[1] See LYE.
LEATHER, ARTIFICIAL. Under the name of artificial leather, or of
American leather cloth, large quantities of a material having, more or
less, a leather-like surface are used, principally for upholstery
purposes, such as the covering of chairs, lining the tops of writing
desks and tables, &c. There is considerable diversity in the
preparation of such materials. A common variety consists of a web of
calico coated with boiled linseed oil mixed with dryers and lampblack or
other pigment. Several coats of this mixture are uniformly spread,
smoothed and compressed on the cotton surface by passing it between
metal rollers, and when the surface is required to possess a glossy
enamel-like appearance, it receives a finishing coat of copal varnish. A
grained morocco surface is given to the material by passing it between
suitably embossed rollers. Preparations of this kind have a close
affinity to cloth waterproofed with indiarubber, and to such
manufactures as ordinary waxcloth. An artificial leather which has been
patented and proposed for use as soles for boots, &c., is composed of
powdered scraps and cuttings of leather mixed with solution of
guttapercha dried and compressed. In place of the guttapercha solution,
oxidized linseed oil or dissolved resin may be used as the binding
medium for the leather powder.
LEATHERHEAD, an urban district in the Epsom parliamentary division of
Surrey, England, 18 m. S.S.W. of London, on the London, Brighton & South
Coast and the London & South-Western railways. Pop. (1901) 4694. It lies
at the foot of the North Downs in the pleasant valley of the river Mole.
The church of St Mary and St Nicholas dates from the 14th century. St
John's Foundation School, opened in London in 1852, is devoted to the
education of sons of poor clergymen. Leatherhead has brick-making and
brewing industries, and the district is largely residential.
LEATHES, STANLEY (1830-1900), English divine and Orientalist, was born
at Ellesborough, Bucks, on the 21st of March 1830, and was educated at
Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1852, M.A. 1853. In
1853 he was the first Tyrwhitt's Hebrew scholar. He was ordained priest
in 1857, and after serving several curacies was appointed professor of
Hebrew at King's College, London, in 1863. In 1868-1870 he was Boyle
lecturer (_The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ_), in 1873 Hulsean
lecturer (_The Gospel its Own Witness_), in 1874 Bampton Lecturer (_The
Religion of the Christ_) and from 1876 to 1880 Warburtonian lecturer. He
was a member of the Old Testament revision committee from 1870 to 1885.
In 1876 he was elected prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, and he was
rector of Cliffe-at-Hoo near Gravesend (1880-1889) and of Much Hadham,
Hertfordshire (1889-1900). The university of Edinburgh gave him the
honorary degree of D.D. in 1878, and his own college made him an
honorary fellow in 1885. Besides the lectures noted he published
_Studies in Genesis_ (1880), _The Foundations of Morality_ (1882) and
some volumes of sermons. He died in May 1900.
His son, Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (b. 1861), became a fellow of Trinity,
Cambridge, and lecturer on history, and was one of the editors of the
_Cambridge Modern History_; he was secretary to the Civil Service
Commission from 1903 to 1907, when he was appointed a Civil Service
Commissioner.
LEAVEN (in Mid. Eng. _levain_, adapted from Fr. _levain_, in same sense,
from Lat. _levamen_, which is only found in the sense of alleviation,
comfort, _levare_, to lift up), a substance which produces fermentation,
particularly in the making of bread, properly a portion of already
fermented dough added to other dough for this purpose (see BREAD). The
word is used figuratively of any element, influence or agency which
effects a subtle or secret change. These figurative usages are mainly
due to the comparison of the kingdom of Heaven to leaven in Matt. xiii.
33, and to the warning against the leaven of the Pharisees in Matt. xvi.
6. In the first example the word is used of a good influence, but the
more usual significance is that of an evil agency. There was among the
Hebrews an association of the idea of fermentation and corruption, which
may have been one source of the prohibition of the use of leavened bread
in sacrificial offerings. For the usage of unleavened bread at the
feasts of the Passover and of Massôth, and the connexion of the two, see
PASSOVER.
LEAVENWORTH, a city and the county-seat of Leavenworth county, Kansas,
U.S.A., on the W. bank of the Missouri river. Pop. (1900) 20,738, of
whom 3402 were foreign-born and 2925 were negroes; (1910 census) 19,363.
It is one of the most important railway centres west of the Missouri
river, being served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago
Great Western, the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific and the
Leavenworth & Topeka railways. The city is laid out regularly in the
bottom-lands of the river, and its streets are named after Indian
tribes. Rolling hills surround it on three sides. The city has many
handsome public buildings, and contains the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception, Leavenworth being the see of a Roman Catholic bishop. The
public institutions include the Kansas State Protective Home (1889) for
negroes, an Old Ladies' Rest (1892), St Vincent's Orphans' Asylum (1886,
open to all sects) and a Guardian Angels' Home (1889), for negroes--all
private charities aided by the state; also St John's Hospital (1879),
Cushing Hospital (1893) and Leavenworth Hospital (1900), which are
training schools for nurses. There is also a branch of the National Home
for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In the suburbs there are state and
United States penitentiaries. Leavenworth is a trading centre and has
various manufactures, the most important being foundry and machine shop
and flouring and grist-mill products, and furniture. The city's factory
products increased in value from $3,251,460 in 1900 to $4,151,767 in
1905, or 27.7%. There are valuable coal mines in Leavenworth and the
immediate vicinity. About 3 m. N. of the city, on a reservation of about
6000 acres, is Fort Leavenworth, an important United States military
post, associated with which are a National Cemetery and Service Schools
of the U.S. Army (founded in 1881 as the U.S. Infantry and Cavalry
School and in 1901 developed into a General Service and Staff College).
In 1907 there were three general divisions of these schools: the Army
School of the Line, for officers (not below the grade of captain) of the
regular army and for militia officers recommended by the governors of
their respective states or territories, offering courses in military
art, engineering, law and languages; the Army Signal School, also open
to regular and militia officers, and having departments of field
signalling, signal engineering, topography and languages; and the Army
Staff College, in which the students are the highest graduates from the
Army School of the Line, and the courses of instruction are included in
the departments of military art, engineering, law, languages and care of
troops. The course is one year in each school. At Fort Leavenworth there
is a colossal bronze statue of General U. S. Grant erected in 1889. A
military prison was established at Fort Leavenworth in 1875; it was used
as a civil prison from 1895 to 1906, when it was re-established as a
military prison. Its inmates were formerly taught various trades, but
owing to the opposition of labour organizations this system was
discontinued, and the prisoners are now employed in work on the military
reservation.
The fort, from which the city took its name, was built in 1827, in the
Indian country, by Colonel Henry Leavenworth (1783-1834) of the 3rd
Infantry, for the protection of traders plying between the Missouri
river and Santa Fé. The town site was claimed by Missourians from
Weston in June 1854, Leavenworth thus being the oldest permanent
settlement in Kansas; and during the contest in Kansas between the
anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers, it was known as a pro-slavery
town. It was first incorporated by the Territorial legislature in
1855; a new charter was obtained in 1881; and in 1908 the city adopted
the commission plan of government. On the 3rd of April 1858 a
free-state convention adopted the Leavenworth Constitution here; this
constitution, which was as radically anti-slavery as the Lecompton
Constitution was pro-slavery, was nominally approved by popular vote
in May 1858, and was later submitted to Congress, but never came into
effect. During the Civil War Leavenworth enjoyed great prosperity, at
the expense of more inland towns, partly owing to the proximity of the
fort, which gave it immunity from border raids from Missouri and was
an important depôt of supplies and a place for mustering troops into
and out of the service. Leavenworth was, in Territorial days and until
after 1880, the largest and most thriving commercial city of the
state, and rivalled Kansas City, Missouri, which, however, finally got
the better of it in the struggle for railway facilities.
