuringia); but its chief centre of activity was France, where Louis IX. (1253) gave the members the lands of Boigny near Orleans and a building at the gates of Paris, which they turned into a lazar-house for the use of the lepers of the city. A papal confirmation was obtained from Alexander IV. in 1255. The knights were one hundred in number, and possessed the right of marrying and receiving pensions charged on ecclesiastical benefices. An eight-pointed cross was the insignia of both the French and Italian orders. The gradual disappearance of leprosy combined with other causes to secularize the order more and more. In Savoy in 1572 it was merged by Gregory XIII. (at the instance of Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy) in the order of St Maurice (seeKnighthood and Chivalry:Orders of Knighthood, Italy). The chief task of this branch was the defence of the Catholic faith, especially against the Protestantism of Geneva. It continued to exist till the second half of the 19th century. In 1608 it was in France united by Henry IV. with the order of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel. It was treated with especial favour by Louis XIV., and the most brilliant period of its existence was from 1673 to 1691, under the marquis de Louvois. From that time it began to decay. It was abolished at the Revolution, reintroduced during the Restoration, and formally abolished by a state decree of 1830.

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