LACHAISE-LACLOS.

involved in a web of court intrigues. Mme. de Montespan and Mme. de Maintenon, the Jansenists and Jesuits, stood opposed to each other, and Louis, moved by sensuality and superstition, wavered like a reed between these parties. Nevertheless, Lachaise, maintained his ground, although he was equally obnoxious to Mme. de Montespan and Mme. de Maintenon, who frequently expressed their dislike to him in bitter sarcasms. On every occasion-at the famous declaration of the French clergy respecting the liberties of the Gallican church, at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, on occasion of the disputes of the Quietists, at the marriage of Mme. de Maintenon with the king (1686), and similar important events of the time-father Lachaise, in consequence of his office, was more or less forced to play a part; and, although he reflected well on every step he took, he constantly received the severest reproaches from both parties. The most intelligent men, however, never judged unfavorably of his private character and his conduct; and St. Simon, who was no friend to the Jesuits, as well as Voltaire, in his account of the age of Louis XIV, De Boza, Spon, and others, acknowledge, that the confessor of the vainest monarch, and the mediator between the most exasperated parties, knew how to conduct himself, under all circumstances, with address, coolness and sagacity, and that, although a zealous Jesuit, he never allowed himself to be drawn into violent measures against his opponents. That Louis formally married Mme. de Maintenon, Voltaire attributes principally to the counsels of Lachaise; but that this marriage remained secret, and, was not publicly acknowledged, according to the desire of that ambitious woman, may likewise be attributed to Lachaise, who, on this account, had constantly to endure her hatred. Lachaise, maintaining his ground in the favor of his monarch till his end, and acting as his counsellor, even when age and weakness had almost converted him into a living skeleton, and weakened his faculties, died January, 1709, at the age of 85. He left philosophical, theological and archæological works. His taste for the study of numismatics, and the great share which he had in the improvement of this branch of science in France, are well known. Louis XIV had a country-house built for him at the end of the present Boulevard neufs, which, at that time, owing to its situation on a hill, received the name of Mont-Louis. Its extensive garden now forms the cemetery

of Père Lachaise, the largest in Paris.
(See Cemetery.) Many splendid monu-
ments now adorn the place, where, former-
ly, the courtiers of Louis XIV used fre-
quently to meet, to pay their respects to
the confessor of their absolute master.
The situation of the burying-place, on
the declivity of a hill, affords one of the
most delightful views of a principal part
of the city and its suburbs. At the ap-
proach of the allies, in 1814, this burial-
place was fortified, and defended by the
students of the polytechnical and veterina-
ry school. The Russians, in storming it,
did great injury: the shaded walks, par-
ticularly, suffered by the bivouac of the
troops, but have since been repaired. A
short time previous to the second taking
of Paris (1815), viz. from June 24 till
July 8, no burials took place in the ceme-
tery of Père Lachaise, on account of the
troops which surrounded the capital.
During this time, the dead were buried in
the cemetery of Ste. Marguerite, situated
in the town, which had been long out
of use.

LACHRYME CHRISTI (Latin, tears of Christ); a superior kind of Italian wine, so called, it is said, because it drops like tears from the press, before the grapes are subjected to any pressure except their own weight. It is dark-red, and the grape grows at the foot, and, to a certain height, on the sides, of mount Vesuvius. On several of the Greek islands, also, a kind of wine is produced in the same way.

LACHRYMATORIES (i. e. tear-bottles; from lachryma, Latin, a tear); small glass or earthen vessels found in tombs, so called, because they were supposed to have been used by the ancient Romans to collect the tears of the friends of the deceased. Some of them contain the impression of one or of two eyes. They are now considered to have been used for containing aromatic liquids, to be poured upon the funeral pile.