LEBANON (from Semitic _laban_, "to be white," or "whitish," probably
referring not to snow, but to the bare white walls of chalk or
limestone which form the characteristic feature of the whole range), in
its widest sense is the central mountain mass of Syria, extending for
about 100 m. from N.N.E. to S.S.W. It is bounded W. by the sea, N. by
the plain Jun Akkar, beyond which rise the mountains of the Ansarieh,
and E. by the inland plateau of Syria, mainly steppe-land. To the south
Lebanon ends about the point where the river Litany bends westward, and
at Banias. A valley narrowing towards its southern end, and now called
the Buka'a, divides the mountainous mass into two great parts. That
lying to the west is still called Jebel Libnan; the greater part of the
eastern mass now bears the name of the Eastern Mountain (Jebel
el-Sharki). In Greek the western range was called Libanos, the eastern
Antilibanos. The southern extension of the latter, Mount Hermon (q.v.),
may in many respects be treated as a separate mountain.
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon have many features in common; in both the
southern portion is less arid and barren than the northern, the western
valleys better wooded and more fertile than the eastern. In general the
main elevations of the two ranges form pairs lying opposite one another;
the forms of both ranges are monotonous, but the colouring is splendid,
especially when viewed from a distance; when seen close at hand only a
few valleys with perennial streams offer pictures of landscape beauty,
their rich green contrasting pleasantly with the bare brown and yellow
mountain sides. The finest scenery is found in N. Lebanon, in the
Maronite districts of Kesrawan and Bsherreh, where the gorges are
veritable canyons, and the villages are often very picturesquely
situated. The south of the chain is more open and undulating.
Anti-Lebanon is the barest and most inhospitable part of the system.
The district west of Lebanon, averaging about 20 m. in breadth, slopes
in an intricate series of plateaus and terraces to the Mediterranean.
The coast is for the most part abrupt and rocky, often leaving room
for only a narrow path along the shore, and when viewed from the sea
it does not suggest the extent of country lying between its cliffs and
the lofty summits behind. Most of the mountain spurs run from east to
west, but in northern Lebanon the prevailing direction of the valleys
is north-westerly, and in the south some ridges run parallel with the
principal chain. The valleys have for the most part been deeply
excavated by mountain streams; the apparently inaccessible heights are
crowned by numerous villages, castles or cloisters embosomed among
trees. The chief perennial streams, beginning from the north, are the
Nahr Akkar, N. Arka, N. el-Barid, N. Kadisha, "the holy river" (the
valley of which begins in the immediate neighbourhood of the highest
summits, and rapidly descends in a series of great bends till the
river reaches the sea at Tripoli), Wadi el-Joz (falling into the sea
at Batrun), Wadi Fidar, Nahr Ibrahim (the ancient Adonis, having its
source in a recess of the great mountain amphitheatre where the famous
sanctuary Apheca, the modern Afka, lay), Nahr el-Kelb (the ancient
Lycus), Nahr Beirut (the ancient Magoras, entering the sea at Beirut),
Nahr Damur (ancient Tamyras), Nahr el-'Auwali (the ancient Bostrenus,
which in the upper part of its course is joined by the Nahr el-Baruk).
The 'Auwali and the Nahr el-Zaherani, the only other considerable
streams before we reach the Litany, flow north-east to south-west, in
consequence of the interposition of a ridge subordinate and parallel
to the central chain. On the north, where the mountain bears the
special name of Jebel Akkar, the main ridge of Lebanon rises gradually
from the plain. A number of valleys run to the north and north-east,
among them that of the Nahr el-Kebir, the Eleutherus of the ancients,
which rises in the Jebel el-Abiad on the eastern slope of Lebanon, and
afterwards, skirting the district, flows westward to the sea. South of
Jebel el-Abiad, beneath the main ridge, which as a rule falls away
suddenly towards the east, occur several small elevated terraces
having a southward slope; among these are the Wadi en-Nusur ("vale of
eagles"), and the basin of the lake Yammuna, with its intermittent
spring Neb'a el-Arba'in. Of the streams which descend into the Buka'a,
the Berdani rises in Jebel Sunnin, and enters the plain by a deep and
picturesque mountain cleft at Zahleh.
The most elevated summits occur in the north, but even these are of
very gentle gradient. The "Cedar block" consists of a double line of
four and three summits respectively, ranged from north to south, with
a deviation of about 35°. Those to the east are 'Uyun Urghush, Makmal,
Muskiyya (or Naba' esh-Shemaila) and Ras Zahr el-Kazib; fronting the
sea are Kam Sauda or Timarun, Fumm el-Mizab and Zahr el-Kandil. The
height of Zahr el-Kazib, by barometric measurement, is 10,018 ft.;
that of the others does not reach 10,000 ft. South from them is the
pass (8351 ft.) which leads from Baalbek to Tripoli; the great
mountain amphitheatre on the west side of its summit is remarkable.
Farther south is a second group of lofty summits--the snow-capped
Sunnin, visible from Beirut; its height is 8482 ft. Between this
group and the more southerly Jebel Keniseh (about 6700 ft.) lies the
pass (4700 ft.) traversed by the French post road between Beirut and
Damascus. Among the bare summits still farther south are the long
ridge of Jebel el-Baruk (about 7000 ft.), the Jebel Niha, with the
Tau'amat Niha (about 6100 ft.), near which is a pass to Sidon, and the
Jebel Rihan (about 5400 ft.).
The Buka'a, the broad valley which separates Lebanon from
Anti-Lebanon, is watered by two rivers having their watershed near
Baalbek, at an elevation of about 3600 ft., and separated only by a
short mile at their sources. That flowing northwards, El-'Asi, is the
ancient Orontes (q.v.); the other is the Litany. In the lower part of
its course the latter has scooped out a deep and narrow rocky bed; at
Burghuz it is spanned by a great natural bridge. Not far from the
point where it suddenly trends to the west lie, immediately above the
romantic valley, at an elevation of 1500 ft., the imposing ruins of
the old castle Kal'at esh-Shakif, near one of the passes to Sidon. In
its lower part the Litany bears the name of Nahr el-Kasimiya. Neither
the Orontes nor the Litany has any important affluent.
The Buka'a used to be known as Coelesyria (Strabo. xvi. 2, 21); but
that word as employed by the ancients had a much more extensive
application. At present its full name is Buka'a el-'Aziz (the dear
Buka'a), and its northern portion is known as Sahlet Ba'albek (the
plain of Baalbek). The valley is from 4 to 6 m. broad, with an
undulating surface.
The Anti-Lebanon chain has been less fully explored than that of
Lebanon. Apart from its southern offshoots it is 67 m. long, while its
width varies from 16 to 13½ m. It rises from the plain of Hasya-Homs,
and in its northern portion is very arid. The range has not so many
offshoots as occur on the west side of Lebanon; under its precipitous
slopes stretch table-lands and broad plateaus, which, especially on
the east side looking towards the steppe, steadily increase in width.
