on in wine, which is the staple of the canton. Steamboats ply on the lake between Ouchy, Geneva, and other towns; and there are railways to Yverdun, Geneva, Bern, and Vevay. Among the objects of interest are the house in which Gibbon wrote the greatest part of his "Decline and Fall," and the grave of John Philip Kemble, the tragedian, in the cemetery of St. Pierre de Plain near the city. A Celtic burial ground has been discovered about 6 m. N. W. of the city, near Cheseaux.-Lausanne became the see of a bishop in the 6th century; but in 1536 the bishop transferred his seat to Fribourg, as Lausanne had joined the Reformed church. Since then Fribourg has been the residence of the bishop of the diocese, which retained the title of Lausanne till 1819, when it was called Lausanne and Geneva, as the Catholic parishes of the canton of Geneva were united with it. In 1873 the bishop resumed the former title of bishop of Lausanne, as the pope had erected the canton of Geneva into an independent vicariate apostolic. The federal council of Switzerland regarded the change of the title and the territory of one of the Swiss dioceses as an encroachment upon the rights of the confederation, and refused to recognize it. (See SWITZERLAND.)

LAUZUN, Antonin Nompar de Caumont, duke de, a French courtier, born about 1633, died Nov. 19, 1723. A poor nobleman from Gascony, he made his fortune at the French court by his elegant manners and wit and dauntless ambi

tion, and became a favorite of many of the most eminent and beautiful women, and of Louis XIV., who appointed him to various offices. He was about to marry Mlle. de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henry IV., and to take the command of the French army in Flanders, when the intrigues of Louvois and Mme. de Montespan caused him to be detained in prison for many years. He finally recovered his liberty at the instance of the French princess, whom he is supposed to have secretly married. In 1688 he escorted the queen of James II. and her infant son to France, and in 1689 took an active part in the fruitless expedition to Ireland. Although he never fully recovered the good graces of the French monarch, he was raised to the rank of duke in 1692. Mlle. de Montpensier died in 1693, and in 1695, at the age of about 62, he married Mlle. de Durford, a girl of 16. Lauzun figures frequently in the French literature of the 17th century, and even of a later period, particularly in the works of Mme. de Sévigné, La Bruyère, and Saint Simon.-The Mémoires du duc de Lauzun, of which various editions have appeared, and a new one by Lacour in Paris in 1858, do not refer to this Lauzun, but to a noted member of the Biron family. (See BIRON, ARMAND LOUIS.)

LAVA. See VOLCANO.

LAVACA, a S. E. county of Texas, watered by Lavaca and Navidad rivers; area, 926 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,168, of whom 2,707 were col

ored. It has an undulating surface, partly covered with ash and post-oak timber, and a fertile soil adapted to cotton, sugar, and Indian corn. The chief productions in 1870 were 261,815 bushels of Indian corn, 47,287 of sweet potatoes, 19,508 lbs. of wool, and 3,528 bales of cotton. There were 5,970 horses, 1,058 mules and asses, 21,012 milch cows, 2,553 working oxen, 56,309 other cattle, 10,890 sheep, and 20,494 swine. Capital, Hallettsville.

LAVAL, a fortified town of France, capital of the department of Mayenne, on the Mayenne river, 41 m. E. S. E. of Rennes; pop. in 1866, 27,189. There is a considerable trade in wine, brandy, wood, iron, clover, and marble. It has four parish churches of the first grade, a theological seminary, a college, a convent of Trappists, two castles, three hospitals, a public library, iron works, and a considerable linen industry. In 1855 it was erected by Pius IX. into an episcopal see. It was in the environs of Laval that originated in 1791 the royalist insurrection called the Chouannerie. Laval was taken by the Vendean army, and a brilliant victory gained near it over the republicans, in October, 1793.

LAVAL, a county of Quebec, Canada, embracing Isle Jesus, which lies at the mouth of the Ottawa river, and is separated from the island of Montreal on the south by the rivière des Prairies; area, 85 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 9,472, of whom 9,325 were of French origin or descent. Capital, Ste. Rose.

