but the calamities of the Trojans increased, and nothing could appease the gods, according to the words of the oracle, but annually to expose to a sea-monster a Trojan virgin. Whenever the monster appeared, the marriageable maidens were assembled, and one was doomed to death, by lot, for the good of her country. When this calamity had continued for five or six years, the lot fell upon Hesione, Laomedou's daughter. The king was unwilling to part with a daughter whom he loved with uncommon tenderness, but his refusal would irritate more strongly the wrath of the gods. In the midst of this fear and hesitation, Hercules came, and offered to deliver the Trojans from this public calamity, if Laomedon would promise to reward him with a number of fine horses. The king consented; but, when the monster was destroyed, he refused to fulfil his engagements, upon which Hercules besieged Troy, and took it by force of arms. Laomedon was put to death after a reign of 29 years; his daughter Hesione was given in marriage to Telamon, one of the conqueror's attendants, and Podarces was ransomed by the Trojans, and placed upon his father's throne. According to Hyginus, the wrath of Neptune and Apollo was kindled against Laomedon because he refused to offer on their altars, as a sacrifice, all the first born of his cattle, according to a vow he

had made.

LAON, BATTLE OF, March 9, 1814. (See Chatillon.)

LA PARLE; the chief village of a French colony in the south of Africa. About 140 years ago, a number of French Protestants fled to that distant corner of the world to worship freely, according to the dictates of their consciences. In 1739, the Dutch prohibited preaching in French; Dutch is therefore, at present, the chief language. The colony consists of about 4000 whites of French descent, and 6000 Hottentot slaves. The whites still possess the greatest attachment to France, though for so long a time separated from the civilized world. The colony has lately attracted attention through French missionaries, and may become important in the propagation of Christianity in that region.

LAPÉROUSE, John Francis Galaup de; a French navigator, distinguished for his talents, and still more remarkable for the mystery attending his fate. He was born at Albi, in Languedoc, in 1741, and entered, at an early age, into the naval service of his country. During the American

war, he had the command of an expedition sent to Hudson's bay, when he destroyed the trading establishments of the English. After the restoration of peace, the French government having determined on the prosecution of a voyage of discovery, M. de Laperouse was fixed on to conduct the undertaking. Two vessels

the Boussole and the Astrolabe-were placed under his command; and, leaving France in 1785, he proceeded to the South sea, and, having visited the coast of California, and other places farther north, he crossed the Pacific, to continue his researches on the eastern coasts and islands of Asia. In April, 1787, the ships sailed from Manilla towards the north; and, after passing the islands of Formosa, Quelpaert, the coasts of Corea and Japan, they sailed between Chinese Tartary and Saghalien, without being able to determine whether it was an island or a peninsula ; returning south, discovered the straits which bear the name of Lapérouse, and, sailing north on the eastern coast of Saghalien, at length, September 6, arrived at the harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul, on the coast of Kamtschatka. There they staid to refit the ships, and experienced the utmost hospitality from the Russian local authorities. From St. Peter and St. Paul Laperouse sent copies of his journals, &c., to France, by M. de Lesseps, who proceeded over land across Siberia to Petersburg. From these papers was drawn up the relation of his voyage, published at Paris (1797, four volumes, 4to.), an English translation of which appeared in 1798 (three volumes, 8vo.). September 30, the vessels sailed in search of farther discoveries. They crossed the equinoctial line, without meeting with any land, till December 6, when they saw the Navigator's islands, and, a few days after, they landed at Maouna, one of that group. Here M. de Langle, the captain of the Astrolabe, M. Lamanon, the naturalist attached to the expedition, and ten other persons, were killed in what appears to have been an unprovoked attack of the natives. After this misfortune, Lapérouse visited Oyolava, an island near Maouna, and then steered for the English colony in New South Wales. January 23, 1788, they made the coast of New Holland, and, on the 26th, anchored in Botany bay. They left Botany bay in March, and, in a letter which the commodore wrote February 7, he stated his intention to continue his researches till December, when he expected, after visiting the Friendly islands, to arrive at the Isle of France. This was the

