lineal descendant in the family of letters of Bernardim Ribeiro and
Christovam Falcão. All we know of his life is that he was born of rich
and noble parents at Leiria, and lived at ease in its picturesque
neighbourhood, reading philosophy and poetry and writing of shepherds
and shepherdesses by the rivers Liz and Lena. He studied at the
university of Coimbra and took the degree of licentiate about 1600. He
visited Lisbon from time to time, and tradition has it that he died by
drowning on his way thither as he was descending the Tagus from
Santarem. Though his first book, a little volume of verses (Romances)
published in 1596, and his last, a rhymed welcome to King Philip III.,
published in 1623, are written in Spanish, he composed his eclogues and
prose pastorals entirely in Portuguese, and thereby did a rare service
to his country at a time when, owing to the Spanish domination,
Castilian was the language preferred by polite society and by men of
letters. His _Primavera_, a book that may be compared to the _Diana_ of
Jorge de Montemôr (Montemayor), appeared in 1601, its second part, the
_Pastor Peregrino_, in 1608, and its third, the _Desenganado_, in 1614.
The dullness of these lengthy collections of episodes without plan,
thread or ideas, is relieved by charming and ingenious pastoral songs
named _serranilhas_. His eclogues in endecasyllables are an echo of
those of Camoens, but like his other verses they are inferior to his
_redondilhas_, which show the traditional fount of his inspiration. In
his _Corte na Aldeia_ (1619), a man of letters, a young nobleman, a
student and an old man of easy means, beguile the winter evenings at
Cintra by a series of philosophic and literary discussions in dialogue
which may still be read with pleasure. Lobo is also the author of an
insipid epic in twenty cantos in _ottava rima_ on the Constable D. Nuno
Alvares Pereira, the hero of the war of independence against Spain at
the end of the 14th century. The characteristics of his prose style are
harmony, purity and elegance, and he ranks as one of Portugal's leading
writers. A disciple of the Italian school, his verses are yet free from
imitations of classical models, his descriptions of natural scenery are
unsurpassed in the Portuguese language, and generally his writings
strike a true note and show a sincerity that was rare at the time. Their
popularity may be seen by the fact that the _Primavera_ went through
seven editions in the 17th century and nine in all, a large number for
so limited a market as that of Portugal, while six editions exist of the
_Pastor Peregrino_ and four of the epic poem. An edition of his
collected works was published in one volume in Lisbon in 1723, and
another in four volumes, but less complete, appeared there in 1774.
See Costa e Silva, _Ensaio biographico critico_, v. 5-112, for a
critical examination of Lobo's writings; also Bouterwek's _History of
Portuguese Literature_. (E. Pr.)
LOBO, JERONIMO (1593-1678), Jesuit missionary, was born in Lisbon, and
entered the Order of Jesus at the age of sixteen. In 1621 he was ordered
as a missionary to India, and in 1622 he arrived at Goa. With the
intention of proceeding to Abyssinia, whose Negus (emperor) Segued had
been converted to Roman Catholicism by Pedro Paez, he left India in
1624. He disembarked on the coast of Mombasa, and attempted to reach his
destination through the Galla country, but was forced to return. In 1625
he set out again, accompanied by Mendez, the patriarch of Ethiopia, and
eight missionaries. The party landed on the coast of the Red Sea, and
Lobo settled in Abyssinia as superintendent of the missions in Tigré. He
remained there until death deprived the Catholics of their protector,
the emperor Segued. Forced by persecution to leave the kingdom, in 1634
Lobo and his companions fell into the hands of the Turks at Massawa, who
sent him to India to procure a ransom for his imprisoned
fellow-missionaries. In this he was successful, but could not induce the
Portuguese viceroy to send an armament against Abyssinia. Intent upon
accomplishing this cherished project, he embarked for Portugal, and
after he had been shipwrecked on the coast of Natal, and captured by
pirates, arrived at Lisbon. Neither at this city, however, nor at Madrid
and Rome, was any countenance given to Lobo's plan. He accordingly
returned to India in 1640, and was elected rector, and afterwards
provincial, of the Jesuits at Goa. After some years he returned to his
native city, and died there on the 29th of January 1678.
Lobo wrote an account of his travels in Portuguese, which appears
never to have been printed, but is deposited in the monastery of St
Roque, Lisbon. Balthazar Telles made large use of the information
therein in his _Historia geral da Ethiopia a Alta_ (Coimbra, 1660),
often erroneously attributed to Lobo (see Machado's _Bibliotheca
Lusitana_). Lobo's own narrative was translated from a MS. copy into
French in 1728 by the Abbé Joachim le Grand, under the title of
_Voyage historique d'Abissinie_. In 1669 a translation by Sir Peter
Wyche of several passages from a MS. account of Lobo's travels was
published by the Royal Society (translated in M. Thévenot's _Relation
des voyages_ in 1673). An English abridgment of Le Grand's edition by
Dr Johnson was published in 1735 (reprinted 1789). In a _Mémoire
justificatif en réhabilitation des pères Pierre Paez et Jérôme Lobo_,
Dr C. T. Beke maintains against Bruce the accuracy of Lobo's
statements as to the source of the Abai branch of the Nile. See A. de
Backer, _Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus_ (ed. C. Sommervogel,
iv., 1893).
