(J. Si.; J. G. R.)
LESSON(through Fr.leçonfrom Lat.lectio, reading;legere, to read), properly a certain portion of a book appointed to be read aloud, or learnt for repetition, hence anything learnt or studied, a course of instruction or study. A specific meaning of the word is that of a portion of Scripture or other religious writings appointed to be read at divine service, in accordance with a table known as a “lectionary.” In the Church of England the lectionary is so ordered that most of the Old Testament is read through during the year as the First Lesson at Morning and Evening Prayer, and as the Second Lesson the whole of the New Testament, except Revelation, of which only portions are read. (SeeLectionandLectionary.)
LESTE,a desert wind, similar to the Leveche (q.v.), observed in Madeira. It blows from an easterly direction in autumn, winter and spring, rarely in summer, and is of intense dryness, sometimes reducing the relative humidity at Funchal to below 20%. The Leste is commonly accompanied by clouds of fine red sand.
L’ESTRANGE, SIR ROGER(1616-1704), English pamphleteer on the royalist and court side during the Restoration epoch, but principally remarkable as the first English man of letters of any distinction who made journalism a profession, was born at Hunstanton in Norfolk on the 17th of December 1616. In 1644, during the civil war, he headed a conspiracy to seize the town of Lynn for the king, under circumstances which led to his being condemned to death as a spy. The sentence, however, was not executed, and after four years’ imprisonment in Newgate he escaped to the Continent. He was excluded from the Act of Indemnity, but in 1653 was pardoned by Cromwell upon his personal solicitation, and lived quietly until the Restoration, when after some delay his services and sufferings were acknowledged by his appointment as licenser of the press. This office was administered by him in the spirit which might be expected from a zealous cavalier. He made himself notorious, not merely by the severity of his literary censorship, but by his vigilance in the suppression of clandestine printing. In 1663 (seeNewspapers) he commenced the publication of thePublic Intelligencerand theNews, from which eventually developed the famous official paper theLondon Gazettein 1665. In 1679 he again became prominent with theObservator, a journal specially designed to vindicate the court from the charge of a secret inclination to popery. He discredited the Popish Plot, and the suspicion he thus incurred was increased by the conversion of his daughter to Roman Catholicism, but there seems no reason to question the sincerity of his own attachment to the Church of England. In 1687 he gave a further proof of independence by discontinuing theObservatorfrom his unwillingness to advocate James II.’s Edict of Toleration, although he had previously gone all lengths in support of the measures of the court. The Revolution cost him his office as licenser, and the remainder of his life was spent in obscurity. He died in 1704. It is to L’Estrange’s credit that among the agitations of a busy political life he should have found time for much purely literary work as a translator of Josephus, Cicero, Seneca, Quevedo and other standard authors.
LESUEUR, DANIEL, the pseudonym ofJeanne Lapanze,néeLoiseau (1860- ), French poet and novelist, who was born in Paris in 1860. She published a volume of poems,Fleurs d’avril(1882), which was crowned by the Academy. She also wrote some powerful novels dealing with contemporary life:Le Mariage de Gabrielle(1882);Un Mystérieux Amour(1892), with a series of philosophical sonnets;L’Amant de Geneviève(1883);Marcelle(1885);Une Vie tragique(1890);Justice de femme(1893);Comédienne Haine d’amour(1894);Honneur d’une femme(1901);La Force du passé(1905). Her poems were collected in 1895. She published in 1905 a book on the economic status of women,L’Évolution féminine; and in 1891-1893 a translation (2 vols.) of the works of Lord Byron, which was awarded a prize by the Academy. HerMasque d’amour, a five-act play based on her novel (1904) of the same name, was produced at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in 1905. She received the ribbon of the Legion of Honour in 1900, and the prix Vitet from the French Academy in 1905. She married in 1904 Henry Lapanze (b. 1867), a well-known writer on art.