became sensible that they had made a mistake in his appointment. He never viewed any subject in its true light; he was always occupied with subtilties; his notions were all problematic, and he carried the spirit of the infinitely small into the administration." After six weeks, therefore, Lucien Bonaparte received his port-folio. Napoleon made Laplace a senator, vice-chancellor and chancellor of the senate, and member of the legion of honor. In a report to the senate in 1805, Laplace proved the necessity of restoring the Gregorian calendar, and abolishing that of the republic. His principal works are his Traité de Mécanique céleste (1799 -1805, four volumes, 4to.); his Théorie du Mouvement des Planètes; Essai sur les Probabilités; and Théorie analytique des Probabilités. In 1814, Laplace voted for the abdication of Napoleon, and the king created him a peer, with the title of marquis. During the hundred days, he did not appear at the Tuileries. He died March 5, 1827. His Mécanique céleste has been translated, with a commentary, by doctor Bowditch of Boston (Hilliard, Gray, & Co., 1830, 4to., first volume.) The amount of matter in the commentary is much greater than that in the text, and the calculations are so happily elucidated, that a student moderately versed in mathematics may follow the great astronomer with pleasure to his beautiful results.*

LAPLAND; the most northern country in Europe, bounded north by the Arctic ocean, east by the White sea, south by Sweden, and west by Norway and the Atlantic. Its extreme breadth is estimated to be 500 miles, and its length, from cape Orlov, on the White sea, to the entrance of Saltersfiord, on the Atlantic, about 700. Lapland is divided into three parts, called Russian, Swedish, and Danish or Norwegian. The part of Lapland lying along the northern shore of the gulf of Bothnia, consists of an extensive plain, abounding in immense forests of spruce and Scots fir; but at the distance of 80 miles from that inland sea, the ground becomes gradually elevated, and is at last full of lofty mountains, which rise, between the latitude of 67° and 68° 30′, to a height of from 5500 to 6200 feet, which, in this hyperborean region, is 2700 feet above the line of perpetual congelation. The principal rivers are the Torneo, the Kemi, the Lulea, and Pitea. The Yana, the principal river in the north-east, and the Alten, the principal in the north-west, *This work is, at the same time, one of the finest specimens of American typography.

both run into the Northern ocean. In lakes, Lapland, particularly its mountainous part, abounds. In the maritime districts, there prevails an approach to uniformity of temperature; the winters are not severe, but the summers are raw and foggy; while, in the interior, the winter is intensely cold, but the heat of summer is steady and fructifying. The mean annual temperature at the North Cape (lat. 71° 11' 30") is six degrees higher than at Enontekis, in the interior (in lat. 68° 30′); yet, at the latter, the thermometer rises, in July, to 64°, while, at the Cape, it seldom reaches 50. Lapland abounds in iron; and copper, lead, zinc and arsenic are not uncommon. Barley, or big, is the most common grain. In the low ground, rye is likewise cultivated, and occasionally oats. The berry-bearing plants also

are numerous. The most common animals are hares; the others are bears, martens, gluttons, beavers, otters, ermines, squirrels, lemmings (or mountain rats), foxes and wolves. The domestic quadrupeds are oxen, cows, dogs, sheep and goats. The reindeer is the most valuable animal in Lapland. It serves as the principal beast of burden; its milk is highly valued, and its flesh supplies the chief nourishment of the inhabitants. The mountain Laplanders have no fixed habitation, but wander about in quest of food for their flocks of reindeer, and lodge in tents or huts, which are usually about 9 feet in height, and 12 in length. Their diet is chiefly of animal food. During winter, they carry on some traffic with the Swedes. This takes place at Torneo, and other towns on the gulf of Bothnia, and consists in exchanging skins, furs, dried fish, venison, and gloves, for flannel, cloth, hemp, copper, iron, and various utensils, but particularly for spirituous liquors, meal, salt and tobacco. The Laplanders, or, as they call themselves, Same (Laplander, or Lappe, being merely a nickname), are a nation of Finnish extraction. The population is estimated thus: 1900 in Swedish Lapland, nearly 5000 in Norwegian, and 8800 in Russian. Besides these, there are in the country several colonies of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns. The whole population of the country, which is as large as France, cannot exceed 65,000. The height of the Laplanders is between four and five feet; often less. They are of a dark complexion, with black hair; strong, hardy and active. They are naturally gentle and mild; have no characteristic vices nor virtues. Generally speaking,