Along the western side of northern Anti-Lebanon stretches the
Khasha'a, a rough red region lined with juniper trees, a succession of
the hardest limestone crests and ridges, bristling with bare rock and
crag that shelter tufts of vegetation, and are divided by a succession
of grassy ravines. On the eastern side the parallel valley of 'Asal
el-Ward deserves special mention; the descent towards the plain
eastwards, as seen for example at Ma'lula, is singular--first a
spacious amphitheatre and then two deep very narrow gorges. Few
perennial streams take their rise in Anti-Lebanon; one of the finest
and best watered valleys is that of Helbun, the ancient Chalybon, the
Helbon of Ezek. xxvii. 18. The highest points of the range, reckoning
from the north, are Halimat el-Kabu (8257 ft.), which has a splendid
view; the Fatli block, including Tal'at Musa (8721 ft.) and the
adjoining Jebel Nebi Baruh (7900 ft.); and a third group near Bludan,
in which the most prominent names are Shakif, Akhyar and Abu'l-Hin
(8330 ft.); Of the valleys descending westward the first to claim
mention is the Wadi Yafufa; a little farther south, lying north and
south, is the rich upland valley of Zebedani, where the Barada has its
highest sources. Pursuing an easterly course, this stream receives the
waters of the romantic 'Ain Fije (which doubles its volume), and
bursts out by a rocky gateway upon the plain of Damascus, in the
irrigation of which it is the chief agent. It is the Abana of 2 Kings
v. 12; the portion of Anti-Lebanon traversed by it was also called by
the same name (Canticles iv. 8). From the point where the southerly
continuation of Anti-Lebanon begins to take a more westerly direction,
a low ridge shoots out towards the south-west, trending farther and
farther away from the eastern chain and narrowing the Buka'a; upon the
eastern side of this ridge lies the elevated valley or hilly stretch
known as Wadi et-Teim. In the north, beside 'Ain Faluj, it is
connected by a low watershed with the Buka'a; from the gorge of the
Litany it is separated by the ridge of Jebel ed-Dahr. At its southern
end it contracts and merges into the plain of Banias, thus enclosing
Mount Hermon on its north-west and west sides; eastward from the
Hasbany branch of the Jordan lies the meadow-land Merj 'Iyun, the
ancient Ijon (1 Kings xv. 20).
_Vegetation._--The western slope of Lebanon has the common
characteristics of the flora of the Mediterranean coast, but the
Anti-Lebanon belongs to the poorer region of the steppes, and the
Mediterranean species are met with only sporadically along the
water-courses. Forest and pasture land do not properly exist: the
place of the first is for the most part taken by a low brushwood;
grass is not plentiful, and the higher ridges maintain alpine plants
only so long as patches of snow continue to lie. The rock walls
harbour some rock plants, but many absolutely barren wildernesses of
stone occur. (1) On the western slope, to a height of 1600 ft., is the
coast region, similar to that of Syria in general and of the south of
Asia Minor. Characteristic trees are the locust tree and the stone
pine; in _Melia Azedarach_ and _Ficus Sycomorus_ (Beirut) is an
admixture of foreign and partially subtropical elements. The great
mass of the vegetation, however is of the low-growing type (_maquis_
or _garrigue_ of the western Mediterranean), with small and stiff
leaves, and frequently thorny and aromatic, as for example the ilex
(_Quercus coccifera_), _Smilax_, _Cistus_, _Lentiscus_, _Calycotome_,
&c. (2) Next comes, from 1600 to 6500 ft., the mountain region, which
may also be called the forest region, still exhibiting sparse woods
and isolated trees wherever shelter, moisture and the inhabitants
have permitted their growth. From 1600 to 3200 ft. is a zone of dwarf
hard-leaved oaks, amongst which occur the Oriental forms _Fontanesia
phillyraeoides_, _Acer syriacum_ and the beautiful red-stemmed
_Arbutus Andrachne_. Higher up, between 3700 and 4200 ft., a tall
pine, _Pinus Brutia_, is characteristic. Between 4200 and 6200 ft. is
the region of the two most interesting forest trees of Lebanon, the
cypress and the cedar. The former still grows thickly, especially in
the valley of the Kadisha; the horizontal is the prevailing variety.
In the upper Kadisha valley there is a cedar grove of about three
hundred trees, amongst which five are of gigantic size. (See also
CEDAR.) The cypress and cedar zone exhibits a variety of other
leaf-bearing and coniferous trees; of the first may be mentioned
several oaks--_Quercus subalpina_ (Kotschy), _Q. Cerris_ and the
hop-hornbeam (_Ostrya_); of the second class the rare Cilician silver
fir (_Abies cilicica_) may be noticed. Next come the junipers,
sometimes attaining the size of trees (_Juniperus excelsa_, _J.
rufescens_ and, with fruit as large as plums, _J. drupacea_). But the
chief ornament of Lebanon is the _Rhododendron ponticum_, with its
brilliant purple flower clusters; a peculiar evergreen, _Vinca
libanotica_, also adds beauty to this zone. (3) Into the alpine region
(6200 to 10,400 ft.) penetrate a few very stunted oaks (_Quercus
subalpina_), the junipers already mentioned and a barberry (_Berberis
cretica_), which sometimes spreads into close thickets. Then follow
the low, dense, prone, pillow-like dwarf bushes, thorny and grey,
common to the Oriental highlands--_Astragalus_ and the peculiar
_Acantholimon_. They are found to within 300 ft. of the highest
summits.
Upon the exposed mountain slopes a species of rhubarb (_Rheum Ribes_)
is noticeable, and also a vetch (_Vicia canescens_) excellent for
sheep. The spring vegetation, which lasts until July, appears to be
rich, especially as regards showy plants, such as _Corydalis_,
_Gagea_, _Colchicum_, _Puschkinia_, _Geranium_, _Ornithogalum_, &c.
The flora of the highest ridges, along the edges of the snow patches,
exhibits no forms related to the northern alpine flora, but
suggestions of it are found in a _Draba_, an _Androsace_, an _Alsine_
and a violet, occurring, however, only in local species. Upon the
highest summits are found _Saponaria Pumilio_ (resembling our _Silene
acaulis_) and varieties of _Galium_, _Euphorbia_, _Astragalus_,
_Veronica_, _Jurinea_, _Festuca_, _Scrophularia_, _Geranium_,
_Asphodeline_, _Allium_, _Asperula_; and, on the margins of the snow
fields, a _Taraxacum_ and _Ranunculus demissus_. The alpine flora of
Lebanon thus connects itself directly with the Oriental flora of lower
altitudes, and is unrelated to the glacial flora of Europe and
northern Asia.
_Zoology._--There is nothing of special interest about the fauna of
Lebanon. Bears are no longer numerous; the panther and the ounce are
met with; the wild hog, hyaena, wolf and fox are by no means rare;
jackals and gazelles are very common. The polecat and hedgehog also
occur. As a rule there are not many birds, but the eagle and the
vulture may occasionally be seen; of eatable kinds partridges and wild
pigeons are the most abundant.
_Population._--In the following sections the Lebanon proper will alone
be considered, without reference to Anti-Lebanon, because the peculiar
political status of the former range since 1864 has effectually
differentiated it; whereas the Anti-Lebanon still forms an integral part
of the Ottoman province of Syria (q.v.), and neither its population nor
its history is readily distinguishable from those of the surrounding
districts.
The total population in the Lebanon proper is about 400,000, and is
increasing faster than the development of the province will admit. There
is consequently much emigration, the Christian surplus going mainly to
Egypt, and to America, the Druses to the latter country and to the
Hauran. The emigrants to America, however, usually return after making
money, build new houses and settle down. The singularly complex
population is composed of Christians, Maronites, and Orthodox Eastern
and Uniate; of Moslems, both Sunni and Shiah (Metawali); and of Druses.
(a) _Maronites_ (q.v.) form about three-fifths of the whole and have
the north of the Mountain almost to themselves, while even in the
south, the old Druse stronghold, they are now numerous. Feudalism is
practically extinct among them and with the decline of the Druses, and
the great stake they have acquired in agriculture, they have laid
aside much of their warlike habit together with their arms. Even their
instinct of nationality is being sensibly impaired by their gradual
assimilation to the Papal Church, whose agents exercise from Beirut an
increasing influence on their ecclesiastical elections and church
government. They are strong also in the Buka'a, and have colonies in
most of the Syrian cities.
(b) _Orthodox_ Eastern form a little more than one-eighth of the
whole, and are strongest in S. Lebanon (Metn and Kurah districts).
