The Nuttall Encyclopaedia by Edited by Rev. James Wood (page 30)

KEPLER’S LAWS. See KEPLER, JOHN.

KEPPEL, AUGUSTUS, VISCOUNT, son of the Earl of Albemarle; entered the navy, and was in several engagements between 1757 and 1778; when encountering the French off Ushant he quarrelled with his second-in-command and let them escape; was court-martialled, but acquitted; he was afterwards First Lord of the Admiralty (1725-1786).

KER, DR. JOHN, minister and professor, was horn in Peeblesshire, brought up in Edinburgh; studied there and in Halle, was chosen to fill the chair of Practical Training in the U.P. Theological College in 1876; published some “Sermons,” and “The Psalms in History and Biography” (1819-1886).

KERATIN, a substance forming the chief constituent in the hair, nails, and horn of animals.

KERGUELEN’S LAND, an island with rugged coasts, 85 m. long by 70 wide, of volcanic origin, in the Antarctic Ocean; so called after its discoverer in 1772, changed to Desolation Island in 1776 by Captain Cook; belongs to France.

KERMAN (300), an eastern province of Persia, the N. and the NE. of it a desolate salt waste, and with a chief town (30) of the name in the middle of it, once a great emporium of trade; manufactures carpets.

KERNER, ANDREAS, a lyric poet of the Swabian school, born in Wuertemberg; studied and wrote on animal magnetism and spiritualism (1786-1862).

KEROSENE, a refined petroleum used as oil for lamps.

KERRY (179), maritime county in the SW. of Ireland, between the Shannon and Kenmare Rivers, with Limerick and Cork on the E.; has a rugged, indented coast, Dingle Bay running far inland; is mountainous, having Mount Brandon, the Macgillicuddy, and Dunkerron ranges, and contains the picturesque Lakes of Killarney; there is little industry or agriculture, but dairy-farming, slate-quarrying, and fishing are prosecuted; iron, copper, and lead abound, but are not wrought; the population is Roman Catholic; county town, Tralee (9).

KERTCH (30), a seaport of the Crimea, on the eastern shore; had a large export trade, which suffered during the Crimea War, but has revived since.

KESWICK (4), a Cumberland market-town and tourist centre and capital of the Lake District, on the Derwent, 20 m. SW. of Carlisle; manufactures woollens, hardware, and lead-pencils; is the seat of an annual religious convention which gives its name to a phase of Evangelicalism.

KET, ROBERT, a tanner in Norfolk, leader of an insurrection in the country in 1549, was after seizing Norwich driven out by the Earl of Warwick, captured, and hanged.

KETTERING (20), market-town in Northamptonshire; manufactures boots and shoes, stays, brushes, &c.

KEW (2), a village on the Thames, in Surrey, 6 m. W. of Hyde Park, where are the Royal Botanic Gardens, a national institution since 1840, and an observatory.

KEY, FRANCIS SCOTT, author of “The Star-spangled Banner,” born in Maryland, U.S.; wrote the words that have immortalised him when he saw the national flag floating over the ramparts of Baltimore in 1814 (1780-1857).

KEY WEST (10), a seaport, health resort, and naval station on a coral island 60 m. SW. of Caple Sable, Florida; it has a good harbour and strong fort; was the basis of operations in the Spanish-American War, 1898; exports salt, turtles, and fruit, and manufactures cigars.

KEYNE, ST., a pious virgin, lived in Cornwall about 490, and left her name to a church and to a well whose waters are said to give the upper hand to whichever of a bridal pair first drinks of them after the wedding.

KEYS, HOUSE OF, the third estate in the Isle of Man, consisting of 24 members chosen by themselves, when a vacancy occurs, by presenting to the Governor “two of the oldest and worthiest men in the isle” for his selection.

KEYS, POWER OF THE, power claimed, according to Matt. xvi. 19, by the authorities of the Church to admit or exclude from church membership, a power the Roman Catholics allege conferred at first on St. Peter and afterwards on his successors in office.

KHAMSIN (fifty), a hot sand wind which blows in Egypt from the desert for fifty days, chiefly before and after the month of May.

KHAN, the title of a Tartar sovereign or prince; also an Eastern inn or caravansary.

KHANDESH, a district of Bombay in the valley of the Tapti; a great cotton-growing centre; Dhulia, the capital.

KHARKOFF (194), important town in Little Russia, 350 m. NE. of Odessa; has immense horse and wool fairs, and manufactures sugar, soap, felt, and iron; it is a Greek bishopric, a university seat, and has various schools of learning.

KHARTOUM (60), a caravan depot in the Soudan, just above the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, 1100 m. S. of Cairo; was an active slave-trade centre, and commercially important; was captured by the Mahdists in 1885, when General Gordon fell; retaken by Lord Kitchener in 1898; lately has been superseded by Omdurman on the opposite bank of the Nile.

KHATMANDU (50), the capital of Nepal, India, at the confluence of the Baghmati and Vishnumati Rivers, 60 m. N. of the British frontier; is the centre of a considerable trade.

KHEDIVE, the official title of the Viceroy of Egypt since 1867, the first to hold it being Ismail, the son of IBRAHIM PASHA (q. v.), by grant of the Sultan, his suzerain.

KHERSON (62), on the Dnieper, 19 m. from the sea and 60 m. E. of Odessa; capital of the Russian government of Kherson; has been surpassed in importance by Odessa; its trade is in timber, and industries are soap-making, brewing, and wool-cleansing.

KHINGANS, THE, a range of volcanic mountains on the E. of the desert of Gobi.

KHIVA (500), a Turkestan province or khanate in Central Asia, S. of the Sea of Aral; is under Russian protection since 1873; a sandy desert with many oases, and in some parts well irrigated from the Oxus; it produces wheat, rice, cotton, and fruit; climate subject to extremes. KHIVA, the capital (20), on a canal connected with the Amu, some distance from the left bank of the Oxus, and 300 m. NW. of Merv, is a town of earth huts; it was at one time one of the chief slave-markets in Asia till the traffic was put a stop to by Russia.

KHORASSAN, the largest province of Persia; is on the Afghan border, mountainous, and fertile only in the N. among the valleys of the Elburz range; grain, tobacco, and medicinal plants are grown; gold and silver, turquoises, and other gems found. The capital is Meshed (50), a sacred Moslem city, with carpet, jewellery, and silk manufactures.

KHYBER PASS, a narrow defile 33 m. long, in one place only 10 ft. wide, through not lofty but precipitous mountains; lies to the NW. of Peshawur, and is the chief route between the Punjab and Afghanistan; was the scene of a British catastrophe in the war of 1839-42, but has been repeatedly forced since, and since 1879 has been under British control.

KIAKHTA (9), a Russian town in Transbaikalia, Siberia, on the borders of China; an emporium of trade between China and Russia.

KIAO-CHAU, a province of Shantung, China; occupied by Germany in 1897, and ceded to her on a 99 years’ lease by China in 1898; extends to about 160 m. along the coast, and about 20 m. inland.

KIDD, WILLIAM, a noted pirate, born of Covenanting parents at Greenock; went to sea early, and served in privateering expeditions with distinction; appointed to the command of a privateer about 1696, and commissioned to suppress the pirates of the Indian Ocean, he went to Madagascar, and there started piracy himself; entering Boston harbour in 1700 he was arrested, sent to London, tried on a charge of piracy and murder, and executed in 1701.

KIDDERMINSTER (26), in the N. of Worcester, 18 m. SW. of Birmingham; has been since 1735 noted for its carpets; manufactures also silk, paper, and leather; was the scene of Richard Baxter’s labours as vicar, and the birthplace of Sir Rowland Hill.

KIEFF (184), on the Dnieper, 300 m. N. of Odessa, is a holy city, the capital of the province of Kieff, strongly fortified, and one of the oldest towns in Russia, where Christianity was proclaimed the religion of the country in 988; has St. Vladimir’s University, theological schools, and Petchersk monastery; a pilgrim resort; industries unimportant, include tanning and candle-making; trade chiefly in the hands of the Jews.

KIEL (69), on the Baltic, 60 m. N. of Hamburg, is the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, a German naval station and important seaport, with shipments of coal, flour, and dairy produce; has shipbuilding and brewing industries, a university and library, and is the eastern terminus of the Baltic Ship Canal, opened 1895.

KIEPERT, HEINRICH, distinguished German cartographer, born at Berlin; was professor of Geography there; his chief works an “Atlas of Asia Minor,” and his “Atlas Antiquus”; _b_. 1818.

KIERKEGAARD, SOeREN AABY, philosophical and religious thinker, born at Copenhagen; lived a quiet, industrious, literary life, and exerted a chief influence on 19th-century Dano-Norwegian literature; his greatest works are “Either-Or,” and “Stadia on Life’s Way” (1813-1855).

KIESELGHUR, powder used for polishing and in the manufacture of dynamite, formed from shells of microscopic organisms.

KILDA, ST., a lonely island in the Atlantic, 60 m. W. of Harris, 3 m. long by 2 broad, with a precipitous coast and a few poor inhabitants, who live by fishing and fowling.

KILDARE (70), inland Irish county, in Leinster, in the upper basins of the Liffey and Barrow, W. of Dublin and Wicklow; is level and fertile, with the great Bog of Allen in the N., and in the centre the Curragh, a grassy plain; agriculture is carried on in the river basins; the county town is Naas (4); other towns Maynooth, with the Roman Catholic theological college, and Kildare.

KILIAN, ST., the first apostle of the Franks, an Irish monk; deputed by the Pope in 686.

KILIMA-NJARO, a volcanic mountain group, 19,000 ft. high, on the northern border of German East Africa, 170 m. from the coast, with two peaks, Kibo and Kimawenzi; in 1894 an Austrian communistic settlement was established on the slopes.

KILKENNY (87), inland Irish county in Leinster, surrounded by Waterford, Tipperary, Queen’s County, Carlow, and Wexford, watered by the Barrow, Suir, and Nore; extremely fertile in the S. and E., producing fine corn, hay, and green crops; is moorland, and devoted to cattle-rearing in the N., where also anthracite coal is abundant. Kilkenny (11), the county town, is noted for a fine black marble quarried near it.