they have little excitability, but love their country, and are happy in their way. They tan hides, make twine of the sinews of the reindeer, weave coverings for their tents, knit gloves, make wooden utensils, canoes, sledges, and the necessary articles of dress. The dress of both sexes is nearly the same; that of the women is almost solely distinguished by their ornaments. Both sexes wear caps, coats, trowsers and boots, either of leather or fur and coarse cloth. In summer, they live in tents; in winter, in huts built of poles covered with birch twigs and earth, having at the top a hole for the smoke. They live on fish and the flesh of reindeer. According to their food, the Laplanders are divided into Reindeer Laplanders or Mountain Laplanders, and Fishing Laplanders. The former wander from pasture to pasture with their reindeer. A wealthy Laplander possesses a thousand or more of these animals, which are used to draw the sledges, and to carry loads. The Fishing Laplanders, however, who possess few or no reindeer, live almost entirely on fish. They kill sables and birds, and catch the eider-duck, as do also the Reindeer Laplanders, if, by disease or other misfortunes, they lose their reindeer. The Laplanders formerly worshipped fetiches. At present, they are all baptized, but they have mixed their old superstitions with Christianity, which has been forced upon them; and it is not uncommon for a Laplander to be baptized whenever he comes to a populous place where there are missionaries.

LAPO, Arnolph, a celebrated sculptor and architect, born at Florence, 1232, first introduced a better taste into architecture by his great works, and very happily united solidity and grace. He began the building of the cathedral of Florence (to which Brunelleschi afterwards added the admirable dome), the strong walls of Florence, the convent at Assisi, and several churches and other edifices at Florence. He died in 1300.

LAPSE, in ecclesiastical law; a slip or omission of a patron to present a clerk to a benefice within six months of its being void; in which case, the benefice is said to be in lapse, or lapsed, and the right of presentation devolves to the ordinary.

LAPSED LEGACY is where the legatee dies before the testator, or where a legacy is given upon a future contingency, and the legatee dies before the contingency happens.

LAPSIDED; the state of a ship which is built in such a manner as to have one

side heavier than the other, and, by consequence, to retain a constant heel or inclination towards the heavier side; unless when she is brought upright by placing a greater quantity of the cargo or ballast on the other side.

LAPWING (tringa vanellus, Lin.). This bird is about the size of a pigeon, and belongs to the snipe and plover tribe. It is found in Europe in large flocks, except during the pairing season, when it separates for the purposes of incubation. The female lays four eggs, of a dirty olive, spotted with black: she makes no nest, but deposits them upon a little dry grass, rudely scraped together: the young birds run about very soon after they are hatched. During this period, the old ones are very assiduous in their attention to their charge: on the approach of any person to the place of their deposit, they flutter round his head with great inquietude, and, if he persists in advancing, they will endeavor to draw him away, by running off as if lame, and inviting pursuit. These birds have a singular mode of collecting their food, which consists of worms. When they observe the small elevation in the ground which the worm makes before it returns below ground, in the morning, by emptying itself, they gently open it at top with their bill, and tap on the ground, at the side of it. This attracts the worm to the surface, when it becomes the prey of the ingenious hunter. These birds are very lively and active, being almost continually in motion, sporting and frolicking in the air, in all directions, and assuming a variety of attitudes. They run along the ground very nimbly, and spring and bound from spot to spot with great agility. In the month of October, they are very fat, and are then said to be excellent eating. Their eggs are considered a great delicacy, and bring high prices in the London markets.

LAQUERING; the laying on metals colored or transparent varnishes, to produce the appearance of a different color in the metal, or to preserve it from rust. Thus laquered brass appears gilt, and tin is made yellow. Seed-lac is the chief composition for laquers, but turpentine makes a cheaper laquer.