Syrians by race and Arab-speaking, they are descendants of those
"Melkites" who took the side of the Byzantine church in the time of
Justinian II. against the Moslems and eventually the Maronites. They
are among the most progressive of the Lebanon elements.
(c) _Greek Uniate_ are less numerous, forming little more than
one-twelfth, but are equally progressive. Their headquarters is
Zahleh; but they are found also in strength in Metn and Jezzin, where
they help to counterbalance Druses. They sympathize with the Maronites
against the Orthodox Eastern, and, like both, are of Syrian race, and
Arab speech.
(d) _Sunnite Moslems_ are a weak element, strongest in Shuf and Kurah,
and composed largely of Druse renegades and "Druse" families, which,
like the Shehab, were of Arab extraction and never conformed to the
creed of Hamza.
(e) _Shiite Moslems_ outnumber the Sunni, and make about one
twenty-fifth of the whole. They are called _Metawali_ and are
strongest in North Lebanon (Kesrawan and Batrun), but found also in
the south, in Buka'a and in the coast-towns from Beirut to Acre. They
are said to be descendants of Persian tribes; but the fact is very
doubtful, and they may be at least as aboriginal as the Maronites, and
a remnant of an old Incarnationist population which did not accept
Christianity, and kept its heretical Islam free from those influences
which modified Druse creed. They own a chief sheikh, resident at
Jeba'a, and have the reputation, like most heretical communities in
the Sunni part of the Moslem world, of being exceedingly fanatical and
inhospitable. It is undoubtedly the case that they are suspicious of
strangers and defiant of interference. Another small body of Shiites,
the _Ismailites_ (Assassins (q.v.) of the crusading chronicles), also
said to be of Persian origin, live about Kadmus at the extreme N. of
Lebanon, but outside the limits of the privileged province. They are
about 9000 strong.
(f) _Druses_ (q.v.), now barely an eighth of the whole and confined to
Shuf and Metn in S. Lebanon, are tending to emigrate or conform to
Sunni Islam. Since the establishment of the privileged province they
have lost the Ottoman support which used to compensate for their
numerical inferiority as compared with the Christians; and they are
fast losing also their old habits and distinctiveness. No longer armed
or wearing their former singular dress, the remnant of them in Lebanon
seems likely ere long to be assimilated to the "Osmanli" Moslems.
Their feud with the Maronites, whose accentuation in the middle of the
19th century was largely due to the tergiversations of the ruling
Shehab family, now reduced to low estate, is dying away, but they
retain something of their old clan feeling and feudal organization,
especially in Shuf.
The mixed population, as a whole, displays the usual characteristics of
mountaineers, fine physique and vigorous independent spirit; but its
ancient truculence has given way before strong government action since
the middle 19th century, and the great increase of agricultural
pursuits, to which the purely pastoral are now quite secondary. The
culture of the mulberry and silk, of tobacco, of the olive and vine, of
many kinds of fruits and cereals, has expanded enormously, and the
Lebanon is now probably the most productive region in Asiatic Turkey in
proportion to its area. It exports largely through Beirut and Saida,
using both the French railway which crosses S. Lebanon on its way to
Damascus, and the excellent roads and mule-paths made since 1883.
Lebanon has thick deposits of lignite coal, but of inferior quality
owing to the presence of iron pyrites. The abundant iron is little
worked. Manufactures are of small account, the raw material going mostly
to the coast; but olive-oil is made, together with various wines, of
which the most famous is the _vino d'oro_, a sweet liqueur-like
beverage. This wine is not exported in any quantity, as it will not bear
a voyage well and is not made to keep. Bee-keeping is general, and there
is an export of eggs to Egypt.
_History._--The inhabitants of Lebanon have at no time played a
conspicuous part in history. There are remains of prehistoric
occupation, but we do not even know what races dwelt there in the
historical period of antiquity. Probably they belonged chiefly to the
Aramaean group of nationalities; the Bible mentions Hivites (Judges iii.
3) and Giblites (Joshua xiii. 5). Lebanon was included within the ideal
boundaries of the land of Israel, and the whole region was well known to
the Hebrews, by whose poets its many excellences are often praised. How
far the Phoenicians had any effective control over it is unknown; the
absence of their monuments does not argue much real jurisdiction. Nor
apparently did the Greek Seleucid kingdom have much to do with the
Mountain. In the Roman period the district of _Phoenice_ extended to
Lebanon. In the 2nd century, with the inland districts, it constituted a
subdivision of the province of Syria, having Emesa (Homs) for its
capital. From the time of Diocletian there was a _Phoenice ad Libanum_,
with Emesa as capital, as well as a _Phoenice Maritima_ of which Tyre
was the chief city. Remains of the Roman period occur throughout
Lebanon. By the 6th century it was evidently virtually independent
again; its Christianization had begun with the immigration of
Monothelite sectaries, flying from persecution in the Antioch district
and Orontes valley. At all times Lebanon has been a place of refuge for
unpopular creeds. Large part of the mountaineers took up Monothelism and
initiated the national distinction of the Maronites, which begins to
emerge in the history of the 7th century. The sectaries, after helping
Justinian II. against the caliph Abdalmalik, turned on the emperor and
his Orthodox allies, and were named Mardaites (rebels). Islam now began
to penetrate S. Lebanon, chiefly by the immigration of various more or
less heretical elements, Kurd, Turkoman, Persian and especially Arab,
the latter largely after the break-up of the kingdom of Hira; and early
in the 11th century these coalesced into a nationality (see Druses)
under the congenial influence of the Incarnationist creed brought from
Cairo by Ismael Darazi and other emissaries of the caliph Hakim and his
vizier Hamza. The subsequent history of Lebanon to the middle of the
19th century will be found under Druses and Maronites, and it need only
be stated here that Latin influence began to be felt in N. Lebanon
during the Frank period of Antioch and Palestine, the Maronites being
inclined to take the part of the crusading princes against the Druses
and Moslems; but they were still regarded as heretic Monothelites by
Abulfaragius (Bar-Hebraeus) at the end of the 13th century; nor is their
effectual reconciliation to Rome much older than 1736, the date of the
mission sent by the pope Clement XII., which fixed the actual status of
their church. An informal French protection had, however, been exercised
over them for some time previously, and with it began the feud of
Maronites and Druses, the latter incited and spasmodically supported by
Ottoman pashas. The feudal organization of both, the one under the house
of Khazin, the other under those of Maan and Shehab successively, was in
full force during the 17th and 18th centuries; and it was the break-up
of this in the first part of the 19th century which produced the anarchy
that culminated after 1840 in the civil war. The Druses renounced their
Shehab amirs when Beshir al-Kassim openly joined the Maronites in 1841,
and the Maronites definitely revolted from the Khazin in 1858. The
events of 1860 led to the formation of the privileged Lebanon province,
finally constituted in 1864. It should be added, however, that among the
Druses of Shuf, feudalism has tended to re-establish itself, and the
power is now divided between the Jumblat and Yezbeki families, a leading
member of one of which is almost always Ottoman _kaimakam_ of the
Druses, and locally called _amir_.