He ac

LA VALETTE, Antoine Marie Chamans, count de, a French officer, born in Paris in 1769, died there, Feb. 15, 1830. At the breaking out of the revolution he became an officer of the national guard, and he was one of the last defenders of the king on Aug. 10, 1792. Entering the republican army, he distinguished himself on the Rhine and in La Vendée, and gained the confidence of Bonaparte, who appointed him his adjutant and private secretary. companied him to Egypt, and became more nearly allied to him by marrying a niece of Josephine. After the 18th Brumaire he was made postmaster general and count. In 1814 he lost his office, but he reoccupied his post immediately on the departure of Louis XVIII. for Ghent. After the restoration of Louis XVIII. he was arrested for having aided the emperor, and condemned to death.

He es

caped by the aid of his wife and daughter and three English gentlemen, and went to Munich, where he was kindly received by the king. Mme. de La Valette, after the escape was discovered, was kept for some time imprisoned, and became insane; but she survived until June, 1855. In 1822 La Valette was pardoned and returned to France, where he lived in obscurity. He left a volume of Mémoires et souvenirs (Paris, 1831), containing an interesting account of his escape. Napoleon I. bequeathed 300,000 francs to La Valette, of which he received 60,000; in 1855 Napoleon III. paid the remainder to his heirs.

LA VALETTE, Jean Parisot de. See VALETTE. LA VALLIÈRE, Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchess de, mistress of Louis XIV., born in Tours in August, 1644, died in Paris, June 6, 1710. After the death of her father, a nobleman and superior officer, her mother married the baron de Saint-Rémy, who was attached to the household of the duchess of Orleans. Introduced at court and appointed maid of honor to Henrietta of England, sisterin-law of Louis XIV., Mlle. de La Vallière soon received the homage of several distinguished persons, whose attentions she discountenanced from a feeling of sincere love and admiration for the king. All who became acquainted with the young lady were struck with her modesty, gentleness, and truthfulness, as well as with her personal charms and varied accomplishments; and the most eminent French writers, as Racine, La Fontaine, and Mme. de Sévigné, bestow the highest encomiums upon her virtues and graces. Her love for Louis XIV. was as enthusiastic as it was disinterested; and after having for some time resisted his advances, she became his mistress in 1661, but on several occasions felt impelled by conscientious scruples to desert her lover, who twice succeeded in bringing her back from the convent in which she had taken refuge. In 1674, however, she left him definitely, and took the veil in the Carmelite convent of the faubourg St. Jacques under the name of Sister Louise. She received the visits of the queen, the duchess of Orleans, and other warm admirers, and, engaged in works of piety and charity, spent the rest of her life in the seclusion of that convent, of which Mme. de Montespan, who had succeeded her as mistress of the king, also eventually became an inmate. She bore four children to the king, two of whom were legitimated, viz., Mlle de Blois, who married the prince of Conti, and the count of Vermandois. She wrote a work entitled Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu, par une dame pénitente (1680), of which a copy, dated 1688, with corrections by Bossuet, was discovered in the Louvre library by M. Damas-Hinard in 1852. The original as well as the corrected work was edited by M. Romaine Cornut (Paris, 1854). A collection of her letters was published in 1767. Among the works based upon her life, the novel of Mme. de Genlis has attained the greatest popularity. Lebrun's "Magdalen" in the Val-de-Grâce in Paris has been said to represent the features of the duchess, but this is now very generally disbelieved. See Arsène Houssaye, Mlle. de La Vallière et Mme. de Montespan (Paris, 1860).—Her grandnephew, Louis CESAR DE LA VALLIÈRE (1708'80), was a celebrated bibliophile.