LACLOS, Pierre-François-Choderlos de, author of the famous romance Les Liaisons dangereuses, which first appeared in 1782, was born at Amiens, in 1741, and, before the revolution, was a French officer of artillery, and secretary to the duke of Orleans. Laclos was considered, when he was young, as one of the most talented and agreeable, and, in a moral point of view, as one of the most dangerous men. His eneinies have maintained that he has drawn his own character in that of the viscount de Valmont, in his romance. Others celebrate the simplicity, honesty and good nature of his character, at least

in the latter part of his life. He was one of the leaders of the Orleans faction, as it was called. Being implicated in the affair of the 5th and 6th of October, he followed the duke of Orleans to London. After the return of the king from Varennes, Laclos endeavored, by means of the Jacobin club, to effect the foundation of a republic, as he conceived that this step would lead eventually to the elevation of the house of Orleans to the French throne. At the breaking out of the war, Laclos was transferred as an assistant to the old Luckner, and, after the fall of the house of Orleans, he disappeared from the stage. It is difficult to explain how Robespierre came to spare a man who was one of the firmest adherents of this proscribed house; and thus the report originated, that Laclos prepared the speeches of the tribune of the people. After the 9th Thermidor, Laclos returned to the military profession, and was advanced to the office of inspector-general of artillery. He died at Tarentum, in 1803.

LACONIA. (See Sparta.) LACRETELLE; two brothers, well known as authors, but entirely opposed to each other in principles.-1. Pierre Louis Lacretelle, the elder (commonly called Lacretelle ainé), was born in 1751, at Metz, where his father was an advocate, and died Sept. 5, 1824, at Paris. Animated by the masterly works of the advocate-general Servan to the study of law, ethics and literature, he went, in 1778, to Paris, where he became parliamentary advocate, and, by his writings-Eloge de Montausier (which obtained the second prize in 1781), Mémoires du Comte de Saunois (a work new and unique in its kind), and the Discours sur le préjugé des Peines infamantes (which received the prize of the academy) -rendered himself worthy of a place in the institute, where he succeeded La Harpe, with whom he was concerned in editing the Mercure an occupation which he undertook anew, in 1817, under very different circumstances, in conjunction with Jouy, Jay, B. Constant and others. Lacretelle embraced the principles of the revolution with the ardor of a noble mind, but without concurring in its excesses. In the legislative assembly, in 1792, he was one of the leaders of the constitutional party, in opposition to the Girondists, who were in favor of republicanism. After the 10th of August, Lacretelle devoted his attention wholly to literature. We find him again in public life in 1801, when he was a member of the legislative body of Napoleon. Here he retained his inde

pendence in the midst of political revolutions. When the government of Napoleon destroyed his hopes of the establishment of a liberty founded on the laws, he again retired. His poverty, which he neither complained of nor regretted, was honorable to him. The aristocratical reaction, which took place in France, after the second restoration, and was particularly memorable in the chamber of 1815 (see Chambre Introuvable), threw him into the opposition, which the liberal party at that time began to form, and in support of which they had undertaken the direction of the Mercure de France. But this journal, which appeared on fixed days, becoming subject, in consequence of a new law, to the inspection of the censor of the press, was given up, and the Minerve Francaise, which appeared irregularly, took its place. Lacretelle, in conjunction with Aignan, had the direction of this literary and political journal. The Minerve Française obtained so decided an influence upon public opinion, that this was also subjected, by a new ordinance, to the censorship, after eight volumes had been published, upon which it was immediately discontinued. Lacretelle, who was now a bookseller, hazarded a continuation of it in the form of small pamphlets; but he was subjected to a prosecution, in which he defended himself with great energy and ability. He was condemned, however, to imprisonment; but Louis XVIII remitted the sentence on account of his age and infirmities, and the general esteem in which he was held. From that time, Lacretelle employed himself upon a collection of his works, which appeared at Paris, in 1823, in four parts. He was the author of many logical, metaphysical and ethical articles in the Encyclopédie méthodique. Many of his scattered essays and treatises appeared in 1802, under the title of Euvres diverses, in five volumes, to which, in 1817, he subjoined Fragmens politiques et littéraires, and, in 1822, Euvres, and Portraits et Tableaux (among them those of Mirabeau, Bonaparte and Lafayette), in two volumes. His theatrical romance Malherbe, ou le Fils naturel (D'Alembert), is an excellent dramatic poem. His Soirées avec Guillaume Lamoignon de Malesherbes, and his Études sur la Révolution Française, are also highly esteemed. Both have been published since his death.-2. Charles Lacretelle, the younger brother of the preceding, went, when very young, to Paris, at the breaking out of the revolution. He soon attracted attention by his logical acuteness,

LACRETELLE-LADRONES.