The Lebanon has now been constituted a _sanjak_ or _mutessariflik_,
dependent directly on the Porte, which acts in this case in
consultation with the six great powers. This province extends about 93
m. from N. to S. (from the boundary of the _sanjak_ of Tripoli to that
of the _caza_ of Saida), and has a mean breadth of about 28 m. from
one foot of the chain to the other, beginning at the edge of the
littoral plain behind Beirut and ending at the W. edge of the Buka'a;
but the boundaries are ill-defined, especially on the E. where the
original line drawn along the crest of the ridge has not been adhered
to, and the mountaineers have encroached on the Buka'a. The Lebanon is
under a military governor (_mushir_) who must be a Christian in the
service of the sultan, approved by the powers, and has, so far, been
chosen from the Roman Catholics owing to the great preponderance of
Latin Christians in the province. He resides at Deir al-Kamar, an old
seat of the Druse amirs. At first appointed for three years, then for
ten, his term has been fixed since 1892 at five years, the longer term
having aroused the fear of the Porte, lest a personal domination
should become established. Under the governor are seven _kaimakams_,
all Christians except a Druse in Shuf, and forty-seven _mudirs_, who
all depend on the kaimakams except one in the home district of Deir
al-Kamar. A central _mejliss_ or Council of twelve members is composed
of four Maronites, three Druses, one Turk, two Greeks (Orthodox), one
Greek Uniate and one Metawali. This was the original proportion, and
it has not been altered in spite of the decline of the Druses and
increase of the Maronites. The members are elected by the seven cazas.
In each _mudirieh_ there is also a local _mejliss_. The old feudal and
_mukataji_ (see DRUSES) jurisdictions are abolished, i.e. they often
persist under Ottoman forms, and three courts of First Instance, under
the _mejliss_, and superior to the petty courts of the _mudirs_ and
the village _sheikhs_, administer justice. Judges are appointed by the
governor, but sheikhs by the villages. Commercial cases, and
litigation in which strangers are concerned, are carried to Beirut.
The police is recruited locally, and no regular troops appear in the
province except on special requisition. The taxes are collected
directly, and must meet the needs of the province, before any sum is
remitted to the Imperial Treasury. The latter has to make deficits
good. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is exercised only over the clergy,
and all rights of asylum are abolished.
This constitution has worked well on the whole, the only serious
hitches having been due to the tendency of governors-general and
_kaimakams_ to attempt to supersede the _mejliss_ by autocratic
action, and to impair the freedom of elections. The attention of the
porte was called to these tendencies in 1892 and again in 1902, on the
appointments of new governors. Since the last date there has been no
complaint. Nothing now remains of the former French predominance in
the Lebanon, except a certain influence exerted by the fact that the
railway is French, and by the precedence in ecclesiastical functions
still accorded by the Maronites to official representatives of France.
In the Lebanon, as in N. Albania, the traditional claim of France to
protect Roman Catholics in the Ottoman Empire has been greatly
impaired by the non-religious character of the Republic. Like Italy,
she is now regarded by Eastern Catholics with distrust as an enemy of
the Holy Father.
See DRUSES. Also V. Cuinet, _Syrie, Liban et Palestine_ (1896); N.
Verney and G. Dambmann, _Puissances étrangères en Syrie_, &c. (1900);
G. Young, _Corps de droit ottoman_, vol. i. (1905); G. E. Post, _Flora
of Syria_, &c. (1896); M. von Oppenheim, _Vom Mittelmeer_, &c. (1899).
(A. So.; D. G. H.)
LEBANON, a city of Saint Clair county, Illinois, U.S.A., on Silver
Creek, about 24 m. E. of Saint Louis, Missouri. Pop. (1910) 1907. It is
served by the Baltimore & Ohio South-Western railroad and by the East
Saint Louis & Suburban Electric line. It is situated on a high
tableland. Lebanon is the seat of McKendree College, founded by
Methodists in 1828 and one of the oldest colleges in the Mississippi
valley. It was called Lebanon Seminary until 1830, when the present name
was adopted in honour of William McKendree (1757-1835), known as the
"Father of Western Methodism," a great preacher, and a bishop of the
Methodist Church in 1808-1835, who had endowed the college with 480
acres of land. In 1835 the college was chartered as the "McKendreean
College," but in 1839 the present name was again adopted. There are coal
mines and excellent farming lands in the vicinity of Lebanon. Among the
city's manufactures are flour, planing-mill products, malt liquors, soda
and farming implements. The municipality owns and operates its
electric-lighting plant. Lebanon was chartered as a city in 1874.
LEBANON, a city and the county-seat of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., in the fertile Lebanon Valley, about 25 m. E. by N. of
Harrisburg. Pop. (1900) 17,628, of whom 618 were foreign-born, (1910
census) 19,240. It is served by the Philadelphia & Reading, the Cornwall
and the Cornwall & Lebanon railways. About 5 m. S. of the city are the
Cornwall (magnetite) iron mines, from which about 18,000,000 tons of
iron ore were taken between 1740 and 1902, and 804,848 tons in 1906. The
ore yields about 46% of iron, and contains about 2.5% of sulphur, the
roasting of the ores being necessary--ore-roasting kilns are more
extensively used here than in any other place in the country. The area
of ore exposed is about 4000 ft. long and 400 to 800 ft. wide, and
includes three hills; it has been one of the most productive magnetite
deposits in the world. Limestone, brownstone and brick-clay also abound
in the vicinity; and besides mines and quarries, the city has extensive
manufactories of iron, steel, chains, and nuts and bolts. In 1905 its
factory products were valued at $6,978,458. The municipality owns and
operates its water-works.
The first settlement in the locality was made about 1730, and twenty
years later a town was laid out by one of the landowners, George
Steitz, and named Steitztown in his honour. About 1760 the town became
known as Lebanon, and under this name it was incorporated as a borough
in 1821 and chartered as a city in 1885.
LE BARGY, CHARLES GUSTAVE AUGUSTE (1858- ), French actor, was born at
La Chapelle (Seine). His talent both as a comedian and a serious actor
was soon made evident, and he became a member of the Comédie Française,
his chief successes being in such plays as _Le Duel_, _L'Énigme_, _Le
Marquis de Priola_, _L'Autre Danger_ and _Le Dédale_. His wife, Simone
le Bargy née Benda, an accomplished actress, made her début at the
Gymnase in 1902, and in later years had a great success in _La Rafale_
and other plays. In 1910 he had differences with the authorities of the
Comédie Française and ceased to be a _sociétaire_.
LE BEAU, CHARLES (1701-1778), French historical writer, was born at
Paris on the 15th of October 1701, and was educated at the Collège de
Sainte-Barbe and the Collège du Plessis; at the latter he remained as a
teacher until he obtained the chair of rhetoric in the Collège des
Grassins. In 1748 he was admitted a member of the Academy of
Inscriptions, and in 1752 he was nominated professor of eloquence in the
Collège de France. From 1755 he held the office of perpetual secretary
to the Academy of Inscriptions, in which capacity he edited fifteen
volumes (from the 25th to the 39th inclusive) of the _Histoire_ of that
institution. He died at Paris on the 13th of March 1778.
The only work with which the name of Le Beau continues to be
associated is his _Histoire du Bas-Empire, en commençant à Constantin
le Grand_, in 22 vols. 12mo (Paris, 1756-1779), being a continuation
of C. Rollin's _Histoire Romaine_ and J. B. L. Crevier's _Histoire des
empereurs_. Its usefulness arises entirely from the fact of its being
a faithful résumé of the Byzantine historians, for Le Beau had no
originality or artistic power of his own. Five volumes were added by
H. P. Ameilhon (1781-1811), which brought the work down to the fall of
Constantinople. A later edition, under the care of M. de Saint-Martin
and afterwards of Brosset, has had the benefit of careful revision
throughout, and has received considerable additions from Oriental
sources.
See his "Éloge" in vol. xlii. of the _Histoire de l'Académie des
Inscriptions_ (1786), pp. 190-207.
LEBEAU, JOSEPH (1794-1865), Belgian statesman, was born at Huy on the
3rd of January 1794. He received his early education from an uncle who
was parish priest of Hannut, and became a clerk. By dint of economy he
raised money to study law at Liége, and was called to the bar in 1819.