LE SUEUR, EUSTACHE(1617-1655), one of the founders of the French Academy of painting, was born on the 19th of November 1617 at Paris, where he passed his whole life, and where he died on the 30th of April 1655. His early death and retired habits have combined to give an air of romance to his simple history, which has been decorated with as many fables as that of Claude. We are told that, persecuted by Le Brun, who was jealous of his ability, he became the intimate friend and correspondent of Poussin, and it is added that, broken-hearted at the death of his wife, Le Sueur retired to the monastery of the Chartreux and died in the arms of the prior. All this, however, is pure fiction. The facts of Le Sueur’s life are these. He wasthe son of Cathelin Le Sueur, a turner and sculptor in wood, who placed his son with Vouet, in whose studio he rapidly distinguished himself. Admitted at an early age into the guild of master-painters, he left them to take part in establishing the academy of painting and sculpture, and was one of the first twelve professors of that body. Some paintings, illustrative of the Hypnerotomachia Polyphili, which were reproduced in tapestry, brought him into notice, and his reputation was further enhanced by a series of decorations (Louvre) in the mansion of Lambert de Thorigny, which he left uncompleted, for their execution was frequently interrupted by other commissions. Amongst these were several pictures for the apartments of the king and queen in the Louvre, which are now missing, although they were entered in Bailly’s inventory (1710); but several works produced for minor patrons have come down to us. In the gallery of the Louvre are the “Angel and Hagar,” from the mansion of De Tonnay Charente; “Tobias and Tobit,” from the Fieubet collection; several pictures executed for the church of Saint Gervais; the “Martyrdom of St Lawrence,” from Saint Germain de l’Auxerrois; two very fine works from the destroyed abbey of Marmoutiers; “St Paul preaching at Ephesus,” one of Le Sueur’s most complete and thorough performances, painted for the goldsmith’s corporation in 1649; and his famous series of the “Life of St Bruno,” executed in the cloister of the Chartreux. These last have more personal character than anything else which Le Sueur produced, and much of their original beauty survives in spite of injuries and restorations and removal from the wall to canvas. The Louvre also possesses many fine drawings (reproduced by Braun), of which Le Sueur left an incredible quantity, chiefly executed in black and white chalk His pupils, who aided him much in his work, were his wife’s brother, Th. Goussé, and three brothers of his own, as well as Claude Lefebvre and Patel the landscape painter.
Most of his works have been engraved, chiefly by Picart, B. Audran, Seb. Leclerc, Drevet, Chauveau, Poilly and Desplaces. Le Sueur’s work lent itself readily to the engraver’s art, for he was a charming draughtsman; he had a truly delicate perception of varied shades of grave and elevated sentiment, and possessed the power to render them. His graceful facility in composition was always restrained by a very fine taste, but his works often fail to please completely, because, producing so much, he had too frequent recourse to conventional types, and partly because he rarely saw colour except with the cold and clayey quality proper to the school of Vouet; yet his “St Paul at Ephesus” and one or two other works show that he was not naturally deficient in this sense, and whenever we get direct reference to nature—as in the monks of the St Bruno series—we recognize his admirable power to read and render physiognomy of varied and serious type.See Guillet de St Georges,Mém. inéd.; C. Blanc,Histoire des peintres; Vitet,Catalogue des tableaux du Louvre; d’Argenville,Vies des peintres.
Most of his works have been engraved, chiefly by Picart, B. Audran, Seb. Leclerc, Drevet, Chauveau, Poilly and Desplaces. Le Sueur’s work lent itself readily to the engraver’s art, for he was a charming draughtsman; he had a truly delicate perception of varied shades of grave and elevated sentiment, and possessed the power to render them. His graceful facility in composition was always restrained by a very fine taste, but his works often fail to please completely, because, producing so much, he had too frequent recourse to conventional types, and partly because he rarely saw colour except with the cold and clayey quality proper to the school of Vouet; yet his “St Paul at Ephesus” and one or two other works show that he was not naturally deficient in this sense, and whenever we get direct reference to nature—as in the monks of the St Bruno series—we recognize his admirable power to read and render physiognomy of varied and serious type.