KILLARNEY (5), market-town and tourist centre, in co. Kerry, Ireland, on the shores of the lake, 15 m. SE. of Tralee; has a Roman Catholic cathedral and some arbutus-carving industry.

KILLARNEY, THE LAKES OF, three beautiful lakes at the northern foot of the Macgillicuddy Reeks, in the basin of the Leane, much resorted to by tourists.

KILLIECRANKIE, PASS OF, 15 m. NW. of Dunkeld, in Perthshire, where General Mackay was defeated by Claverhouse, who fell, in 1689; is traversed by a road and a railway.

KILMAINHAM (5), a suburb of Dublin, with a royal hospital for disabled soldiers and a jail; the treaty of Kilmainham was an agreement said to have been made in 1882 between Gladstone and Parnell, who was then confined in Kilmainham jail, affecting Irish government and policy.

KILMARNOCK (28), on the Irvine, 20 m. SW. of Glasgow, largest town in Ayrshire; is an important railway centre, has extensive engineer works, carpet factories, and breweries; is in the middle of a rich coal and iron district, and has a great annual cheese and dairy produce show.

KIMBERLEY (29), 500 m. NE. of Cape Town; is capital of Griqualand West, and chief inland town in South Africa, in a dry but healthy situation; exists in virtue of diamond mines in the vicinity, the richest in the world. Also the name of a district in the N. of West Australia, a district of rising prosperity.

KIMBERLEY, EARL OF, English Liberal statesman, son of Baron Wodehouse; succeeded to the title 1846; was twice over Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 1864-66; in 1866 created Earl of Kimberley, he was in succession Lord Privy Seal, Colonial Secretary, Secretary for India, and Foreign Secretary; _b_. 1826.

KIMCHI, DAVID, a Jewish rabbi, born at Narbonne; wrote a Hebrew grammar and lexicon, which forms the basis of all subsequent ones, also commentaries on most books of the Old Testament (1160-1235).

KINCARDINESHIRE (35), east coast Scottish county, lying between Aberdeen and Forfar, faces the North Sea, with precipitous cliffs; has much fertile soil under corn, green crops, and small fruit, also pasture and grazing land where cattle are reared; the fishing is important, and there are some coarse linen factories; chief towns, Stonehaven (5) and Bervie (1).

KINDERGARTEN, schools conducted according to Froebel’s system for the development of the power of observation and the memory of young children.

KINEMATICS, the science of pure motion under the categories of space and time, irrespective of consideration of the forces determining it and the mass of the body moved.

KINEMATOGRAPH, a photographic apparatus by which an impression is taken of closely consecutive stages in the development of a scene.

KINETICS, the science of the action of forces causing motion; both this law and the two preceding are derived from a Greek word signifying “to move.”

KING, WILLIAM RUFUS, American statesman and diplomatist, born in North Carolina; was a member of Congress and the Senate, and Vice-President of the Republic, represented the United States both at St. James’s and in France (1755-1827).

KING NIBELUNG, king of the NIBELUNGEN (q. v.), who left his two sons an inexhaustible hoard of wealth, so large that 12 waggons in 12 days at the rate of 3 journeys a day could not carry it off.

KING OF THE ROMANS, a title assumed by the Emperor Henry II., and afterwards conferred on the eldest son of the emperor of Germany.

KINGLAKE, ALEXANDER WILLIAM, historian, born near Taunton; bred for the bar, gave up the legal profession, in which he had a lucrative practice, for literature; is the author of two works, “Eothen” and the “History of the War in the Crimea,” in 8 vols., the former a brilliantly written book of travels in the East, published in 1844, the latter a minute record of the war, of which the last vol. was published in 1890, pronounced by Prof. Saintsbury, in a literary point of view, to be “an imposing failure” (1809-1891).

KINGMAKER, THE, a title popularly given to Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, who was instrumental in raising Edward IV. to the throne of England by dethroning Henry VI., and afterwards in restoring Henry by the defeat of Edward.

KINGS, THE BOOK OF, two books of the Old Testament, originally one, but divided in the Septuagint into two, containing the history of the Jewish kingdom under the kings from its establishment under David to its fall, and covering a period from 1015 B.C. to 560 B.C., during which time the kingdom fell into two, that of Israel and that of Judah, the captivity of the former, occurring 130 years before that of the latter; the author, who is unknown, wrote the history at the time of the captivity, and his object is didactic of the effect on the history of a nation of its apostasy from faith in its God, not, however, without a promise of restoration in the case of repentance.

KING’S COLLEGE, London, a Church of England institution, with faculties of Theology, Arts, Science, and Medicine, Evening Class, Civil Service and Art departments, a preparatory School and a Ladies’ department; it grants the title of associate.

KING’S COUNSEL or QUEEN’S COUNSEL are those barristers in England and Ireland who, having been successful in their profession have received the letters-patent conferring that title and right of precedence in all courts; the appointment is honorary and for life, but in acting against the Crown a Q.C. must obtain leave by special license, which is always granted.

KING’S COUNTY (66), an inland Irish county on the left bank of the Shannon, between Tipperary and West Meath; is mostly flat, a quarter of it bogland and a quarter under crops; the chief towns are Tullamore (5), the county town, on the Grand Canal, and Birr or Parsonstown (4), where Lord Rosse’s great telescope is.

KINGSLEY, CHARLES, canon of Westminster and chaplain to the Queen, born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor; studied at Cambridge; became rector of Eversley, in Hampshire, in 1844; was the author in 1848 of a drama, entitled “The Saint’s Tragedy,” with St. Elizabeth of Hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by “Alton Locke” (1849), and “Yeast” (1851), chiefly in a Socialistic interest; “Hypatia,” a brilliant book in the interest of early Christianity in Alexandria and “Westward Ho!” a narrative of the rivalry of England with Spain in the days of Elizabeth, and besides other works, including “Two Years Ago,” “Water Babies,” and “Hereward the Wake,” he was the author of the popular ballads of “The Three Fishers,” “The Starlings,” and “The Sands of Dee”; his writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men; Professor Saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of Kingsley (1819-1875).

KINGSLEY, HENRY, younger brother of the preceding; after a brief experience of life in Australia he returned home to start on the career of letters in rivalry with his brother, and distinguished himself by exhibitions of similar literary ability, as a novelist especially, as well as kindred sympathies; his principal novels were “Geoffrey Hamlyn,” one of the best novels on Australian life; “Ravenshoe,” his masterpiece, and “The Hillyars and the Burtons” (1830-1876).

KINGSTON, 1, capital (13) of Frontenac County, Ontario, on the NE. shore of the Lake, 150 m. E. of Toronto, an important commercial town with shipbuilding and engineering works; is the seat of Queen’s University, military and medical colleges, and an observatory. 2, Capital (47) of Jamaica, on a great bay on the S. coast, on the edge of a sugar-growing district; exports sugar, tobacco, and dye-woods, and imports cotton, flour, and rice. 3, a town (21) on the Hudson, N.Y., has great blue stone-flag quarries, and cement-works, breweries, and tanneries.

KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES (27), in Surrey, 10 m. SW. of London, has a fine church and other buildings, and malting industry.

KINGSTON, W. H. G., popular boys’ story-writer, born in London, spent his youth in Oporto, was interested in philosophic schemes, and helped to arrange the Anglo-Portuguese commercial treaty; he wrote 120 tales, of which the “Three Midshipmen” series is the best, and died at Willesden (1814-1880).

KINGSTOWN, seaport of Dublin, 7 m. SE.; was till 1817 but a fishing village; has a harbour designed by Rennie, which cost L525,000; was originally Dunleary, and changed into Kingstown on George IV.’s visit in 1821.

KINKEL, JOHANN GOTTFRIED, German poet and writer on aesthetics, born near Bonn; studied for the Church, but became lecturer on Art in Bonn, 1846; two years later he was imprisoned for revolutionary proceedings; escaped in 1850 to England, and became professor at Zurich in 1866; wrote “Otto der Schuetz,” an epic, and “Nimrod,” a drama (1815-1882).

KINROSS (7), small Scottish county lying between Perth and Fife, round Loch Leven, is agricultural and grazing, with some hills of no great height, and coal mines; the co. town, KINROSS (2), is on the W. shore of Loch Leven; manufactures tartan.

KINSALE (5), a once important seaport in co. Cork, at the mouth of the Bandon, 13 m. S. of Cork; has lost its trade, and is now a summer resort and fishing station; King James II. landed here in 1689, and re-embarked in 1690.

KINTYRE, a long narrow isthmus on the W. coast of Scotland, between the Atlantic and the Firth of Clyde, is chiefly hill and grass country; but at Campbeltown are great distilleries; at Machrihanish Bay, on the W. coast, are fine golfing links.

KIPCHAKS, a nomadic Turkish race who settled on the south-eastern steppes of Russia about the 11th century, and whose descendants still occupy the district.

KIPLING, RUDYARD, story-teller and poet, born in Bombay, and educated in England; went out to India as a journalist; his stories respect Anglo-Indian, and especially military, life in India, and his “Soldiers Three,” with the rest that followed, such as “Wee Willie Winkie,” gained for him an immediate and wide reputation; as a poet, his most successful effort is his “Barrack-Room Ballads,” instinct with a martial spirit, in 1864; he is a writer of conspicuous realistic power; he deems it the mission of civilisation to drill the savage races in humanity; _b_. 1865.

KIRBY, WILLIAM, entomologist, born in Suffolk; distinguished as the author of “Monographia Apium Angliae,” and “Introduction to Entomology”; was rector of Barham, Suffolk, for 68 years (1759-1850).

KIRGHIZ, a nomadic Turkish people occupying the Kirghiz steppes, an immense tract E. of the Ural River and the Caspian Sea, numbering 21/2 millions, adventurous, witty, and free-spirited; refuse to settle; retain ancient customs and characteristics, and are Moslems only in name.