At Liége he formed a fast friendship with Charles Rogier and Paul
Devaux, in conjunction with whom he founded at Liége in 1824 the
_Mathieu Laensbergh_, afterwards _Le politique_, a journal which helped
to unite the Catholic party with the Liberals in their opposition to the
ministry, without manifesting any open disaffection to the Dutch
government. Lebeau had not contemplated the separation of Holland and
Belgium, but his hand was forced by the revolution. He was sent by his
native district to the National Congress, and became minister of foreign
affairs in March 1831 during the interim regency of Surlet de Chokier.
By proposing the election of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as king of the
Belgians he secured a benevolent attitude on the part of Great Britain,
but the restoration to Holland of part of the duchies of Limburg and
Luxemburg provoked a heated opposition to the treaty of London, and
Lebeau was accused of treachery to Belgian interests. He resigned the
direction of foreign affairs on the accession of King Leopold, but in
the next year became minister of justice. He was elected deputy for
Brussels in 1833, and retained his seat until 1848. Differences with the
king led to his retirement in 1834. He was subsequently governor of the
province of Namur (1838), ambassador to the Frankfort diet (1839), and
in 1840 he formed a short-lived Liberal ministry. From this time he held
no office of state, though he continued his energetic support of liberal
and anti-clerical measures. He died at Huy on the 19th of March 1865.
Lebeau published _La Belgique depuis 1847_ (Brussels, 4 vols., 1852),
_Lettres aux électeurs belges_ (8 vols., Brussels, 1853-1856). His
_Souvenirs personnels et correspondance diplomatique 1824-1841_
(Brussels, 1883) were edited by A. Fréson. See an article by A. Fréson
in the _Biographie nationale de Belgique_; and T. Juste, _Joseph
Lebeau_ (Brussels, 1865).
LEBEL, JEAN (d. 1370), Belgian chronicler, was born near the end of the
13th century. His father, Gilles le Beal des Changes, was an alderman of
Liége. Jean entered the church and became a canon of the cathedral
church, but he and his brother Henri followed Jean de Beaumont to
England in 1327, and took part in the border warfare against the Scots.
His will is dated 1369, and his epitaph gives the date of his death as
1370. Nothing more is known of his life, but Jacques de Hemricourt,
author of the _Miroir des nobles de Hesbaye_, has left a eulogy of his
character, and a description of the magnificence of his attire, his
retinue and his hospitality. Hemricourt asserts that he was eighty years
old or more when he died. For a long time Jean Lebel (or le Bel) was
only known as a chronicler through a reference by Froissart, who quotes
him in the prologue of his first book as one of his authorities. A
fragment of his work, in the MS. of Jean d'Outremeuse's _Mireur des
istores_, was discovered in 1847; and the whole of his chronicle,
preserved in the library of Châlons-sur-Marne, was edited in 1863 by L.
Polain. Jean Lebel gives as his reason for writing a desire to replace a
certain misleading rhymed chronicle of the wars of Edward III. by a true
relation of his enterprises down to the beginning of the Hundred Years'
War. In the matter of style Lebel has been placed by some critics on the
level of Froissart. His chief merit is his refusal to narrate events
unless either he himself or his informant had witnessed them. This
scrupulousness in the acceptance of evidence must be set against his
limitations. He takes on the whole a similar point of view to
Froissart's; he has no concern with national movements or politics; and,
writing for the public of chivalry, he preserves no general notion of a
campaign, which resolves itself in his narrative into a series of
exploits on the part of his heroes. Froissart was considerably indebted
to him, and seems to have borrowed from him some of his best-known
episodes, such as the death of Robert the Bruce, Edward III. and the
countess of Salisbury, and the devotion of the burghers of Calais. The
songs and virelais, in the art of writing which he was, according to
Hemricourt, an expert, have not come to light.
See L. Polain, _Les Vraies Chroniques de messire Jehan le Bel_ (1863);
Kervyn de Lettenhove, _Bulletin de la société d'émulation de Bruges_,
series ii. vols. vii. and ix.; and H. Pirenne in _Biographie nationale
de Belgique_.
LEBER, JEAN MICHEL CONSTANT (1780-1859), French historian and
bibliophile, was born at Orléans on the 8th of May 1780. His first work
was a poem on Joan of Arc (1804); but he wrote at the same time a
_Grammaire général synthétique_, which attracted the attention of J. M.
de Gérando, then secretary-general to the ministry of the interior. The
latter found him a minor post in his department, which left him leisure
for his historical work. He even took him to Italy when Napoleon was
trying to organize, after French models, the Roman states which he had
taken from the pope in 1809. Leber however did not stay there long, for
he considered the attacks on the temporal property of the Holy See to be
sacrilegious. On his return to Paris he resumed his administrative work,
literary recreations and historical researches. While spending a part of
his time writing vaudevilles and comic operas, he began to collect old
essays and rare pamphlets by old French historians. His office was
preserved to him by the Restoration, and Leber put his literary gifts at
the service of the government. When the question of the coronation of
Louis XVIII. arose, he wrote, as an answer to Volney, a minute treatise
on the _Cérémonies du sacre_, which was published at the time of the
coronation of Charles X. Towards the end of Villèle's ministry, when
there was a movement of public opinion in favour of extending municipal
liberties, he undertook the defence of the threatened system of
centralization, and composed, in answer to Raynouard, an _Histoire
critique du pouvoir municipal depuis l'origine de la monarchie jusqu'à
nos jours_ (1828). He also wrote a treatise entitled _De l'état réel de
la presse et des pamphlets depuis François I^(er) jusqu'à Louis XIV_.,
in which he refuted an empty paradox of Charles Nodier, who had tried to
prove that the press had never been, and could never be, so free as
under the Grand Monarch. A few years later, Leber retired (1839), and
sold to the library of Rouen the rich collection of books which he had
amassed during thirty years of research. The catalogue he made himself
(4 vols., 1839 to 1852). In 1840 he read at the Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres two dissertations, an "Essai sur
l'appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge," followed by an
"Examen critique des tables de prix du marc d'argent depuis l'époque de
Saint Louis"; these essays were included by the Academy in its _Recueil
de mémoires présentés par divers savants_ (vol. i., 1844), and were also
revised and published by Leber (1847). They form his most considerable
work, and assure him a position of eminence in the economic history of
France. He also rendered good service to historians by the publication
of his _Collection des meilleures dissertations, notices et traités
relatifs à l'histoire de France_ (20 vols., 1826-1840); in the absence
of an index, since Leber did not give one, an analytical table of
contents is to be found in Alfred Franklin's _Sources de l'histoire de
France_ (1876, pp. 342 sqq.). In consequence of the revolution of 1848,
Leber decided to leave Paris. He retired to his native town, and spent
his last years in collecting old engravings. He died at Orléans on the
22nd of December 1859.
In 1832 he had been elected as a member of the _Société des
Antiquaires de France_, and in the _Bulletin_ of this society (vol.
i., 1860) is to be found the most correct and detailed account of his
life's works.
LEBEUF, JEAN (1687-1760), French historian, was born on the 7th of March
1687 at Auxerre, where his father, a councillor in the parlement, was
_receveur des consignations_. He began his studies in his native town,
and continued them in Paris at the Collège Ste Barbe. He soon became
known as one of the most cultivated minds of his time. He made himself
master of practically every branch of medieval learning, and had a
thorough knowledge of the sources and the bibliography of his subject.
His learning was not drawn from books only; he was also an
archaeologist, and frequently went on expeditions in France, always on
foot, in the course of which he examined the monuments of architecture
and sculpture, as well as the libraries, and collected a number of notes
and sketches. He was in correspondence with all the most learned men of
the day. His correspondence with Président Bouhier was published in 1885
by Ernest Petit; his other letters have been edited by the _Société des
sciences historiques et naturelles de l'Yonne_ (2 vols., 1866-1867). He
also wrote numerous articles, and, after his election as a member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1740), a number of
_Mémoires_ which appeared in the _Recueil_ of this society. He died at
Paris on the 10th of April 1760. His most important researches had Paris
as their subject.
