The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 289

LOCKHART, JOHN GIBSON, man of letters, born in Cambusnethan; bred for the Scottish bar and practised at it; contributed to _Blackwood_, wrote in collaboration with John Wilson "Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk"; married Sophia Scott, Sir Walter's daughter, in 1820, lived a good deal near Abbotsford, wrote some four novels and "Spanish Ballads,"

became editor of the _Quarterly_ in 1825, and began in 1837 his "Life of Scott," a great work, and his greatest; died at Abbotsford, health broken and in much sorrow; his "Life" has been interestingly written by Andrew Lang (1794-1854).

LOCKOUT, the exclusion of workmen from a factory by the employer to bring them to terms which they decline to accept.

LOCKYER, SIR JOSEPH NORMAN, astronomer, born at Rugby; became clerk in the War Office in 1857, was secretary to the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction in 1870, and was transferred to the Science and Art Department in 1875; he directed Government eclipse expeditions to Sicily, India, Egypt, and the West Indies; in 1860 he became F.R.S., received the Society's Rumford medal in 1874, next year was appointed corresponding Member of the Inst.i.tute of France and received the Janssen medal in 1891; he was knighted in 1897; he made important discoveries in spectrum a.n.a.lysis, and has written several astronomical works; _b_. 1836.

LOCO-FOCOS, the name, which denotes lucifer-matches, given to an ultra-democratic or radical party in the United States because at a meeting when on one occasion the lights were extinguished the matches which they carried were drawn and the lamps lit again.

LOCRI, a people of ancient Greece of two distinct tribes occupying different districts of the country.

LODI (18), a town in Lombardy, 18 m. SE. of Milan, on the Adda, famous for a signal victory of Bonaparte over the Austrians in 1796 in the face of a tremendous fire.

LOEWE, GOTTFRIED, German composer; composed oratorios, operas, and pianoforte pieces; sang and played in London in 1847 (1796-1869).

LOFODEN ISLANDS (20), a rugged mountainous chain on the NW.

Norwegian coast within the Arctic circle, with winters rendered mild by the Gulf Stream, afford pasturage for sheep; the waters between them and the mainland are a rich cod-fis.h.i.+ng ground, visited by thousands of boats between January and March.

LOGAN, JOHN, a Scotch poet, born at Soutra; was for a time minister in South Leith church, but was obliged to resign; was the author of a lyric, "The Braes of Yarrow" and certain of the Scotch paraphrases (1748-1788). See BRUCE, MICHAEL.

LOGARITHM, the exponent of the power to which a fixed number, called the base, must be raised to produce a certain given number.

LOGIC, the science of correct thinking or of the laws which regulate thought, called also dialectics; or in the Hegelian system "the scientific exposition and development of those notions or categories which underlie all things and all being."

LOGIC SPECTACLES, Carlyle's name for eyes that can only discern the external relations of things, but not the inner nature of them.

LOGOS, an expression in St. John's gospel translated the Word (in chap. i.) to denote the manifestation of G.o.d, or G.o.d as manifested, defined in theology as the second person of the Deity, and viewed as intermediary between G.o.d as Father and G.o.d as Spirit.

LOG-ROLLING, mutual praise by authors of each other's work.

LOHENGRIN, hero of a German 13th-century poem; son of Parzival, and a Knight of the Grail; carried by a swan to Brabant he delivered and married the Princess Elsa; subsequently returning from war against the Saracens, she asked him of his origin; he told her, and was at once carried back again by the swan. Wagner adapted the story in his opera "Lohengrin."

LOIRE, the largest river in France, 630 m., rises in the Cevennes, flows northwards to Orleans and westward to the Bay of Biscay, through a very fertile valley which it often inundates. It is navigable for 550 m., but its lower waters are obstructed by islands and shoals; it is connected by ca.n.a.ls with the Seine, Saone, and Brest Harbour.

LOKI, in the Norse mythology, a primitive spirit of evil who mingles with the Norse G.o.ds, distinguished for his cunning and ensnaring ways, whose devices are only evil in appearance, and are overruled for good.

LOLLARDS, originally a religious community established at Antwerp in 1300, devoted to the care of the sick and burial of the dead, and as persecuted by the Church, regarded as heretics. Their name became a synonym for heretic, and was hence applied to the followers of Wycliffe in England and certain sectaries in Ayrs.h.i.+re.

LOMBARD, PETER, a famous schoolman, born in Lombardy in the 12th century, of poor parents; was a disciple of Abelard; taught theology at, and became Bishop of, Paris; was styled the Master of Sentences, as author of a compilation of sentences from Augustine and other Church Fathers on points of Christian doctrine, and long used as a manual in scholastic disputations.

LOMBARDS, a German people, settled at the beginning of our era about the lower Elbe. In the 5th century we find them in Moravia, and a century later established, a powerful people, between the Adriatic and the Danube. They invaded Italy in 568, and in three years had mastered the North, but abandoning their Arian faith they gradually became Italianised, and after the overthrow of their dynasty by Charlemagne in 774 they became merged in the Italians. From the 13th century Italian merchants, known as Lombards, from Lucca, Florence, Venice, and Genoa, traded under much odium, largely in England as wool-dealers and bankers, whence the name Lombard Street.