KIRK SESSION, an ecclesiastical court in Scotland, composed of the minister and elders of a parish, subject to the Presbytery of the district.

KIRKCALDY (27), a manufacturing and seaport town in Fifeshire, extending 4 m. along the north shore of the Forth, known as the “lang toon.” It was the birthplace of Adam Smith, and one of the scenes of the schoolmastership period of Thomas Carlyle’s life; manufactures textile fabrics and floorcloth; is a busy town.

KIRKCUDBRIGHT (40), a Scottish county on the Solway shore between Wigtown and Dumfries, watered by the rivers Nith, Dee, and Cree; has Mount Merrick on the NW. border, and Loch Dee in the middle; one-third of its area cultivated, the rest chiefly hill pasturage. County town KIRKCUDBRIGHT (3), on the Dee, 6 m. from the Solway; held St. Cuthbert’s church.

KIRKDALE CAVE, a cave in the vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, discovered by Buckland to contain the remains of a number of extinct species of mammals.

KIRKE’S LAMBS, the soldiers of Colonel Kirke, an officer of the English army in James the Second’s time, distinguished for their acts of cruelty inflicted on the Monmouth party.

KIRKINTILLOCH (10), a town on the Forth and Clyde Canal, 7 m. N. of Glasgow, manufactures chemicals, has calico works, and mines of coal and iron.

KIRKWALL (4), capital of Orkney, in the E. of Mainland, 35 m. NE. of Thurso; has a fine cathedral named St. Magnus, and some shipping trade; it was in mediaeval times subject to Norway, and was the residence of the jarls.

KIRRIEMUIR (4), a small Forfarshire town, 5 m. NW. of Forfar, native place of J. M. Barrie, and the “Thrums” of his books; manufactures brown linens.

KIRSCHWASSER (cherry water), a liqueur formed from ripe cherries with the stones pounded in it after fermentation and then distilled.

KISFALUDY, KAROLY, Hungarian dramatist, brother of the following, was founder of the national drama, and with his brother ranks high in the literature of the country (1788-1830).

KISFALUDY, SANDOR, a Hungarian lyric poet, “Himfy’s Loves” his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist (1772-1844).

KISSINGEN (4), Bavarian watering-place on the Saale, 65 m. E. of Frankfort-on-the-Main, visited for its saline springs by 14,000 people annually; its waters are used both internally and externally, and are good for dyspepsia, gout, and skin-diseases.

KITCAT CLUB, founded in 1688 ostensibly to encourage literature and art, and named after Christopher Catt, in whose premises it met; became ultimately a Whig society to promote the Hanoverian succession; Marlborough, Walpole, Congreve, Addison, and Steele were among the thirty-nine members.

KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM, HORATIO HERBERT, LORD, son of Col. Kitchener; joined the Royal Engineers, and was first engaged in survey work in Palestine and Cyprus; became a major of cavalry in the Egyptian army 1882, served in the 1884 expedition, was governor of Suakim 1886, and after leading the Egyptian troops at Handub 1888 was made aide-de-camp to the Queen, C.B., and adjutant-general in the Egyptian army; he was appointed Sirdar, commander-in-chief of that army, in 1892, organised and led the expedition of 1898 which overthrew the Khalifa at Omdurman, and for which he was awarded a peerage and received many honours, the freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh, &c.; a gift of L30,000 was voted by the Government in 1899; _b_. 1850.

KIZIL (red river), the ancient Halys, the largest river in Asia Minor, which flows into the Black Sea 40 m. E. of Sinope after a course of 450 m.

KLAPKA, a Hungarian patriot, distinguished in arms against the Austrians during the revolution, and for his heroic defence of Komorn in the end (1820-1892).

KLAPROTH, JULIUS VON, Orientalist and philologist; was an accomplished Chinese scholar; explored Siberia and Caucasia (1783-1835).

KLAUS, PETER, the German prototype of Rip Van Winkle, a goat-herd who slept for the same number of years and at the end had similar experiences.

KLAUSTHAL (9), in Hanover, 25 m. NE. of Goettingen, is the chief mining town of the northern Hartz Mountains, and the seat of the German mining administration, surrounded by silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines.

KLEBER, JEAN BAPTISTE, French general, born at Strasburg; originally an architect, served with distinction in the Revolutionary army, accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and was left by him in command, where, after a bold attempt to regain lost ground and while in the act of concluding a treaty with the Turks, he was assassinated by an Arab fanatic (1753-1800).

KLEIST, HEINRICH VON, German dramatist and poet, born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; entered the army, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; slow recognition and other trials preyed on his mind, and he shot himself near Potsdam (1777-1811).

KLONDIKE, a small section of Yukon, a territory in the extreme NW. of N. America, and a present-day centre of pilgrimage by gold-seekers since the recent discovery of the gold-fields there.

KLOPSTOCK, FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB, German poet, born at Quedlinburg; distinguished as the author of an epic poem entitled the “Messiah,” which is his chief work, his treatment of which invested him with a certain sense of sanctity, and the publication of which did much to quicken and elevate the literary life of Germany (1724-1803).

KNARESBOROUGH (5), Yorkshire market-town, 14 m. W. of York; manufactures woollen rugs, grinds flour, and trades in corn.

KNELLER, SIR GODFREY, portrait-painter, born at Luebeck; studied under Rembrandt and at Italy, came to England in 1674, and was appointed court painter to Charles II., James II., William III., and George I.; practised his art till he was seventy, and made a large fortune (1646-1723).

KNICKERBOCKER, the imaginary author of the fictitious “History of New York,” by Washington Irving.

KNIGHT, CHARLES, London publisher and editor, publisher for the Useful Knowledge Society, of “Library of Entertaining Knowledge,” of the “Penny Magazine,” and the “Penny Cyclopaedia,” &c., as well as a “Pictorial Shakespeare,” edited by himself (1791-1873).

KNIGHTHOOD, a distinction granted to commoners, ranking next to baronet, now bestowed by the crown; formerly knighthood was a military order, any member of which might create new knights; it was originally the highest rank of CHIVALRY (q. v.); it was an order of many subdivisions developed during the crusades, and in full flower before the Norman conquest of England.

KNIGHTS OF LABOUR, an American labour organisation, founded in 1869, resembling a union of all trades, male and female; in 1886 had 730,000 members, which have since disagreed and fallen off.

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, King Arthur’s knights, so called from the round table at which they sat, so that when seated there might seem no precedency, numbered popularly at twelve, though reckoned by some at forty.

KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE, English gentry representing a middle class between the barons and the peasants, acting as members of Parliament for the county they belonged to.

KNOWLES, SHERIDAN, dramatist, born at Cork; was connected with the stage first as actor and then as an author of plays, which include “Virginius,” “The Hunchback,” and “The Wife”; latterly he gave up the stage, and took to preaching in connection with the Baptist body (1784-1862).

KNOW-NOTHINGS, a party in the United States that sprung up in 1853 and restricted the right of American citizenship to those who were born in America or of an American parentage, so called because to those inquisitive about their secret organisation they uniformly answered “I know nothing.”

KNOX, JOHN, the great Scottish Reformer, born at Giffordgate, Haddington, in 1505; studied at Glasgow University; took priest’s orders; officiated as a priest, and did tutoring from 1530 to 1540; came under the influence of George Wishart, and avowed the Reformed faith; took refuge from persecution in St. Andrews Castle in 1547; was there summoned to lead on the movement; on the surrender of the castle was taken prisoner, and made a slave in a French galley for 19 months; liberated in 1549 at the intercession of Edward VI., came and assisted the Protestant cause in England; was offered preferments in the Church, but declined them; fled in 1553 to France, from the persecution of Bloody Mary; ministered at Frankfort and Geneva to the English refugees; returned to Scotland in 1555, but having married, went back next year to Geneva; was in absence, in 1557, condemned to be burned; published in 1558 his “First Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women”; returned to Scotland for good in 1559, and became minister in Edinburgh; saw in 1560 the jurisdiction of the Pope abolished in Scotland; had successive interviews with Queen Mary after her arrival at Leith in 1561; was tried for high-treason before the Privy Council, but acquitted in 1563; began his “History of the Reformation in Scotland” in 1566; preached in 1567 at James VI.’s coronation in Stirling; was in 1571 struck by apoplexy; died in Edinburgh on the 24th November 1572, aged 67, the Regent Morton pronouncing an _eloge_ at his grave, “There lies one who never feared the face of man.” Knox is pronounced by Carlyle to have been the one Scotchman to whom, “of all others, his country and the world owe a debt”; “In the history of Scotland,” he says, “I can find properly but one epoch; we may say it contains nothing of world interest at all but this Reformation by Knox…. It is as yet a country without a soul … the people now begin to _live_ … Scottish literature and thought, Scottish industry, James Watt, David Hume, Walter Scott (little as he dreamt of debt in that quarter), and Robert Burns, I find Knox and the Reformation acting on the heart’s core of every one of these persons and phenomena; I find that without the Reformation they would not have been; or,” he adds, “the Puritanism of England and of New England either”; and he sums up his message thus: “Let men know that they are men, created by God, responsible to God; who work in any meanest moment of time what will last through eternity. This great message,” he adds, “Knox delivered with a man’s voice and strength, and found a people to believe him.”

KOBDO, a town in Mongolia, the entrepot of Russian dealers in connection with the Altai mines.

KOCH, ROBERT, an eminent bacteriologist, born at Klansthal, in Hanover; famous for his researches in bacteriology; discovered sundry bacilli, among others the cholera bacillus and the phthisis bacillus, and a specific against it; _b_. 1843.

KOCK, CHARLES PAUL DE, popular French novelist and dramatist, born near Paris, and educated for a mercantile career, but turned to writing and produced a series of works, not of first merit, but illustrating contemporary French middle-class life (1794-1871).

KOHELETH (the preacher, originally gatherer), the Hebrew name for the book of Ecclesiastes, and a personification of wisdom.

KOLA, a small town, the most northerly in Russia, on a peninsula of the same name, with a capacious harbour.