He published first a collection of _Dissertations sur l'histoire
civile et ecclésiastique de Paris_ (3 vols., 1739-1743), then an
_Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocèse de Paris_ (15 vols.,
1745-1760), which is a mine of information, mostly taken from the
original sources. In view of the advance made by scholarship in the
19th century, it was found necessary to publish a second edition. The
work of reprinting it was undertaken by H. Cocheris, but was
interrupted (1863) before the completion of vol. iv. Adrien Augier
resumed the work, giving Lebeuf's text, though correcting the numerous
typographical errors of the original edition (5 vols., 1883), and
added a sixth volume containing an analytical table of contents.
Finally, Fernand Bournon completed the work by a volume of
_Rectifications et additions_ (1890), worthy to appear side by side
with the original work.
The bibliography of Lebeuf's writings is, partly, in various numbers
of the _Bibliothèque des écrivains de Bourgogne_ (1716-1741). His
biography is given by Lebeau in the _Histoire de l'Académie royale des
Inscriptions_ (xxix., 372, published 1764), and by H. Cocheris, in the
preface to his edition.
LE BLANC, NICOLAS (1742-1806), French chemist, was born at Issoudun,
Indre, in 1742. He made medicine his profession and in 1780 became
surgeon to the duke of Orleans, but he also paid much attention to
chemistry. About 1787 he was attracted to the urgent problem of
manufacturing carbonate of soda from ordinary sea-salt. The suggestion
made in 1789 by Jean Claude de la Métherie (1743-1817), the editor of
the _Journal de physique_, that this might be done by calcining with
charcoal the sulphate of soda formed from salt by the action of oil of
vitriol, did not succeed in practice because the product was almost
entirely sulphide of soda, but it gave Le Blanc, as he himself
acknowledged, a basis upon which to work. He soon made the crucial
discovery--which proved the foundation of the huge industry of
artificial alkali manufacture--that the desired end was to be attained
by adding a proportion of chalk to the mixture of charcoal and sulphate
of soda. Having had the soundness of this method tested by Jean Darcet
(1725-1801), the professor of chemistry at the Collège de France, the
duke of Orleans in June 1791 agreed to furnish a sum of 200,000 francs
for the purpose of exploiting it. In the following September Le Blanc
was granted a patent for fifteen years, and shortly afterwards a factory
was started at Saint-Denis, near Paris. But it had not long been in
operation when the Revolution led to the confiscation of the duke's
property, including the factory, and about the same time the Committee
of Public Safety called upon all citizens who possessed soda-factories
to disclose their situation and capacity and the nature of the methods
employed. Le Blanc had no choice but to reveal the secrets of his
process, and he had the misfortune to see his factory dismantled and his
stocks of raw and finished materials sold. By way of compensation for
the loss of his rights, the works were handed back to him in 1800, but
all his efforts to obtain money enough to restore them and resume
manufacturing on a profitable scale were vain, and, worn out with
disappointment, he died by his own hand at Saint-Denis on the 16th of
January 1806.
Four years after his death, Michel Jean Jacques Dizê (1764-1852), who
had been _préparateur_ to Darcet at the time he examined the process
and who was subsequently associated with Le Blanc in its exploitation,
published in the _Journal de physique_ a paper claiming that it was he
himself who had first suggested the addition of chalk; but a committee
of the French Academy, which reported fully on the question in 1856,
came to the conclusion that the merit was entirely Le Blanc's (_Com.
rend._, 1856, p. 553).
LE BLANC, a town of central France, capital of an arrondissement, in the
department of Indre, 44 m. W.S.W, of Châteauroux on the Orléans railway
between Argenton and Poitiers. Pop. (1906) 4719. The Creuse divides it
into a lower and an upper town. The church of St Génitour dates from the
12th, 13th and 15th centuries, and there is an old castle restored in
modern times. It is the seat of a subprefect, and has a tribunal of
first instance and a communal college. Wool-spinning, and the
manufacture of linen goods and edge-tools are among the industries.
There is trade in horses and in the agricultural and other products of
the surrounding region.
Le Blanc, which is identified with the Roman _Oblincum_, was in the
middle ages a lordship belonging to the house of Naillac and a
frontier fortress of the province of Berry.
LEBOEUF, EDMOND (1809-1888), marshal of France, was born at Paris on the
5th of November 1809, passed through the École Polytechnique and the
school of Metz, and distinguished himself as an artillery officer in
Algerian warfare, becoming colonel in 1852. He commanded the artillery
of the 1st French corps at the siege of Sebastopol, and was promoted in
1854 to the rank of general of brigade, and in 1857 to that of general
of division. In the Italian War of 1859 he commanded the artillery, and
by his action at Solferino materially assisted in achieving the victory.
In September 1866, having in the meantime become aide-de-camp to
Napoleon III., he was despatched to Venetia to hand over that province
to Victor Emmanuel. In 1869, on the death of Marshal Niel, General
Leboeuf became minister of war, and earned public approbation by his
vigorous reorganization of the War Office and the civil departments of
the service. In the spring of 1870 he received the marshal's baton. On
the declaration of war with Germany Marshal Leboeuf delivered himself in
the Corps Législatif of the historic saying, "So ready are we, that if
the war lasts two years, not a gaiter button would be found wanting." It
may be that he intended this to mean that, given time, the
reorganization of the War Office would be perfected through experience,
but the result inevitably caused it to be regarded as a mere boast,
though it is now known that the administrative confusion on the frontier
in July 1870 was far less serious than was supposed at the time. Leboeuf
took part in the Lorraine campaign, at first as chief of staff
(major-general) of the Army of the Rhine, and afterwards, when Bazaine
became commander-in-chief, as chief of the III. corps, which he led in
the battles around Metz. He distinguished himself, whenever engaged, by
personal bravery and good leadership. Shut up with Bazaine in Metz, on
its fall he was confined as a prisoner in Germany. On the conclusion of
peace he returned to France and gave evidence before the commission of
inquiry into the surrender of that stronghold, when he strongly
denounced Bazaine. After this he retired into private life to the
Château du Moncel near Argentan, where he died on the 7th of June 1888.
LE BON, JOSEPH (1765-1795), French politician, was born at Arras on the
29th of September 1765. He became a priest in the order of the Oratory,
and professor of rhetoric at Beaune. He adopted revolutionary ideas, and
became a curé of the Constitutional Church in the department of
Pas-de-Calais, where he was later elected as a _député suppléant_ to the
Convention. He became _maire_ of Arras and _administrateur_ of
Pas-de-Calais, and on the 2nd of July 1793 took his seat in the
Convention. He was sent as a representative on missions into the
departments of the Somme and Pas-de-Calais, where he showed great
severity in dealing with offences against revolutionaries (8th Brumaire,
year II. to 22nd Messidor, year II.; i.e. 29th October 1793 to 10th July
1794). In consequence, during the reaction which followed the 9th
Thermidor (27th July 1794) he was arrested on the 22nd Messidor, year
III. (10th July 1795). He was tried before the criminal tribunal of the
Somme, condemned to death for abuse of his power during his mission, and
executed at Amiens on the 24th Vendémiaire in the year IV. (10th October
1795). Whatever Le Bon's offences, his condemnation was to a great
extent due to the violent attacks of one of his political enemies,
Armand Guffroy; and it is only just to remember that it was owing to his
courage that Cambrai was saved from falling into the hands of the
Austrians.
His son, Émile le Bon, published a _Histoire de Joseph le Bon et des
tribunaux révolutionnaires d'Arras et de Cambrai_ (2nd ed., 2 vols.,
Arras, 1864).