LAVAL-MONTMORENCY, François Xavier de, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec, born in Laval, France, March 23, 1622, died in Quebec, May 26, 1708. He was ordained priest in Paris, Sept. 23, 1645, was nominated missionary bishop of Cochin China in 1651, but did not

many discussions, and was assailed with ridicule by Lichtenberg at Göttingen, by Nicolai at Berlin, and by Zimmermann in a parody on the physiogomy of tails. The author was visited at Zürich by numerous curious and eminent persons, whose characters he usually judged with sagacity; at a glance he recognized Necker, Mirabeau, and Mercier. He made a long and philosophically impartial commentary on his own physiognomy as displayed in several silhouettes: "A most delicate organization, forming a singular ensemble, many of whose parts are in contrast. He delights in high metaphysical speculations, and his intelligence cannot grasp the simplest mechanism. His imagination is extravagant, disordered, immensely eccentric; but it is checked by two severe guardians, good sense and a good heart. He knows much, but is the least erudite of all professional savants. None of his knowledge has been acquired; everything has been in some sort given to him. He loves, and has never been in love." The last years of his life were connected with the efforts of the Swiss for freedom. He had hailed the French revolution with an enthusiasm which was quickly changed to horror. His declamations in the pulpit against the French party caused him to be banished to Basel in 1796. He was soon permitted to return, renewed his pastoral offices, and opposed the oppressive measures of the French directory, till, when Masséna took Zürich (Sept. 26, 1799), he was shot in the streets while encouraging the soldiers and relieving the wounded. The shot is said to have proceeded not from a French but a Swiss soldier, who thus gratified a personal and partisan spite; and though Lavater recognized him he did not divulge his name, but wrote verses of forgiveness. He languished from the wound with severe suffering for more than a year. The original and peculiar character of Lavater was admired by Goethe, who pronounced him "the best, greatest, wisest, sincerest of all mortal and immortal men that I know." Their friendship was however interrupted in consequence of Lavater's portraiture of the nonChristian in his "Pontius Pilate."-A selection from his voluminous works was edited by Orelli (8 vols., Zürich, 1841-'4). His biography was written by Gessner (1802-3). His work on physiognomy has been issued in various forms in the principal languages of Europe. The best English translation is by Henry Hunter, D. D. (5 vols., London, 1789-'98), the engravings for which were under the superintendence of Fuseli, who also translated his "Aphorisms on Man" (London, 1788). Other translations are by Thomas Holcroft (3 vols., London, 1789-'93; 10th ed., 1 vol., 1858), Morton (3 vols., 1793), and Moore (4 vols., 1797).

LAVAUR, a town of Languedoc, France, in the department of Tarn, on the Agout, 21 m. N. E. of Toulouse; pop. in 1866, 7,376. It has a college, a public library, and a flourishing silk industry. Near it are coal mines. It was the

strongest fortress of the Albigenses, and was in 1211 taken by Simon de Montfort. From 1317 to 1801 it was the seat of a bishop.

LAVENDER (lavandula, Linn.), a genus of hoary, narrow-leaved, fragrant, sub-shrubby or perennial-herbaceous plants, of the natural order labiata, indigenous to the south of Europe, the Canaries, N. Africa, &c. Both the common and botanical names are derived from the latin lavare, to wash, either on account of the use made of the distilled water in bathing, or because the flowers were used to scent newly washed linen, whence the expression to be "laid up in lavender." There are several species, but two only which are economically employed. The common lavender (L. vera, Linn.) has been long known in gardens, and in deep, dry, warm soil it forms a compact hemispherical bush, flowering abundantly every year. Its flowers are lilac or purple, though a whiteflowered variety is known. In the climate of

New York it is scarcely hardy, but in the vicinity of Philadelphia considerable quantities are grown for market. The dried flowers are used to make sachets or scent-bags for perfuming drawers, and the fresh flowers distilled with alcohol furnish the officinal spirits of lavender. By distillation with water they yield the fragrant oil of lavender, extensively used in perfumery. The lavender is easily propagated from cuttings, which often send up flower stalks the same season. The second kind, sometimes called French lavender, and sometimes spike or broad-leaved lavender, is L. spica. Its oil, called oil of spike, is employed by painters on porcelain and in the preparation of varnishes for artists. The plant has the habit of the common lavender, but more humble and the aspect more hoary, the spikes more dense and shorter; it yields by distillation twice as much essential oil as the preceding. The sweet basil is frequently called lavender in