KOLIN, a Bohemian town on the Elbe, 40 m. SE. of Prague, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Marshal Daun in 1757.

KOeLLIKER, an eminent embryologist, born at Zurich; professor of Anatomy at Wuerzburg; _b_. 1817.

KOeLN, the German name for COLOGNE (q. v.).

KOeNIG, FRIEDRICH, German mechanician, born in Eisleben; bred a printer, and invented the steam-press, or printing by machinery (1774-1833).

KOeNIGGRAeTZ (16), a Bohemian town 60 m. E. of Prague; was the scene of a terrible battle called Sa’dowa, in Austria, where the Germans defeated the Austrians in 1866.

KOeNIGSBERG (161), the capital of E. Prussia, on the Pregel, with several manufactures and an extensive trade; has a famous university, and is the birthplace of Kant, where also he lived and died.

KORAN (i. e. book to be read), the Bible of the Mohammedans, accepted among them as “the standard of all law and all practice; thing to be gone upon in speculation and life; it is read through in the mosques daily, and some of their doctors have read it 70,000 times, and hard reading it is”; it contains the teaching of Mahomet, collected by his disciples after his death, and arranged the longest chapters first and the shortest, which were the earliest, last; a confused book.

KORDOFAN (280), an Egyptian Soudanese province on the W. bank of the Nile; an undulating dry country, furnishing crops of millet, and exporting gums, hides, and ivory; was lost in the Mahdist revolt of 1883, but recovered by Lord Kitchener’s expedition in 1898; El Obeid (30), the capital is 230 m. SW. of Khartoum.

KOREISH, the chief tribe among the Arabs in Mahomet’s time, and to which his family belonged.

KOeRNER, KARL THEODOR, a German soldier poet, often called the German Tyrtaeus, born in Dresden; famous for his patriotic songs and their influence on German patriots; fell in a skirmish with the French at Mecklenburg (1791-1813).

KOSCIUSKO, THADDEUS, Polish general and patriot, born in Lithuania, of noble parentage, bred to arms; first saw service in the American War on the side of the colonists, and returning to Poland, twice over did valiant service against Russia, but at length he was taken prisoner at the battle of Maciejowice in 1794; he was subsequently set at liberty by the Emperor Paul, when he removed to America, but soon returned to settle in Switzerland, where he died by a fall of his horse over a precipice; he was buried at Cracow beside John Sobieski (1746-1817).

KOSSUTH, LOUIS, Hungarian patriot, born near Zemplen; studied for his father’s profession, the law, but giving that up for politics, became editor of several Liberal papers in succession; elected member of the Diet at Pesth in 1847, he next year demanded autonomy for Hungary, and set himself to drive out the Hapsburgs and establish a republic; he raised a large army and large funds, but Russia aided Austria, and the struggle, though hopeful at first, proved in vain, defeated at Temesvar and escaping to Turkey, he came to England in 1851, was enthusiastically received, and lived there for many years; ultimately he resided in Turin, studied science, and died there (1802 or 1806-1894).

KOTZEBUE, German dramatist, born at Weimar; went to St. Petersburg, obtained favour at court and a government appointment; was banished to Siberia, but regained the favour of Paul, and was recalled; on Paul’s death he returned to Germany, but went back to Russia from fear of Napoleon, whom he had violently attacked; he had a facile pen, and wrote no fewer than 200 dramatic pieces; his strictures on the German university students greatly exasperated them, and one of them attacked him in his house at Mannheim and stabbed him to death (1761-1819).

KOUMISS, an intoxicating beverage among the Kalmucks, made by fermentation from mare’s milk.

KOVALEVSKY, ALEXANDER, Russian embryologist, professor at St. Petersburg; studied and wrote on the Ascidians; _b_. 1840.

KRAKATAO, a volcanic island in the narrow Strait of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra; was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1883, causing a tidal wave that swept round the globe, and raising quantities of dust that made the sunsets in Britain even more than usually red for three years.

KRAKEN, a huge fabulous sea-monster, reported as at one time seen in the Norwegian seas; it would rise to the surface, and as it plunged down drag ships and every floating or swimming thing along with it.

KRAPOTKIN, PRINCE PETER, a Russian Nihilist, born in Moscow; became a member of the INTERNATIONAL (q. v.); was arrested in Russia and imprisoned, but escaped, as also in France, but released, and settled in England; has written extensively on Socialistic subjects; _b_. 1842.

KRAUSE, KARL CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH, German philosopher, born at Eisenberg; studied under Fichte and Schelling, and was himself lecturer successively in Jena, Dresden, Berlin, Goettingen, and Muenich, where he died; of the school of Kant, his work has suffered through the pedantry of his style; he wrote “The Ideal of Humanity,” and many philosophical treatises (1781-1832).

KREFELD (105), in Rhenish Prussia, 12 m. NW. of Duesseldorf; important manufacturing town; noted for its silk and velvet factories founded by Protestant refugees; has also machinery and chemical works.

KREMLIN, gigantic pile of buildings in Moscow of all styles of architecture;, including palaces, cathedrals, museums, government offices; founded by Ivan III. in 1485.

KREUZER, a German coin, worth one-third or one-fifth of an English penny.

KRIEGSSPIEL, a military game played on large-scale maps with metal blocks for troops, and designed to represent as fully as possible the conditions of warfare; was invented by a Prussian lieutenant in 1824.

KRILOF, IVAN ANDREEVICH, the great Russian fabulist, born at Moscow, son of a soldier; began his literary career writing dramas and editing magazines; was some time secretary to the governor of Livonia, and for years lived an idle roving life; at 40 his fables in the Moscow _Spectator_ brought him fame in 1805; next year he was appointed to a Government post at St. Petersburg, and in 1821 to a post in the Imperial Public Library; he was an eccentric, much-loved man, and the humour and sympathy of his writings have won for him the title of the La Fontaine of Russia (1768-1844).

KRISHNA (i. e. the swarthy one), the man-god, or god-man, viewed as the 8th and final incarnation or avatar of VISHNU (q. v.), in whose manifestation the latter first reveals himself as supreme divinity, being, as the Theosophist might say, his Mahatma. See THEOSOPHY.

KRUeDENER, MADAME DE, novelist, born at Riga; authoress of an autobiographical novel entitled “Valerie”; lived partly at St. Petersburg and partly at Paris; was a mystic religious enthusiast and political prophetess (1764-1824).

KRUeGER, S. J. PAUL, President of the Transvaal Republic, born at Rastenburg; became member of the Executive Council in 1872; in 1882 was chosen President, and has been three times elected to the same office since; a man of sturdy, stubborn principles, a champion of the rights of the Boers, and a cunning diplomatist; _b_. 1825.

KRUMMACHER, FREDERICK, German theologian, author of “Elijah the Tisbite,” a popular work; was an opponent of the Rationalists (1796-1868).

KRUPP, ALFRED, metal and steel founder, born at Essen, where through his father he became the proprietor of a small foundry which grew in his hands into such dimensions as to surpass every other establishment of the kind in the world; the BESSEMER (q. v.) process was early introduced here in the manufacture of steel, which Krupp was the first to employ in the manufacture of guns; the works cover an immense area, and employ 20,000 people, and supply artillery to every Government of Europe (1810-1887).

KUBERA or KUVERA, the Hindu Plutus, or god of riches, represented as deformed and mounted on a car drawn by hobgoblins.

KUBLAI KHAN was a great Mongol emperor of the 13th century; built up an empire which included all the continent of Asia (except India, Arabia, and Asia Minor) and Russia, the most extensive that ever existed; he was an enlightened prince, adopted Chinese civilisation, promoted learning, and established Buddhism throughout his domains.

KUENEN, ABRAHAM, a Dutch Biblical critic, born at Haarlem; studied at Leyden, and became professor there; distinguished for his researches on the lines of the so-called higher criticism bearing upon the literary history of the books of the Old Testament, beginning with that of the Pentateuch (1828-1891).

KUEN-LUN, N. of Thibet, a great snow-clad mountain range, 18,000 to 25,000 ft. high; stretches for 700 m., with a breadth of 100 m. It was explored by General Prjevalski, a Russian, 1876-88.

KULM, a Bohemian village on the left bank of the Elbe, 50 m. NW. of Prague, where the French under Vandamme surrendered to the Russians and Prussians in 1813.

KUNERSDORF, a village near Frankfort-on-Oder, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Russians and Austrians in 1759.

KURDISTAN (2,250), a stretch of plateau and mountain land in Turkish, Persian, and Russian Trans-Caucasian territory, consisting of grassy plains and lofty ranges through which rivers like the Zabs, Batman-su, and Euphrates force their way; is inhabited by a partly nomad, partly agricultural people of ancient stock, who export wool, gum, and hides; the Kurds retain their old customs and organisation, are subject to their own chiefs, impatient of the rule of the Porte and the Shah; predatory by instinct, but brave and chivalrous; they are Moslems and Nestorians.

KURILE ISLANDS, a chain of 26 islands, being a continuation of the peninsula of Kamchatka, enclosing the sea of Okhotsk; very sparsely inhabited.

KURRACHEE (105), the chief port of the Punjab; situated on the delta of the Indus, with an extensive harbour and trade.

KURTZ, HEINRICH, German theologian, professor at Dorpat; author, among other works, of a “Handbook of Church History”; _b_. 1809.

KURUMAN, in Bechuanaland, 140 m. NW. of Kimberley; is the place where Livingstone and Moffat laboured.

KYD, THOMAS, Elizabethan dramatist, born in London, and trained a scrivener, but won fame as a writer of tragedies, of which the best was “The Spanish Tragedy” (1557-1595).

KYOTO (298), from 784 to 1868 the capital of Japan, on the Kamo River, inland, 190 m. W. of Yedo; is still the centre of Japanese Buddhism, and is noted for its pottery, bronze-work, crapes, and velvets.

KYRIE ELEISON, means “Lord have mercy upon us,” and with CHRISTE ELEISON, “Christ have mercy upon us,” occurs in all Greek liturgies, in the Roman Mass, and in the English Prayer Book, where it forms the “lesser litany.”