LEBRIJA, or LEBRIXA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of
Seville, near the left bank of the Guadalquivir, and on the eastern edge
of the marshes known as Las Marismas. Pop. (1900) 10,997. Lebrija is 44
m. S. by W. of Seville, on the Seville-Cadiz railway. Its chief
buildings are a ruined Moorish castle and the parish church, an imposing
structure in a variety of styles--Moorish, Gothic, Romanesque--dating
from the 14th century to the 16th, and containing some early specimens
of the carving of Alonso Cano (1601-1667). There are manufactures of
bricks, tiles and earthenware, for which clay is found in the
neighbourhood; and some trade in grain, wine and oil.
Lebrija is the _Nabrissa_ or _Nebrissa_, surnamed _Veneria_, of the
Romans; by Silius Italicus (iii. 393), who connects it with the worship
of Dionysus, the name is derived from the Greek [Greek: nebris] (a
"fawn-skin," associated with Dionysiac ritual). _Nebrishah_ was a strong
and populous place during the period of Moorish domination (from 711);
it was taken by St Ferdinand in 1249, but again lost, and became finally
subject to the Castilian crown only under Alphonso the Wise in 1264. It
was the birthplace of Elio Antonio de Lebrija or Nebrija (1444-1522),
better known as Nebrissensis, one of the most important leaders in the
revival of learning in Spain, the tutor of Queen Isabella, and a
collaborator with Cardinal Jimenes in the preparation of the
Complutensian Polyglot (see ALCALA DE HENARES).
LE BRUN, CHARLES (1619-1690), French painter, was born at Paris on the
24th of February 1619, and attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier,
who placed him at the age of eleven in the studio of Vouet. At fifteen
he received commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, in the execution of
which he displayed an ability which obtained the generous commendations
of Poussin, in whose company Le Brun started for Rome in 1642. In Rome
he remained four years in the receipt of a pension due to the liberality
of the chancellor. On his return to Paris Le Brun found numerous
patrons, of whom Superintendent Fouquet was the most important. Employed
at Vaux le Vicomte, Le Brun ingratiated himself with Mazarin, then
secretly pitting Colbert against Fouquet. Colbert also promptly
recognized Le Brun's powers of organization, and attached him to his
interests. Together they founded the Academy of Painting and Sculpture
(1648), and the Academy of France at Rome (1666), and gave a new
development to the industrial arts. In 1660 they established the
Gobelins, which at first was a great school for the manufacture, not of
tapestries only, but of every class of furniture required in the royal
palaces. Commanding the industrial arts through the Gobelins--of which
he was director--and the whole artist world through the Academy--in
which he successively held every post--Le Brun imprinted his own
character on all that was produced in France during his lifetime, and
gave a direction to the national tendencies which endured after his
death. The nature of his emphatic and pompous talent was in harmony with
the taste of the king, who, full of admiration at the decorations
designed by Le Brun for his triumphal entry into Paris (1660),
commissioned him to execute a series of subjects from the history of
Alexander. The first of these, "Alexander and the Family of Darius," so
delighted Louis XIV. that he at once ennobled Le Brun (December, 1662),
who was also created first painter to his majesty with a pension of
12,000 livres, the same amount as he had yearly received in the service
of the magnificent Fouquet. From this date all that was done in the
royal palaces was directed by Le Brun. The works of the gallery of
Apollo in the Louvre were interrupted in 1677 when he accompanied the
king to Flanders (on his return from Lille he painted several
compositions in the Château of St Germains), and finally--for they
remained unfinished at his death--by the vast labours of Versailles,
where he reserved for himself the Halls of War and Peace, the
Ambassadors' Staircase, and the Great Gallery, other artists being
forced to accept the position of his assistants. At the death of
Colbert, Louvois, who succeeded him in the department of public works,
showed no favour to Le Brun, and in spite of the king's continued
support he felt a bitter change in his position. This contributed to the
illness which on the 22nd of February 1690 ended in his death in the
Gobelins. Besides his gigantic labours at Versailles and the Louvre, the
number of his works for religious corporations and private patrons is
enormous. He modelled and engraved with much facility, and, in spite of
the heaviness and poverty of drawing and colour, his extraordinary
activity and the vigour of his conceptions justify his claim to fame.
Nearly all his compositions have been reproduced by celebrated
engravers.
LEBRUN, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, duc de Plaisance (1739-1824), French
statesman, was born at St-Sauveur-Lendelin (Manche) on the 19th of March
1739, and in 1762 made his first appearance as a lawyer at Paris. He
filled the posts successively of _censeur royale_ (1766) and of
inspector general of the domains of the crown (1768); he was also one of
the chief advisers of the chancellor Maupeou, took part in his struggle
against the parlements, and shared in his downfall in 1774. He then
devoted himself to literature, translating Tasso's _Gerusalemme
liberata_ (1774), and the _Iliad_ (1776). At the outset of the
Revolution he foresaw its importance, and in the _Voix du citoyen_,
which he published in 1789, predicted the course which events would
take. In the Constituent Assembly, where he sat as deputy for Dourdan,
he professed liberal views, and was the proposer of various financial
laws. He then became president of the directory of Seine-et-Oise, and in
1795 was elected as a deputy to the Council of Ancients. After the _coup
d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire in the year VIII. (9th November 1799),
Lebrun was made third consul. In this capacity he took an active part in
the reorganization of finance and of the administration of the
departments of France. In 1804 he was appointed arch-treasurer of the
empire, and in 1805-1806 as governor-general of Liguria effected its
annexation to France. He opposed Napoleon's restoration of the noblesse,
and in 1808 only reluctantly accepted the title of duc de Plaisance
(Piacenza). He was next employed in organizing the departments which
were formed in Holland, of which he was governor-general from 1811 to
1813. Although to a certain extent opposed to the despotism of the
emperor, he was not in favour of his deposition, though he accepted the
_fait accompli_ of the Restoration in April 1814. Louis XVIII. made him
a peer of France; but during the Hundred Days he accepted from Napoleon
the post of Grand Master of the university. On the return of the
Bourbons in 1815 he was consequently suspended from the House of Peers,
but was recalled in 1819. He died at St Mesmes (Seine-et-Oise) on the
16th of June 1824. He had been made a member of the Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1803.
See M. de Caumont la Force, _L'Architrésorier Lebrun_ (Paris, 1907);
M. Marie du Mesnil, _Mémoire sur le prince Le Brun, duc de Plaisance_
(Paris, 1828); _Opinions, rapports et choix d'écrits politiques de C.
F. Lebrun_ (1829), edited, with a biographical notice, by his son
Anne-Charles Lebrun.
LEBRUN, PIERRE ANTOINE (1785-1873), French poet, was born in Paris on
the 29th of November 1785. An _Ode à la grande armée_, mistaken at the
time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention,
and secured for the author a pension of 1200 francs. Lebrun's plays,
once famous, are now forgotten. They are: _Ulysse_ (1814), _Marie
Stuart_ (1820), which obtained a great success, and _Le Cid
d'Andalousie_ (1825). Lebrun visited Greece in 1820, and on his return
to Paris he published in 1822 an ode on the death of Napoleon which cost
him his pension. In 1825 he was the guest of Sir Walter Scott at
Abbotsford. The coronation of Charles X. in that year inspired the
verses entitled _La Vallée de Champrosay_, which have, perhaps, done
more to secure his fame than his more ambitious attempts. In 1828
appeared his most important poem, _La Grèce_, and in the same year he
was elected to the Academy. The revolution of 1830 opened up for him a
public career; in 1831 he was made director of the Imprimerie Royale,
and subsequently filled with distinction other public offices, becoming
senator in 1853. He died on the 27th of May 1873.
See Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. ii.