and the editorial department of the Journal des Débats, which was established at that time, was committed to him in connexion with another individual by the name of H. Ducos. His second literary production was his Précis de la Révolution, which was a continuation of the On the work of Rabaud St. Etienne. occasion of the opposition of the Parisian sections to the decree of the national convention retaining two thirds of their number in the new legislature, Charles Lacretelle composed, in the name of the sections, the caustic addresses to the convention, as well as to the electoral assemblies of France; but, on the 13th Vendémiaire, Bonaparte put an end to these commotions. Being, however, attached to the then existing opposition, and using his influence in its favor, he was, on the 18th Fructidor, arrested, and retained prisoner for two years. After the 18th Brumaire, however, Napoleon employed his talents in various occupations. In 1813, he received Esmenard's place in the national institute, and, in 1816, the presidency of the French academy, or the third class of the institute. The historical lectures, which, as professor of history, he delivered before the university of Paris, were among the most frequented in that city. As a historical writer, he has a peculiarly brilliant diction, although his ideas want force and profundity. His Histoire de France pendant les Guerres de Religion is more highly esteemed than his Histoire de France pendant le dix-huitième Siècle (14 volumes, 1826). Lacretelle has now renounced his former philosophical views. In his L'Histoire de l'Assemblée constituante, he takes part entirely with the During twentyultras and obscurants. censor of the desix years, he was He has been partment of the drama. termed the chief support of the Société des bonnes Lettres, so called. He was likewise honored with the dignity of nobility by Louis XVIII. In 1827, the ministry deprived him of his censor's office, because he favored, in the academy, the petition to the king against the laws respecting the censorship of the press. In 1829 appeared his Histoire de France depuis la Restauration (3 volumes, not completed).

LACTANTIUS, Lucius Cœlius Firmianus, a celebrated father of the Latin church, distinguished as an orator and author, is commonly supposed to have been an African. He lived for a long time at Nicomedia, as a teacher of rhetoric, until Constantine the Great committed to his care the education of his eldest son, Cris32*

pus. He died about 325. His writings
(published by Sparke, at Oxford, 1684;
by Bünemann, at Leipsic, 1739; by Du-
fresnoy, at Paris, 1748, 2 volumes, 4to.;
and by Oberthür, at Wurtzburg, in 1783,
2 volumes) are characterized by a clear
and agreeable style, and he is, on ac-
count of his pure and eloquent language,
frequently called the Christian Cicero.
His seven books Institutiones divinæ are
particularly celebrated, and worthy of no-
tice.

LADIES' SLIPPER (cypripedium); a beautiful genus of orchideous plants, conspicuous for its large, inflated flowers. The roots are perennial; the stems simple, bearing entire sheathing leaves; and the flowers are solitary or few in number. The species are confined to the northern regions of the globe: six inhabit the Alleghany mountains, Canada, and the northern parts of the U. States; and five are found in Siberia, and the northern and mountainous parts of Europe.

LADOGA, OF LADOZSKOI; a lake in Russia, between the Baltic and the lake OneThe ga, surrounded by the governments of Petersburg, Viborg and Olonetz. south-west extremity lies 30 miles east of Petersburg. It is 140 miles long, and 75 broad, containing 6200 square miles, and is the largest lake in Europe. It contains an abundance of fish, particularly salmon. The shores are flat, but the navigation dangerous, on account of quicksands.

LADRONES; a cluster of islands in the Northern Pacific ocean, discovered by Magellan.

Their number is stated by some authorities as 14, by others as 16. They occupy a space of 450 miles; lon. 145° to 148° E.; lat. 13° to 21° N, Magellan called them Islas de Ladrones (islands of thieves), because the natives stole every thing made of iron which they could find. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, they received the name of Mariana, or Marianne islands, from the queen of Spain, Mary Ann of Austria, the mother of Charles II, at whose expense missionaries were sent over thither, to propagate the Christian faith. In almost all books of history and voyages, as well as in maps, we find them styled the Ladrones; notwithstanding which, the above-mentioned name has gradually gained ground. These islands lie in the torrid zone; and yet so much is the heat of the sun tempered by the air, and by breezes of the sea, that the climate is generally serene, salubrious and pleasant: in some seasons of the year only they are liable to hurricanes, which, though they do sometimes a great deal of mischief, yet