KYRLE, JOHN, philanthropist, born in Gloucestershire; celebrated by Pope as the “Man of Ross,” from the name of the place in Herefordshire where he lived; was distinguished for his benefactions; has given name to a society founded, among other things, for the betterment of the homes of the people (1637-1724).

L

LAB`ARUM, the standard, surmounted by the monogram of Christ, which was borne before the Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, and in symbol of the vision of the cross in the sky which led to it. It was a lance with a cross-bar at its extremity and a crown on top, and the monogram consisted of the Greek letter for Ch and R.

LABE, LOUISE, poetess, surnamed “La belle Cordiere” as the wife of a rope-maker, born in Lyons; wrote in prose “Dialogue d’Amour et de Folie,” and elegies and sonnets, with “a singular approach to the ring of Shakespeare’s” (1526-1566).

LABICHE, EUGENE, a French dramatist, born at Paris; his dramas give evidence of a genius of inexhaustible fertility of invention, wit, and humour; his best-known play “Le Voyage de M. Perrichon,” 1860 (1815-1888).

LABLACHE, a celebrated operatic deep bass singer, born in Naples, of French origin; he created quite a _furore_ wherever he went; was teacher of singing to Queen Victoria (1794-1858).

LABOULAYE, RENE DE, a French jurist, born in Paris; was a Moderate in politics; wrote on French law, and was the author of some tales of a humorous turn, such as “Paris in America” (1811-1883).

LABOURDONNAIS, MARE DE, French naval officer, born at St. Malo, Governor of the Isle of France; distinguished himself against the English in India; was accused of dishonourable conduct, and committed to the Bastille, but after a time found guiltless and liberated (1699-1753).

LABRADOR (6), the great peninsula in the E. of Canada, washed by Hudson’s Bay, the Greenland Sea, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; is a high tableland, with many lakes and rivers, and forests of birch and fir. The climate is much too severe for agriculture. Summer is very short, and plagued with mosquitoes. The rivers abound in salmon; the fox, marten, otter, and other animals are trapped for their fur; iron and labradorite are plentiful. The population is largely Eskimo, christianised by the Moravians. The name Labrador specially belongs to the region along the eastern coast, between Capes St. Louis and Chudleigh, presenting a barren front to the sea, precipitous, much indented, and fringed with rocky islands. This region is governed by Newfoundland; its chief industry is cod and herring fishing.

LA BRUYERE, JEAN DE, a celebrated French moralist, born at Paris; was tutor to the Duke of Bourbon, the grandson of the great Conde, and spent a great part of his life in Paris in connection with the Conde family; his most celebrated work is “Les Caracteres de Theophrastus” (1687), which abounds in wise maxims and reflections on life, but gave offence to contemporaries by the personal satires in it under disguised names; he ranks high as a writer no less than as a moralist; his style is “a model of ease, grace, and fluency, without weakness in his characters; a book,” adds Professor Saintsbury, “most interesting to read, and especially to Englishmen” (1645-1696).

LABUAN (6), a small island, distant 6 m. from the W. coast of North Borneo, ceded to Britain in 1846, and administered by the British North Borneo Company; has rich coal-beds; its town, Victoria, is a market for Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago, and exports sago, camphor, and pearls; the population is chiefly Malay and Chinese.

LABYRINTH, a name given to sundry structures composed of winding passages so intricate as to render it difficult to find the way out, and sometimes in. Of these structures the most remarkable were those of Egypt and of Crete. The Egyptian to the E. of Lake Moeris, consisted of an endless number of dark chambers, connected by a maze of passages into which it was difficult to find entrance; and the Cretan, built by Daedalus, at the instance of Minos, to imprison the Minotaur, out of which one who entered could not find his way out again unless by means of a skein of thread. It was by means of this, provided him by ARIADNE, PERSEUS (q. v.) found his way out after slaying the MINOTAUR (q. v.).

LAC, a term employed in India for a hundred thousand, a crore amounting to 100 lacs, usually of money.

LACCADIVES, THE, or THE HUNDRED THOUSAND ISLES (14), a group of low-lying coral islands 200 m. W. of the Malabar coast of India, mostly barren, and yielding chiefly cocoa-nuts; the population being Hindus professing Mohammedanism and poorly off.

LACEPEDE, COMTE DE, French naturalist, born at Agen; was entrusted by Buffon to complete his Natural History on his death; wrote on his own account also the natural histories of reptiles, of fishes, and of man (1756-1825).

LACHAISE, FRANCOIS DE, a French Jesuit, an extremely politic member of the fraternity in the reign of Louis XIV.; had a country house E. of Paris, the garden of which is now the cemetery Pere la Chaise (1624-1709).

LACHESIS, the one of the three Fates that spun the thread of life and apportioned the destinies of man. See PARCAE.

LACHMANN, KARL, a German philologist and classical scholar, born at Brunswick, professor at Berlin; besides sundry of the Latin classics, in particular Lucretius, he edited the Nibelungen Lied, and the Greek New Testament, as well as contributed important critical essays on the composition of the “Iliad,” which he regarded as a collection of lays from various independent sources (1783-1851). See ILIAD.

LACHRYMA CHRISTI, a sweet wine of a red or amber colour, produced from grapes grown on Mount Vesuvius.

LACONIA, ancient name for Sparta, the inhabitants of which were noted for the brevity of their speech.

LACORDAIRE, JEAN BAPTISTE HENRY, a celebrated French preacher, and one of the most brilliant orators of the century; bred for the bar; held sceptical opinions at first, but came under the influence of religion; took orders as a priest and became associated with Montalembert and Lamennais as joint-editor of the _Avenir_, a journal which advocated views at once Ultramontane and radical, but which, being condemned by the Pope, was discontinued; after this he took to preaching, and immense crowds gathered to hear his conferences, as they were called, in the church of Notre Dame, where, to the astonishment of all, he appeared in the pulpit in guise of a Dominican monk with the tonsure; he was afterwards elected member of the Constitutent Assembly, where he sat in his monk’s attire, but he soon retired; he ended his days as head of the Military College of Sorreze (1802-1861).

LACRATELLE, French historian, born at Metz; began life as a journalist; became professor of History in Paris University; wrote a history of the 18th century and of the French Revolution, showing very great accuracy of detail, if little historical insight (1766-1855).

LA CROSSE, the national game of Canada, of Indian derivation; is played twelve a side, each armed with a long-handled racquet or crosse, the object of the game being to drive an india-rubber ball through the opponents’ goal.

LACTANTIUS, a Christian apologist of the early part of the 14th century, who, from his eloquent advocacy of the Christian faith, was styled the Christian Cicero; he was a pagan born, and by profession a rhetorician.

LADISLAUS, the name of seven kings of Hungary, of which the first (1077-1095) received canonisation for his zeal on behalf of Christianity.

LADOGA, a lake as large as Wales and the largest in Europe, in the NW. of Russia, not far from St. Petersburg; it is the centre of an extensive lake and river system, receiving the Volkhov, Syas, and Svir, and drained into the Gulf of Finland by the Neva; but so dangerous is navigation, owing to sunken rocks and shoals and to the storms that prevail during the open months, that the extensive shipping is carried round the S. shores by the Ladoga and the canals.

LADRONES or MARIANA ISLANDS (10), a well-watered, thickly-wooded group in the North Pacific, 1400 m. E. of the Philippines and belonging to Spain; produce cotton, indigo, and sugar, but the trade is of little worth; the only town is San Ignazio de Agana, on the largest island, Guam.

LADY CHAPEL, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary attached to a church.

LADY DAY, the festival of the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, March 25; a quarter-day in England and Ireland.

LADY OF ENGLAND, title of Matilda, daughter of Henry I. and wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, conferred on her by a council held at Westminster, 1141.

LADY OF SHALOTT, a maiden of great beauty, the subject of a poem by Tennyson, in love with Lancelot, who died because her love was not returned.

LADY OF THE LAKE, the name given to Vivien, the mistress of Merlin, who dwelt in an imaginary lake, surrounded by a court of knights and damsels; also to Helen Douglas, a heroine of Scott’s, who lived with her father near Loch Katrine.

LA FAYETTE, MADAME DE, novelist, born in Paris; is credited with being the originator of the class of fiction in which character and its analysis are held of chief account; she was the daughter of the governor of Havre, and contracted a Platonic affection for La Rochefoucauld in his old age, and was besides on intimate terms with Madame Sevigne and the most eminent literary men of the time; her “Princess de Cleves” is a classic work, and the merit of it is enhanced by the reflection that it preceded by nearly half a century the works both of Le Sage and Defoe (1634-1693).

LA FAYETTE, MARQUIS DE, born in the castle of Chavagnac; went to America in 1777, took an active and self-sacrificing part in the War of Independence; was honourably distinguished at the battle of Brandywine; sailed for France, brought over auxiliaries; he commanded Washington’s vanguard in 1782; returned to Paris, and was made commander-in-chief of the National Guard in 1789; would have achieved the Revolution with the minimum of violence and set up a republic on the model of the Washington one; was obliged to escape from France during the Reign of Terror; was imprisoned five years at Olmuetz, but was liberated when Napoleon appeared on the scene; as a consistent republican showed no favour to Napoleon; took part in the Revolution of 1830, became again commander-in-chief of the National Guard and a supporter of Louis Philippe, the citizen king; characterised by Carlyle as “a constitutional pedant; clear, thin, inflexible, as water turned to thin ice” (1757-1834).

LAFITTE, JACQUES, French banker and financier; played a conspicuous part in the Revolution of 1830, and by his influence as a liberal politician with the French people secured the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne; in the calamities attendant on this Revolution his house became insolvent, but he was found, after paying all demands, to be worth in francs nearly seven millions (1767-1844).