LAVERDIERE, Charles H., a Canadian historian, born at Château-Richer, Oct. 23, 1826, died in Quebec, March 27, 1873. He was ordained priest in August, 1851, and soon became a teacher in the seminary of Quebec. When the university of Laval was created, the abbé Laverdière was appointed its librarian. While a student he had established, and for several years directed, L'Abeille, a college journal, to which he contributed many historical articles. He was distinguished as a local antiquary. He aided in the publication of the "Jesuit Relations" (3 vols., Quebec, 1858); edited and completed the second volume of Ferland's Cours d'histoire, after the death of the author; in conjunction with the abbé Casgrain, he collected all the voyages of Champlain, and issued an edition (5 vols. 4to, Quebec, 1870), with extremely valuable notes and a biography of Champlain, and also the Journal des Jésuites (4to, 1871), a diary kept for several years by the superior of the Jesuits in Canada, of great historical importance. He also wrote Histoire du Canada à l'usage des maisons d'éducation, which was most favorably received; an account of Notre Dame de Recouvrance à Québec; and Á la mémoire du R. P. Ennemond Massé, S. J., one of the earliest Jesuit missionaries, whose grave at Sillery he discovered and marked by a fine monument. He also edited several works on church music, in which he was a proficient.

LA VILLEMARQUÉ, Théodore Claude Henri Hersart de, viscount, a French philologist, born at Quimperlé, Brittany, July 6, 1815. He has published Barzas-Breiz (2 vols., 1839; enlarged ed., 2 vols., 1846), containing popular Breton songs with a French text; Contes populaires des ancien Bretons (2 vols., 1842); and other works relating to the language and literature of the ancient Bretons, including an edition of Le Gonidec's French-Breton dictionary (2 vols., St. Brieuc, 1857). Tom Taylor has translated some of his Breton songs and ballads into English (London, 1865). A new edition of his La légende celtique en Irlande, en Cambrie et en Bretagne, suivie de textes rares ou inédits, appeared in Paris in 1864; and in 1865 Le grand mystère de Jésus, a mediæval Breton drama, with an essay on the ancient Celtic stage.

LAVINIUM, an ancient city of Italy, in Latium, situated near the sea, between Laurentum and

LAVOISIER, Antoine Laurent, a French chemist, born in Paris in August, 1743, died on the scaffold, May 8, 1794. He was the son of a rich merchant, studied at the Mazarin college, and learned astronomy from La Caille, chemistry from Rouelle, and botany from Bernard de Jussieu. In 1766 he won a prize from the academy of sciences by his Mémoire sur la meilleure manière d'éclairer les rues d'une grande ville. Several other essays, especially his Mémoire sur les couches des montagnes, secured him admission to that academy in 1768. To meet the heavy expenditures necessitated by his experiments, he sought and received an appointment as farmer of the public revenue; and he showed himself a skilful administrator no less than an acute philosopher. In 1776 Turgot placed him at the head of the régie des salpétres, and he introduced many improvements into the manufacture of gunpowder. From 1778 to 1785 he gave attention to agriculture, and enriched the science of husbandry by many valuable suggestions. In 1787 he was elected to the provincial assembly of Orleans. In 1788 he became one of the trustees of the bank of discount, and in 1789, as assistant deputy to the constituent assembly, presented an interesting report upon the condition of that institution. He was a member of the commission on weights and measures in 1790, and took great interest in the preparation of the new decimal system. Being in 1791 one of the commissioners of the treasury, he published his essay De la richesse nationale de la France, in which he presented a plan for the collection of taxes; this essay, which was to be but the forerunner of a complete treatise upon this important subject, entitles him to a high rank among political economists. But the best of his energies had been devoted to chemical investigations, which he pursued with untiring perseverance from 1772 till his death; in 1786 he had published no fewer than 40 essays or memoirs, giving incontrovertible evidence of great logical power and unparalleled acuteness, while successively embodying the principles out of which chemical science was to be renovated. His discoveries and general influence in this branch of natural philosophy are treated in the article CHEMISTRY. greatest work is his Traité élémentaire de chimie (2 vols. 8vo, 1789), a synopsis of modern chemistry, in which he exhibits no less ability as a logician than as a natural philosopher. His physical investigations were also valuable; he

His