LOMBARDY (3,982), an inland territory of Northern Italy between the Alps and the Po, Piedmont, and Venetia. In the N. are Alpine mountains and valleys rich in pasturage; in the S. a very fertile, well irrigated plain, which produces cereals, rice, and sub-tropical plants. The culture of the silkworm is extensive; there are textile and hardware manufactures. The chief towns are Milan, Pavia, and Corno. Austrian in 1713, Napoleon made it part of the kingdom of Italy in 1805; it was restored to Austria in 1815, and finally again to Italy in 1859.

LOMOND, LOCH, an irregularly-shaped lake in Dumbarton and Stirling s.h.i.+res, 22 m. long and of varying breadth; contains a number of small wooded islands; on the eastern sh.o.r.e rises Ben Lomond to the height of 3192 ft.

LONDON (5,633), on the Thames, 50 m. from the sea, the capital of the British Empire, is the most populous and wealthiest city in the world. An important place in Roman times, it was the cap. of the East Saxons, and has been the metropolis of England since the Norman Conquest; it possesses, therefore, innumerable historic buildings and a.s.sociations.

Often devastated by plague and fire, its progress has never been stayed; its population has more than quadrupled itself this century, and more than doubled since 1850. The City of London proper occupies one square mile in the centre, is wholly a commercial part, and is governed by an annually elected mayor and aldermen; is the seat of a bishopric, with St.

Paul's for cathedral. The City of Westminster is also a bishopric under a high steward and high bailiff, chosen by the dean and chapter. These two cities, with twenty-five boroughs under local officers, const.i.tute the metropolis, and since 1888 the county of the city of London, and send 59 members to Parliament. Streets in the older parts are narrow, but newer districts are well built; the level ground and density of building detracts from the effect of innumerable magnificent edifices. Buckingham, Kensington, and St. James's are royal residences; the Houses of Parliament are the biggest Gothic building in the world; St. Paul's, built by Sir Christopher Wren, contains the remains of Nelson and Wellington, Reynolds, Turner, and Wren himself. Westminster, consecrated 1269, is the burial-place of England's greatest poets and statesmen, and of many kings; the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand were opened in 1882. London has a University (an examining body), 700 colleges and endowed schools, among which Westminster, Christ's Hospital, and the Charterhouse are famous, many medical hospitals, and schools and charitable inst.i.tutions of all kinds. London is the centre of the English literary and artistic world, and of scientific interest and research; here are the largest publis.h.i.+ng houses, the chief libraries and art-galleries, and museums; the British Museum and Library, the National Galleries, &c., and magnificent botanical and zoological gardens. London is also a grand emporium of commerce, and the banking centre of the world. It has nine princ.i.p.al docks; its s.h.i.+pping trade is unrivalled, 55,000 vessels enter and clear annually; it pays more than half the custom duties of the kingdom, and handles more than a quarter of the total exports; its warehouse trade is second only to that of Manchester; it manufactures everything, chiefly watches, jewellery, leather goods, cycles, pianos, and gla.s.s. The control of traffic, the lighting, and water-supply of so large a city are causing yearly more serious problems.

LONDON (30), the cap. of Middles.e.x county, Ontario, near the S. end of the peninsula, in the middle of a fertile district, and a rising place.

LONDONDERRY (152), maritime county in Ulster, washed by Lough Foyle and the Atlantic, surrounded by Donegal in the W., Tyrone in the S., and Antrim in the W., and watered by the Foyle, Roe, and Bann Rivers, somewhat hilly towards the S., is largely under pasture; the cultivated parts grow oats, potatoes, and flax; granted to the Corporation and Guilds of London in 1609, a large part of the land is still owned by them. The county town, LONDONDERRY (33), manufactures linen s.h.i.+rts, whisky, and iron goods, and does a considerable s.h.i.+pping trade. Its siege by the troops of James II. in 1689 is memorable.

LONG, GEORGE, a distinguished cla.s.sical scholar, born in Lancas.h.i.+re; became professor of Greek in London University; edited several useful works, among others the "Penny Cyclopaedia," on which he spent 11 years of his life (1800-1870).

LONG ISLAND (774), a long narrow island, 115 m. long by from 12 to 24 broad, belonging to New York State, off the sh.o.r.es of New York and Connecticut, from which it is separated by the East River and Long Island Sound. It is low, much of it forest and sandy waste land, with great lagoons in the S. The chief industry is market-gardening; fisheries and oyster-beds are valuable. Princ.i.p.al towns, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and Flus.h.i.+ng.

LONG PARLIAMENT, the celebrated English Parliament which a.s.sembled 3rd November 1640, and was dissolved by Cromwell 20th April 1653, and which was afterwards restored, and did not finally decease till 16th March 1660.

LONG TOM COFFIN, a character in Cooper's novel "The Pilot," and of wider celebrity than any of the sailor cla.s.s.

LONGCHAMP, a racecourse on the W. side of the Bois du Boulogne, Paris.

LONGCHAMP, WILLIAM DE, a low-born Norman favourite of Richard I., made by him bishop of Ely; became Justiciar of England 1190, and Papal Legate 1191; clever, energetic, just, and faithful, he yet incurred dislike by his ambition and arrogance, and was banished to Normandy; his energy in gathering the money for Richard's ransom restored him to favour, and he became Chancellor; _d_. 1197.

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH, American poet, born at Portland, Maine; after studying on the Continent, became professor of Modern Languages in Harvard University; wrote "Hyperion," a romance in prose, and a succession of poems as well as lyrics, among the former "Evangeline,"