LAFONTAINE, JEAN DE, celebrated French author, born at Chateau-Thierry, in Champagne; a man of indolent, gay, and dissipated habits, but of resplendent genius, known to all the world for his inimitable “Tales” and “Fables,” and who was the peer of all the distinguished literary notabilities of his time; the former, published in 1665, too often transgress the bounds of morality, but are distinguished by exquisite grace of expression and sparkling wit; the latter, published in 1668, have an irresistible charm which no reader can withstand; he was the author also of the “Amours of Cupid and Psyche”; he was the friend of Boileau, Moliere, and Racine, and in his later years a confirmed Parisian (1621-1695).

LA FORCE, DUC DE, marechal of France under Henry IV., and one of the most distinguished; escaped when an infant the massacre of St. Bartholomew (1558-1652).

LAGOS (40), a large and thriving commercial town in a colony (100) of the name subject to Britain, on the Guinea Coast of Africa.

LAGRANGE, JOSEPH LOUIS, COMTE, famous mathematician, born at Turin of French parentage; had gained at the age of twenty a European reputation by his abstruse algebraical investigations; appointed director of Berlin Academy in 1766, he pursued his researches there for twenty-one years; in 1787 he removed to Paris, where be received a pension from the Court of 6000 francs, and remained till his death; universally respected, he was unscathed by the Revolution; appointed to several offices, he received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour from Napoleon, who made him a count (1736-1813).

LA HARPE, JEAN FRANCOIS DE, French litterateur and critic, born in Paris; wrote dramas and eloges, but his best-known work is his “Cours de Litterature” in 12 vols., of little account except for its criticism of French literature, in which he showed not a little pedantry and ill-temper as well as acuteness; he was zealous for the Revolution at first, but drew back when extreme measures were adopted and became a warm royalist, for which he was sentenced to deportation, but left at liberty (1739-1803).

LA HOGUE, a cape with a roadstead on NE. of France, where a French fleet sent by Louis XIV. to invade England on behalf of James II. was destroyed in 1692.

LAHORE (177), an ancient walled city on the Ravi, a tributary of the Indus, 1000 m. NW. of Calcutta, is the capital of the Punjab, and an important railway centre; it has many fine buildings, both English and native, including a university and a medical school, but the situation is unhealthy; half the population are Mussulmans; the trade is inconsiderable; the district of Lahore (1,075) one of the most important in the province, is well irrigated by the Bari Doab Canal, and produces fine crops of cereals, pulse, and cotton.

LAIDLAW, WILLIAM, Sir Walter Scott’s factor at Abbotsford, born in Selkirkshire; having failed in farming, entered Scott’s service in 1817 and remained his trusted and faithful friend, advising him in his schemes of improvement and acting latterly as his amanuensis till his death in 1832; thereafter he was factor in Ross-shire, where he died; he had some poetic gift of his own, and contributed to the third volume of the “Minstrelsy” (1780-1845).

LAING, DAVID, a learned antiquary, profound in his knowledge of Scottish ecclesiastical and literary history, born, the son of bookseller, at Edinburgh, followed for thirty years his father’s trade; was appointed to the charge of the Signet Library in 1837; was secretary to the Bannatyne Club, and in 1864 received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh University; he contributed many valuable papers to the _Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, collected and edited much of the ancient poetry of Scotland, and acquired a private library of manuscripts and volumes of great value (1799-1878).

LAING, MALCOLM, Scottish historian, born in Orkney; passed through Edinburgh University to the Scottish bar, to which he was called in 1785, but proved an unsuccessful advocate; turning to literature, he edited “Ossian,” and wrote a “History of Scotland from James VI. to Anne” (1800), in a subsequent edition of which he inserted the well-known attack on Mary Stuart (1762-1818).

LAIS, the name of two Greek courtesans celebrated for their beauty, the one a native of Corinth, who lived at the time of the Peloponnesian War, and the other belonging to Sicily, and who, having visited Thessaly, was stoned to death by the women of the country out of jealousy.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE (lit. let things alone and take their course), the name given to the let-alone system of political economy, in opposition to State interference, or State regulation, in private industrial enterprise.

LAKE DISTRICT, a district in Cumberland and Westmorland, 20 m. long by 25 m. broad, abounding in lakes, environed with scenery of rare beauty, and much frequented by tourists.

LAKE DWELLINGS, primitive settlements, the remains of which have been found in many parts of Europe, but chiefly in Switzerland, the N. of Italy, and in Scotland and Ireland. They were constructed in various ways. In the Swiss lakes piles, consisting of unbarked tree trunks, were driven in a short distance from the shore, and strengthened more or less by cross beams; extensive platforms laid on these held small villages of rectangular wooden huts, thatched with straw and reeds. These were sometimes approachable only in canoes, more often connected with the shore by a narrow bridge, in which case cattle were kept in sheds on the platforms. In Scotland and Ireland the erection was rather an artificial island laid down in 10 or 12 ft. of water with brushwood, logs, and stones, much smaller in size, and holding but one hut. The Swiss dwellings, the chief of which are at Meilen, on Lake Zurich, date from very early times, some say 2000 years before Christ, and contain remains of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, weapons, instruments, pottery, linen cloth, and the like. The relic of latest date is a Roman coin of A.D. 54. The British remains are much more recent, belonging entirely to the Iron period and to historic times. The object sought in these structures is somewhat obscure–most probably it was the security their insular nature afforded.

LAKE POETS, a school of English poets, the chief representatives of which were Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge, who adorned the beginning of the 19th century, and were so designated by the _Edinburgh Review_ because their favourite haunt was the LAKE DISTRICT (q. v.) in the N. of England, and the characteristic of whose poetry may be summed as a feeling of and a sympathy with the pure spirit of nature.

LAKSHMI, in the Hindu mythology the wife of Vishnu and the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and victory; she is a favourite subject of Hindu painting and poetry.

LALANDE, a French astronomer; was professor of Astronomy in the College of France, and produced an excellent treatise on the subject in two vols. (1732-1807).

LALLA-ROOKH, the title of a poem by Moore, from the name of the heroine, the daughter of the Mogul Emperor, Aurungzebe; betrothed to the young king of Bacharia, she goes forth to meet him, but her heart having been smitten by a poet she meets on the way, as she enters the palace of her bridegroom she swoons away, but reviving at the sound of a familiar voice she wakes up with rapture to find that the poet of her affection was none other than the prince to whom she was betrothed.

LALLY-TOLLENDAL, or BARON DE TOLLENDAL, a French general, born at Romans, in Dauphine, of Irish descent; saw service in Flanders; accompanied Prince Charles to Scotland in 1745, and was in 1756 appointed Governor-General of the French settlements in India, but being defeated by the English he was accused of having betrayed the French interests, and executed after two years’ imprisonment in the Bastille (1702-1766).

LALLY-TOLLENDAL, MARQUIS DE, son of the preceding; successfully vindicated the conduct of his father, and received back his paternal estates that had unjustly been forfeited; supported LA FAYETTE (q. v.) at the time of the Revolution, and followed his example; was arrested in 1792, but escaped to England; returning to France, he supported the Bourbon dynasty at the Restoration; wrote a “Defence of the French Emigrants,” and a Life of the Earl of Strafford, Charles I.’s minister (1751-1830).

LAMAISM, Buddhism as professed in Thibet and Mongolia, or the worship of Buddha and his DHARMA (q. v.); conceived of as incarnated in the SANGHA (q. v.) or priesthood, and especially in the Grand Lama or Dalai Lama, the chief priest; a kind of hero-worship, or at all events saint-worship; long since sunk into mere IDOLATRY (q. v.).

LAMARCK, a French naturalist, born at Bazentin, Picardy; entered the army at the age of 17, and after serving in it a short time retired and devoted himself to botany; in his “Flora Francaise” published (1773) adopted a new method of classification of plants; in 1774 became keeper of what ultimately became the Jardin des Plantes, and was professor of Zoology, devoting himself to the study of particularly invertebrate animals, the fruits of which study appeared in his “Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertebres”; he held very advanced views on the matter of biology, and it was not till the advent of Darwin they were appreciated (1744-1820).

LA MARMORA, MARQUIS DE, an eminent Italian general and statesman, born at Turin; fell under the rebuke of Bismarck for an indiscretion as a diplomatist (1801-1878).

LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE MARIE DE, a French author, politician, and poet, born in Macon; his poetic effusions procured for him admission into the French Academy, and in 1834 he entered the Chamber of Deputies; his ability as a poet, and the independent attitude he maintained in the Chamber, gained for him a popularity which his action in 1848 contributed to increase, but it suffered eclipse from the moment he allied himself with Ledru-Rollin; after serving in the Provisional Government of 1848 he stood candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated, and on the occasion of the _coup d’etat_, he retired into private life; he published in 1819 “Meditations Poetiques,” in 1847 the “Histoire de Girondins,” besides other works, including “Voyage en Orient”; he was “of the second order of poets,” says Professor Saintsbury, “sweet but not strong, elegant but not full;… a sentimentalist and a landscape painter” (1790-1869).

LAMB, CHARLES, essayist and critic, born in London, and educated at Christ’s Hospital, where he had Coleridge for school-fellow; was for 35 years a clerk in the East India Company’s office, on his retirement from which he was allowed a pension of L450; it was as a poet he made his first appearance in literature, but it was as an essayist he attained distinction, and chiefly by his “Essays of Elia” he is best known and will be longest remembered; he was the friend of Wordsworth, Southey, and others of his illustrious contemporaries, and is famous for his witty remarks, to which his stammering tongue imparted a special zest; he was never married; his affection for his sister Mary, for whom he composed his “Tales from Shakespeare,” is well known, and how in her weakness from insanity he tenderly nursed her (1775-1834).

LAMBALLE, PRINCESSE DE, a young widow, the devoted friend of Marie Antoinette, born at Turin; was for her devotion to the queen one of the victims of the September massacres and brutally outraged; “she was beautiful, she was good, she had known no happiness” (1748-1792).

LAMBERT, JOHANN HEINRICH, German philosopher and mathematician; was the successor and rival of Leibnitz in both regards, and was patronised by Frederick the Great (1619-1728).