See Guillet de St Georges,Mém. inéd.; C. Blanc,Histoire des peintres; Vitet,Catalogue des tableaux du Louvre; d’Argenville,Vies des peintres.
LESUEUR, JEAN FRANÇOIS(1760 or 1763-1837), French musical composer, was born on the 15th of January 1760 (or 1763) at Drucat-Plessiel, near Abbeville. He was a choir boy in the cathedral of Amiens, and then became musical director at various churches. In 1786 he obtained by open competition the musical directorship of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, where he gave successful performances of sacred music with a full orchestra. This place he resigned in 1787; and, after a retirement of five years in a friend’s country house, he producedLa Caverneand two other operas at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris. At the foundation of the Paris Conservatoire (1795) Lesueur was appointed one of its inspectors of studies, but was dismissed in 1802, owing to his disagreements with Méhul. Lesueur succeeded G. Paisiello asMaestro di cappellato Napoleon, and produced (1804) hisOssianat the Opéra. He also composed for the emperor’s coronation a mass and a Te Deum. Louis XVIII., who had retained Lesueur in his court, appointed him (1818) professor of composition at the Conservatoire; and at this institution he had, among many other pupils, Hector Berlioz, Ambroise Thomas, Louis Désiré, Besozzi and Charles Gounod. He died on the 6th of October 1837. Lesueur composed eight operas and several masses, and other sacred music. All his works are written in a style of rigorous simplicity.
See Raoul Rochette,Les Ouvrages de M. Lesueur(Paris, 1839).
See Raoul Rochette,Les Ouvrages de M. Lesueur(Paris, 1839).
LE TELLIER, MICHEL(1603-1685), French statesman, was born in Paris on the 19th of April 1603. Having entered the public service he became maître des requêtes and in 1640 intendant of Piedmont; in 1643, owing to his friendship with Mazarin, he became secretary of state for military affairs, being an efficient administrator. In 1677 he was made chancellor of France and he was one of those who influenced Louis XIV. to revoke the Edict of Nantes. He died on the 30th of October 1685, a few days after the revocation had been signed. Le Tellier, who amassed great wealth, left two sons, one the famous statesman Louvois and another who became archbishop of Reims. His correspondence is in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris.
See L. Caron,Michel Le Tellier, intendant d’armée au Piémont(Paris, 1881).
See L. Caron,Michel Le Tellier, intendant d’armée au Piémont(Paris, 1881).
AnotherMichel le Tellier(1643-1719) Was confessor of the French king Louis XIV. Born at Vire on the 16th of December 1643 he entered the Society of Jesus and later became prominent in consequence of his violent attacks on the Jansenists. He was appointed provincial of his order in France, but it was not until 1709 that he became the king’s confessor. In this capacity all his influence was directed towards urging Louis to further persecutions of the Protestants. He was exiled by the regent Orleans, but he had returned to France when he died at La Flèche on the 2nd of September 1719.
LETHAL(Lat.lethalis, forletalis, deadly, fromletum, death; the spelling is due to a confusion with Gr.λήθη, forgetfulness), an adjective meaning “deadly,” “fatal,” especially as applied to weapons, drugs, &c. A “lethal chamber” is a room or receptacle in which animals may be put to death painlessly, by the admission of poisonous gases.
LETHARGY(Gr.ληθαργία, fromλήθη, forgetfulness), drowsiness, torpor. In pathology the term is used of a morbid condition of deep and lasting sleep from which the sufferer can be with difficulty and only temporarily aroused. The term Negro or African lethargy was formerly applied to the disease now generally known as “sleeping sickness” (q.v.).