LARBOARD; a name given by seamen to the left side of a ship, when the spectator's face is turned in the direction of the head.

Larboard-Tack is when a ship is closehauled, with the wind blowing on her larboard side.

LARCENY is the fraudulent taking by a

person of the goods of another, without his consent, with the intent, on the part of the taker, to appropriate them to his own use. As to the taking, the mere removing of the goods is sufficient to constitute the crime; as, where the thief took down goods and put them into a parcel, for the purpose of carrying them away, but was detected and arrested before carrying them away, this was held to be a sufficient taking to constitute larceny. But, where a person only changed the position of a package of cloth, by raising it on end, for the purpose of taking out the cloth from the bale, and was detected in his purpose before he had opened the bale, this was held not to be a sufficient taking to amount to this offence. The doctrine, in this respect, is, that, to make the crime of larceny, the person committing it must get the article into his possession. The intent is a material circumstance; for, if one person takes the goods of another openly, before his eyes, though with the design of appropriating them to his own use, it is not larceny, but only a trespass: so, if goods be taken by negligence or mistake, it is not larceny; as if sheep stray into one's flock, and he shears them by mistake, as his own. The necessity of an intention to steal, in order to constitute larceny, is illustrated by the case of a servant's assisting some thieves to steal his master's goods, with the consent of his master, merely that the thieves, who had previously formed the design of committing the theft, might be detected: it was held not larceny on the part of the servant, but it was held to be so on the part of the others, though it was objected, in their behalf, that the taking was not against the consent of the master, it being essential to larceny, that it should be committed against the owner's consent; but the court held it to come under this description of crime, for the thieves had previously formed the design of stealing the goods, and the master did not consent to their appropriating them to their own use, but only to their proceeding so far that they might be detected and convicted of the crime. If a person has property in goods, and a right to the possession of them, he cannot, in general, commit the crime of larceny in taking them; but, if he only has the custody of them, and no property in them, he may steal them. Thus, if a bailee or lessee of chattels appropriates them to his own use, it is not, in general, larceny. Yet it has been held that, when a common carrier, having charge of a package or box of goods,

opens it, and takes out a part of the goods, with the intent to steal them, this is theft. But the common law makes a very subtile distinction in this respect; for, though breaking the package, and taking a part, with the design of appropriating the articles, is theft, yet selling the whole package entire has been held not to be so, but only the violation of a trust. The cases where a chattel is taken by a person to whom it has been intrusted, and who converts it to his own use, present very nice discriminations of larceny from mere breaches of trust, in regard to which the distinction is made by various circumstances. If the person gets possession of the goods under a false pretence, with the design of stealing them, yet, if they come into his possession on a contract or trust, it has been held, in many cases, not to be a larceny; as, where a horse was bargained for at a fair, and the purchaser rode him off, saying he would return directly and pay the purchase money, but did not come back at all, having intended to swindle the vender, it was held not to be theft. If, however, the purpose for which the article was intrusted to another is accomplished, and he afterwards converts it to his own use, with the intention of stealing it, this is larceny; as, where a horse was let to go to a certain place and back, and the hirer, having gone and returned, then sold the horse, it was held to be theft, for the particular purpose for which the horse had been intrusted to him, had been served. And the courts generally lean towards construing the offence to be a larceny, and not merely a trespass, where the party gains possession by some false pretence, with the original intent to steal; and with good reason, since it is adding a breach of trust to the crime of larceny. If the owner does not part with the possession of the goods, though the person, intending to steal them, contrives to bring them within his reach by some false pretence, this raises no doubt of its being a larceny; as, where one sent to a hosier's for a quantity of stockings, under pretence of wishing to purchase some, and having selected a part out of a parcel brought by a servant, which he pretended he was going to purchase, under some pretence, sent the servant away, and then decamped with the whole parcel, it was held to be larceny, for the owner had never intrusted him with the parcel, or consented to part with the possession. The same construction was put upon the case, when a servant was sent with some goods to a certain person, and another, pretending to be the