LAMBERT, JOHN, one of Cromwell’s officers in the civil war, born in Yorkshire; served in the successive engagements during the war from that of Marston Moor onwards, and assisted at the installation of Cromwell as Protector, but declined to take the oath of allegiance afterwards; on the death of the Protector essayed with other officers to govern the country, an attempt which was defeated by Monk, and for which he was imprisoned, tried, and banished (1619-1683).

LAMBETH (275), part of the SW. quarter of London, and a parliamentary borough in Surrey returning four members; abounds in manufactories, contains St. Thomas’s Hospital and Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a magnificent library and important historic portrait-gallery.

LAMENNAIS, FELICITE, ROBERT DE, a French theologian and journalist, born at St. Malo; began life as a free-thinker, but by-and-by became a Roman Catholic of the extreme ultramontane type; in 1820 went to Rome and was offered a cardinalate, but in 1830 his views changed, and he joined Montalembert and Lacordaire in the conduct of _L’Avenir_, a journal which advocated religious and political freedom, on the condemnation of which by the Pope he became again a free-thinker and revolutionary; his influence on French literature was great, and affected both Michelet and Victor Hugo (1782-1854).

LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF, one of the poetical books of the Old Testament, ascribed to Jeremiah and historically connected with his prophecies, written apparently after the fall of Jerusalem and in sight of its ruins, as lamentation over the general desolation in the land connected therewith.

LAMMAS DAY, the first of August, literally “the loaf-mass” day or festival day at the beginning of harvest, one of the cross quarter days, Whitsuntide, Martinmas, and Candlemas being the other three.

LAMMERMOORS, a range of hills separating the counties of Haddington and Berwick, extending from Gala Water to St. Abb’s Head, the Lammer Law being 1733 ft.

LA METTRIE, a French physician and materialist, born at St. Malo; bred to medicine, served as an army surgeon at Dettingen and Fontenoy; his materialistic views were given first in a publication entitled “D’Histoire Naturelle de l’Ame,” and at length in his “L’Homme Machine,” both in profession of a materialism so gross and offensive, being absolutely atheistic, that he was glad to escape for shelter to Berlin under the wing of Frederick the Great (1709-1754).

LAMOTTE, COUNTESS DE, born at Fontelle, in Aube, who came up to Paris a shifty adventuress and played a chief part in the notorious affair of the DIAMOND NECKLACE (q. v.), which involved so many high people in France in deep disgrace (1756-1791). See CARLYLE’S “MISCELLANIES.”

LANARK (5), county town of Lanarkshire, on the Clyde, 31 m. SE. of Glasgow; has a cattle-market and some weaving industry, and is for parliamentary purposes in the Falkirk group of burghs.

LANARKSHIRE (1,106), inland Scottish county occupying the Clyde valley, in size the twelfth, but first in wealth and population. The middle and south are hilly, with such outstanding peaks as Tinto, and are adapted for cattle and sheep grazing and for dairy-farming. The lower north-western portion is very rich in coal and iron, the extensive mining and manufacture of which has given rise to many busy towns such as Glasgow, Motherwell, Hamilton, Coatbridge, and Airdrie; fireclay, shale, and lead are also found; the soil is various; comparatively little grain is grown; there are large woods. The orchards of the river side have given place mostly to market gardens, which the proximity of great towns renders profitable. The industries, besides iron and coal, are very extensive and varied, and include great textile works.

LANCASHIRE (3,927), English county stretching from the Cumberland Mountains in the N. to the Mersey in the S. along the shores of the Irish Sea; is the wealthiest and most populous county, and the indentations of the coast-line adapt it to be the chief outlet westward for English trade, more than a third of England’s foreign commerce passing through its ports. The country is mostly low, with spurs of the Yorkshire hills; it is rich in minerals, chiefly coal and iron; its industrial enterprise is enormous; nearly half of the cotton manufacture of the world is carried on in its towns, besides woollen and silk manufacture, the making of engineer’s tools, boots and shoes. The soil is a fertile loam, under corn and green crops and old pasture. Lancaster is the county town, but the largest towns are Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, and Blackburn. The northern portion, detached by Morecambe Bay, is known as Furness, belongs really to the Lake District, and has Barrow-in-Furness, with its large shipbuilding concerns, for its chief town. Lancashire has long been an influential political centre.

LANCASTER (31), picturesque town near the mouth of the Lune, 50 m. NW. of Manchester, is the county town of Lancashire, and manufactures furniture, cotton, machinery, and railway plant; it was disfranchised in 1867 for corrupt practices.

LANCASTER, JOSEPH, educationist, born in Southwark, and founder of the Monitorial System; had a chequered career, died in poverty (1778-1838).

LANCELOT OF THE LAKE, one of the Knights of the Round Table, famous for his gallantry and his amours with Queen Guinevere; was called of the Lake because educated at the court of the LADY OF THE LAKE (q. v.); he turned hermit in the end, and died a holy man.

LAND LEAGUE, an organisation founded by DAVITT (q. v.) in Ireland in 1879 to deal with the land question, and suppressed in 1881 as illegal.

LANDAMAN, name given to the chief magistrate in certain Swiss cantons, also to the President of the Swiss Diet.

LANDER, RICHARD, African explorer, born in Truro, Cornwall; accompanied Clapperton as his servant; along with his brother John discovered the lower course of the Niger; on the third expedition was wounded in a conflict with the natives, and died at Fernando Po (1804-1834).

LANDES, sandy plains along the French coast between the Garonne and the Pyrenees, covered with heath and broom.

LANDGRABBER, name given in Ireland to one in the possession or occupancy of land from which another has been evicted.

LANDGRAVE, title given to certain counts of the old German empire who had the rank of princes.

LANDON, LETITIA ELIZABETH, known as L. E. L., authoress, born in Chelsea; a charming woman, who wrote well both in verse and prose; was Mrs. Hemans’s successor; having taken prussic acid by mistake had a tragic end (1802-1838).

LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE, eminent literary man, born in Warwick, a man of excitable temperament, which involved him in endless quarrels leading to alienations, but did not affect his literary work; figured first as a poet in “Gebir” and “Count Julian,” to the admiration of Southey, his friend, and De Quincey, and ere long as a writer of prose in his “Imaginary Conversations,” embracing six volumes, on which recent critics have bestowed unbounded praise, Swinburne in particular; he died in Florence separated from his family, and dependent on it there for six years; Carlyle visited him at Bath in 1850, and found him “stirring company; a proud, irascible, trenchant, yet generous, veracious, and very dignified old man; quite a ducal or royal man in the temper of him” (1775-1864).

LAND’S END, a bold promontory of granite rock on the SW. coast of Cornwall.

LANDSEER, SIR EDWIN HENRY, greatest English animal-painter, born in London, the son of an engraver and writer on art, trained by his father, sketched animals before he was six years old, and exhibited in the Royal Academy before thirteen; in his early years he portrayed simply the form and colour and movement of animal life, but after his twenty-first year he added usually some sentiment or idea; elected A.R.A. in 1826, and R.A. in 1830; he was knighted in 1853; five years later he won a gold medal in Paris; in 1859 he modelled the Trafalgar Square lions; after 1861 he suffered from mental depression, and declined the Presidency of the Royal Academy in 1866 (1802-1873).

LANDSTURM, the name given to the last reserve in the German army, which is never called out except in time of war.

LANDTHING, the name of the Upper House in the Danish Parliament.

LANDWEHR, a military force in Germany and Austria held in reserve against a time of war, when it is called out to do ordinary military duty. In Germany those capable of bearing arms have to serve in it five years after completing their seven years’ term of regular service.

LANE, EDWARD WILLIAM, eminent Arabic scholar, born at Hereford; set out for Egypt in 1825; studied the language and manners, and returned in 1828; published in 1836 an “Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians”; translated in 1840 “The Arabian Nights,” and spent seven years in Egypt preparing an Arabic Lexicon which he had all but finished when he died; it was completed and edited by S. Lane-Poole (1801-1876).

LANFRANC, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Pavia; went to France, entered the monastery of Bec, and became prior in 1046, and was afterwards, in 1062, elected prior of the abbey of St. Stephen at Caen; and came over to England with William the Conqueror, who appointed him to the archbishopric rendered vacant by the deposition of Stigand; he was William’s trusted adviser, but his influence declined under Rufus; _d_. 1089.

LANFREY, PIERRE, historian, born at Chambery; wrote an elaborate History of Napoleon to, it is reckoned, the irreparable damage of its hero (1828-1877).

LANG, ANDREW, a versatile writer, born in Selkirk; has distinguished himself in various departments of literary work, as a poet, a folk-lorist, a writer of fancy tales, a biographer, and a critic; has composed “Ballads and Lyrics of Old France,” “Ballads in Blue China”; has translated Homer into musical prose, and written the Lives of Sir Stafford Northcote and John Gibson Lockhart; he began his literary career as a journalist, and his assiduity as a writer has never relaxed; _b_. 1844.

LANGE, FRIEDRICH, German philosopher, born near Solingen, son of the following; became professor at Marburg; wrote a “History of Materialism” of great value (1828-1875).

LANGE, JOHANN PETER, a German theologian, born near Elberfeld; became professor at Bonn; his works are numerous, but is best known by his “Life of Christ” and his “Christian Dogmatic” (1802-1884).

LANGHORNE, JOHN, an English divine and poet, horn at Kirkby Stephen; was a prebend of Wells Cathedral; wrote a poem entitled “Genius and Virtue,” and executed with a brother a translation of Plutarch’s Lives (1735-1779).

LANGLAND, or LANGLEY, WILLIAM, the presumed author of the “Vision of Piers Plowman,” and who lived in the 14th century.

LANGRES (10), a French town, strongly fortified, near the sources of the Marne, rich in antiquities, and one of the oldest towns in France; has manufactures and a considerable trade.

LANGTON, STEPHEN, archbishop of Canterbury, born in England but educated in France; a man of ability and scholarly attainments; in 1206 visited Rome, was made Cardinal by Innocent III., presented to the Archbishopric, and consecrated at Viterbo in 1207; King John refused to acknowledge him, and the kingdom was put under an interdict, a quarrel which it took five years to settle; established in the primacy, the prelate took up a constitutional position, and mediated between the king and the barons to the advancement of political liberty; _d_. 1228.