LETHE(“Oblivion”), in Greek mythology, the daughter of Eris (Hesiod,Theog.227) and the personification of forgetfulness. It is also the name of a river in the infernal regions. Those initiated in the mysteries were taught to distinguish two streams in the lower world, one of memory and one of oblivion. Directions for this purpose, written on a gold plate, have been found in a tomb at Petilia, and near Lebadeia, at the oracle of Trophonius, which was counted an entrance to the lower world, the two springs Mnemosyne and Lethe were shown (Pausanias ix. 39. 8). This thought begins to appear in literature in the end of the 5th centuryB.C., when Aristophanes (Frogs, 186) speaks of the plain of Lethe. Plato (Rep.x.) embodies the idea in one of his finest myths.
LE TRÉPORT, a maritime town of northern France in the department of Seine-Inférieure, on the English Channel, at the mouth of the Bresle, 114 m. N.N.W. of Paris on the Northern railway. Pop. (1906) 4619. Owing to its nearness to the capital, Le Tréport is a favourite watering-place of the Parisians. A good view is obtained from Mont Huon, which rises to the south-west of the town. The mouth of the Bresle forms a small port, comprising an outer tidal harbour and an inner dock accessible to vessels drawing from 13 to 16 ft. The fisheries and oyster parks with their dependent industries, shipbuilding and glass manufacture, furnish the chief occupations of the inhabitants. Coal, timber, ice and jute are imported;articles de Paris, sugar, &c., are exported. The chief buildings are the church of St Jacques (16th century), which has finely carved vaulting and good modern stained glass, and the casino erected 1896-1897. About 1 m. north-east of Le Tréport is the small bathing resort of Mers. The Eu-Tréport canal, uniting the two towns, has a length of about 3 m., and is navigable by vessels drawing 14 ft. Le Tréport (the ancientUlterior Portus) was a port of some note in the middle ages and suffered from the English invasions. Louis Philippe twice received Queen Victoria here.
LETRONNE, JEAN ANTOINE(1787-1848), French archaeologist, was born at Paris on the 25th of January 1787. Hisfather, a poor engraver, sent him to study art under the painter David, but his own tastes were literary, and he became a student in the Collège de France, where it is said he used to exercise his already strongly developed critical faculty by correcting for his own amusement old and bad texts of Greek authors, afterwards comparing the results with the latest and most approved editions. From 1810 to 1812 he travelled in France, Switzerland and Italy, and on his return to Paris published anEssai critique sur la topographie de Syracuse(1812), designed to elucidate Thucydides. Two years later appeared hisRecherches géographiques et critiques on the De Mensura Orbis Terraeof Dicuil. In 1815 he was commissioned by government to complete the translation of Strabo which had been begun by Laporte-Dutheil, and in March 1816 he was one of those who were admitted to the Academy of Inscriptions by royal ordinance, having previously contributed aMémoire, “On the Metrical System of the Egyptians,” which had been crowned. Further promotion came rapidly; in 1817 he was appointed director of the École des Chartes, in 1819 inspector-general of the university, and in 1831 professor of history in the Collège de France. This chair he exchanged in 1838 for that of archaeology, and in 1840 he succeeded Pierre C. François Daunou (1761-1840) as keeper of the national archives. Meanwhile he had published, among other works,Considérations générales sur l’évaluation des monnaies grecques et romaines et sur la valeur de l’or et de l’argent avant la découverte de l’Amérique(1817),Recherches pour servir à l’histoire d’Égypte pendant la domination des Grecs et des Romains(1823), andSur l’origine grecque des zodiaques prétendus égyptiens(1837). By the last-named he finally exploded a fallacy which had up to that time vitiated the chronology of contemporary Egyptologists. HisDiplômes et Chartres de l’époque Mérovingienne sur papyrus et sur vélinwere published in 1844. The most important work of Letronne is theRecueil des inscriptions grecques et latines de l’Égypte, of which the first volume appeared in 1842, and the second in 1848. He died at Paris on the 14th of December 1848.