LANGUEDOC, a province in the S. of France, annexed to the French crown in 1361, and now divided into nine departments, borders on the Rhone.

LANKA, name given to Ceylon in the Hindu mythology.

LANNES, JEAN, DUC DE MONTEBELLO, marshal of France, born at Lectoure; was much esteemed by Napoleon, whom he zealously supported; went with him to Egypt, was with him at Marengo, distinguished himself at Austerlitz and in Spain, and fell mortally wounded at Essling (1769-1809).

LANSDOWNE, HENRY, THIRD MARQUIS OF, liberal politician, born in London; educated at Edinburgh and Cambridge; sat in the Commons as member for Calne from 1801 and for Cambridge from 1806, and succeeded to the peerage in 1809; on the accession of the Liberals to power he joined the Cabinet of Canning, presided at the Foreign Office in Goderich’s administration, became President of the Council under Lord Grey in 1830, and, twice refusing the Premiership, was a member of every Liberal Government till 1858, when he retired from public life; he was the trusted adviser of his party, and friend of the Queen till his death (1780-1863).

LANSDOWNE, HENRY, FIFTH MARQUIS OF, Liberal statesman, grandson of the above, educated at Oxford; succeeded to the peerage in 1866, and held office in Liberal Governments, Lord of the Treasury 1868-72, Under-Secretary for War 1872-74, and Under-Secretary for India 1880; he was Governor-General of Canada 1883-88, and Viceroy of India 1888-94; in 1895 he joined Lord Salisbury’s ministry as a Liberal-Unionist, becoming Secretary for War; _b_. 1845.

LANTERNE, LA, a stout lamp-iron at the corner of a street in Paris, used by the mob for extemporised executions during the Revolution by Lynch law.

LAOCOeON, a priest of Apollo, in Troy, who having offended the god by, for one thing, advising the Trojans not to admit the wooden horse of the Greeks within the walls, was, with his two sons, while engaged in sacrificing to Poseidon, strangled to death in the coils of two enormous serpents sent to kill him, a subject which is the theme of one of the grandest relics of ancient sculpture now in existence and preserved in the Vatican.

LAODAMIA, a Grecian lady, who accompanied her husband to the Trojan War, and who, on his death on the field, begged the gods to restore him to her for three hours, a prayer which was granted, but with the result that at the end of the time she died along with him and accompanied him on his return to Hades.

LAODICEA. Eight ancient cities bore this name; the chief, situated on the Lycus, in Phrygia, lay on the way between Ionia and the Euphrates; was a city of great commerce and wealth, the seat of schools of art, science, medicine, and philosophy, and of an early Christian bishopric; though the Church was stigmatised in the Revelation, two councils assembled here in A.D. 363 and 476, the former of which influenced the determination of the canon of both Testaments; the city, destroyed by the Mohammedan invasions, is now in ruins.

LAOMEDON, the founder of Troy, who persuaded Apollo and Neptune to assist him in building the walls, but refused the recompense when the work was finished, in consequence of which the latter sent a monster to ravage the country, which could be propitiated only by the annual sacrifice to it of a young maid, till one year the lot fell on Hermione, the king’s daughter, when Hercules, persuaded by the king, slew the monster and delivered the maiden.

LAOTZE (i. e. the old Philosopher), a Chinese sage, born in the province of Ho-nan about 565 B.C., a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote the celebrated “Tao-te-King,” canon, that is, of the Tao, or divine reason, and of virtue, one–and deservedly so on account of its high ethics–of the sacred books of China; he was the founder of one of the three principal religions of China, Confucianism and Buddhism being the other two, although his followers, the Tao-sze as they are called, are now degenerated into a set of jugglers.

LA PEROUSE, a celebrated French navigator, born near Albi, in Languedoc; after distinguished services in the navy was in 1785 sent with two frigates on a voyage of discovery by Louis XVI.; “the brave navigator” went forth, sailing along the Pacific shores of America and Asia as far as Botany Bay, but never returned; “the seekers search far seas for him in vain; he has vanished trackless into blue immensity, and only some mournful mysterious shadow of him hovers long in all heads and hearts” (1741-1788).

LAPITHAE, a race inhabiting the mountains of Thessaly; subject to Perithous, who, on the occasion of his marriage with Hippodamia, invited his kinsfolk the Centaurs to the feast, but these, under intoxication from the wine, attempting to carry off the bride and other women, were set on by the Lapithae and, after a bloody struggle, overpowered.

LAPLACE, a celebrated French mathematician, born at Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy; the son of a farmer; after teaching in his native place went to Paris (1767), where he became professor in the Royal Military School; becoming member of the Academie des Sciences in 1785, he attained a position among mathematicians and astronomers almost equal to Newton’s; his “Three Laws” demonstrated the stability of the solar system; he published many treatises on lunar and planetary problems, electricity, magnetism, and a Nebula-hypothesis; his “Mecanique Celeste” is unrivalled in that class of work; surviving the Revolution he became implicated in politics without success or credit; he received his marquisate from Louis XVIII. in 1817, when he became President of the French Academy; “LAGRANGE (q. v.) has proved that on Newton’s theory of gravitation the planetary system would endure for ever; Laplace, still more cunningly, even guessed that it could not have been made on any other scheme” (1749-1827).

LAPLAND (28), a stretch of country in the N. of Europe, between the Atlantic and the White Sea; is divided between Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Its climate is very severe; mountainous in the W., it becomes more level in the E., where are many marshes, lakes, and rivers; the summer is never dark, and there are six to eight weeks of winter never light. The Lapps, of whom 18,000 are in Norwegian Lapland, are closely allied to the Finns, small of stature, thick lipped, and with small piercing eyes; proverbially uncleanly, not very intelligent, are good-natured, but untruthful and parsimonious; nominally Christian, but very superstitious; they are kindly treated by both Norway and Sweden. The mountain Lapps are nomads, whose wealth consists of herds of reindeer, which supply nearly all their wants. The sea Lapps live by fishing. The forest and river Lapps, originally nomads, have adopted a settled life, domesticated their reindeer, and taken to hunting and fishing.

LA PLATA (65), a new city, founded in 1884 as capital of the prov. of Buenos Ayres, 30 m. SE. of Buenos Ayres city; rapidly built, it has continued to grow, and has now some handsome buildings, a college, and cotton and woollen manufactures; a canal connects it with the La Plata River.

LA PLATA RIVER, a broad estuary in South America, from 28 to 140 m. broad and 200 m. long, with Uruguay on the N. and the Argentine Republic on the S., through which the Uruguay and Parana rivers pour into the Atlantic; it is much exposed to storms; its best harbour is at Monte Video.

LAPSI, name given to apostates in the early Christian Church.

LAPUTA, a flying island inhabited by speculative philosophers, visited by Gulliver in his “Travels,” who, when their minds began to be too much absorbed in their studies, were wakened up by a set of attendants called “Flappers” armed with dried bladders full of small pebbles or “dried peas” attached to the end of a stick, with which they struck them gently about the mouth and ears.

LARDNER, DIONYSIUS, a popular scientist, born in Dublin; wrote a number of scientific works; edited a Cyclopedia, being a series of volumes on scientific subjects; was professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in University College, London, but from a misdemeanour had to vacate his chair and emigrate to America (1793-1859).

LARDNER, NATHANIEL, an English divine, ecclesiastically a Presbyterian but theologically a Unitarian, author of “Credibility of the Gospel History” and “Jewish and Heathen Testimonies” in favour of Christianity (1684-1768).

LARES, household deities of the Romans; originally deified ancestors of the families whose family life they protected, and images of whom were kept in some shrine in the house near the hearth. Besides these domestic lares, there were public lares, who were protectors of the whole community. Both classes were objects of worship.

LARISSA (13), the capital of Thessaly, in Greece; stands in a sandy plain; is the seat of a Greek archbishop; has mosques as well as churches.

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, FRANCOIS, DUC DE, a great maxim writer, member of a French family of Angoumois, born at Paris; played a conspicuous part in the war of the Fronde; was present at several engagements, and was wounded twice over, and retired at length in shattered health; he passed the rest of his days at court, where he enjoyed the society of the most distinguished ladies of the time; his “Maxims” appeared in 1665, and were immediately appreciated; they bear one and all on ethical subjects, and are the fruit of a life of large and varied commerce with the race (1613-1680).

LA ROCHEJAQUELEIN, HENRI, COMTE DE, a celebrated Vendean royalist; the peasants of La Vendee having in 1792 risen in the royal cause, he placed himself at the head of them, and after gaining six victories was killed fighting in single combat while defending Nouaille (1772-1794).

LAROUSSE, PIERRE, a celebrated French grammarian and lexicographer; best known by his “Grand Dictionnaire Universel du xix^{me} Siecle” (1817-1875).

LARRY, DOMINIQUE JEAN, BARON, a celebrated military surgeon; distinguished for the organisation he instituted of the “flying ambulance” for the care of the wounded in battle; accompanied Napoleon to Egypt; served in the Russian campaign; was wounded and taken prisoner at Waterloo; wrote treatises on army surgery (1766-1842).

LA SALLE, ROBERT CAVELIER SIEUR DE, a French explorer, born at Rouen; set out from Canada and explored the North American continent along the course of the Mississippi as far as the Gulf of Mexico, planting the French flag at what he thought was, but was not, the mouth of the river; was assassinated by one of his retinue in the end (1640-1687).

LASCARS, East Indians serving as seamen on board of British vessels, who have proved very tractable, and make excellent sailors; they are mostly Mohammedans.

LASCARSIS, CONSTANTINO, an eminent Greek scholar, born in Phrygia; on the fall of Constantinople in 1453 came with his brother John to Italy, published a Greek grammar, opened a school at Rome and Naples for Greek and Rhetoric, and did much to propagate in Italy a taste for Hellenic literature (1445-1535).

LAS CASAS, BARTHOLOME DE, a celebrated Spanish priest, surnamed the Apostle of the Indians, born at Seville; visited the West Indies early