LOBSTER (O.E. _lopustre_, _lopystre_, a corruption of Lat. _locusta_,
lobster or other marine shell-fish; also a locust), an edible crustacean
found on the coasts of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. The name is
sometimes loosely applied to any of the larger Crustacea of the order
Macrura, especially to such as are used for food.
The true lobsters, forming the family _Homaridae_, are distinguished
from the other Macrura by having the first three pairs of legs
terminating in chelae or pincers. The first pair are large and massive
and are composed of six segments, while the remaining legs are each
composed of seven segments. The sternum of the last thoracic somite is
immovably united with the preceding. This last character, together with
some peculiarities of the branchial system, distinguish the lobsters
from the freshwater crayfishes. The common lobster (_Homarus gammarus_
or _vulgaris_) is found on the European coasts from Norway to the
Mediterranean. The American lobster (_Homarus americanus_), which should
perhaps be ranked as a variety rather than as a distinct species, is
found on the Atlantic coast of North America from Labrador to Cape
Hatteras. A third species, found at the Cape of Good Hope, is of small
size and of no economic importance.
Both in Europe and in America the lobster is the object of an important
fishery. It lives in shallow water, in rocky places, and is usually
captured in traps known as lobster-pots, or creels, made of wickerwork
or of hoops covered with netting, and having funnel-shaped openings
permitting entrance but preventing escape. These traps are baited with
pieces of fish, preferably stale, and are sunk on ground frequented by
lobsters, the place of each being marked by a buoy. In Europe the
lobsters are generally sent to market in the fresh state, but in
America, especially in the northern New England states and in the
maritime provinces of Canada, the canning of lobsters is an important
industry. The European lobster rarely reaches 10 pounds in weight,
though individuals of 14 pounds have been found, and in America there
are authentic records of lobsters weighing 20 to 23 pounds.
The effects of over-fishing have become apparent, especially in America,
rather in the reduced average size of the lobsters caught than in any
diminution of the total yield. The imposition of a close time to protect
the spawning lobsters has been often tried, but as the female carries
the spawn attached to her body for nearly twelve months after spawning
it is impossible to give any effective protection by this means. The
prohibition of the capture of females carrying spawn, or, as it is
termed, "in berry," is difficult to enforce. A minimum size, below which
it is illegal to sell lobsters, is fixed by law in most lobster-fishing
districts, but the value of the protection so given has also been
questioned.
The Norway lobster (_Nephrops norvegicus_) is found, like the common
lobster, from Norway to the Mediterranean. It is a smaller species, with
long and slender claws and is of an orange colour, often beautifully
marked with red and blue. It is found in deeper water and is generally
captured by trawling. It is a curious and unexplained fact that nearly
all the individuals so captured are males. It is less esteemed for food
than the common species. In London it is sold under the name of "Dublin
prawn."
The rock lobster, spiny lobster, or sea-crawfish (_Palinurus vulgaris_)
belongs to the family _Palinuridae_, distinguished from the _Homaridae_
by the fact that the first legs are not provided with chelae or pincers,
and that all the legs possess only six segments. The antennae are very
long and thick. It is found on the southern and western coasts of the
British, Islands and extends to the Mediterranean. It is highly esteemed
for the table, especially in France, where it goes by the name of
_Langouste_. Other species of the same family are used for food in
various parts of the world, especially on the Pacific coast of North
America and in Australia and New Zealand.
In Melbourne and Sydney the name of "Murray lobster" is given to a large
species of crayfish (_Astacopsis spinifer_, formerly known as _Astacus_,
or _Potamobius serratus_) which is much used for food. (W. T. Ca.)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, a phrase specially adopted in English usage for the
decentralized or deconcentrated administration, within a state or
national and central government, of local affairs by local authorities.
It is restricted not only in respect of area but also in respect of the
character and extent of the duties assigned to them. It is not to be
confused with local self-government in the wider sense in which the
words are sometimes employed, e.g. for the granting by the crown of
self-government to a colony; the expression, in a general way, may mean
this, but "local government" as technically used in England refers more
narrowly to the system of county or municipal administration, and
English usage transfers it to denote the similar institutions in other
countries. The growth and persistence of this kind of subordinate
government is due practically to the need of relieving the central
authority in the state, and to experience of the failure of a completely
centralized bureaucracy. The degree to which local government is adopted
varies considerably in different countries, and those which are the best
examples of it in modern times--the United Kingdom, the United States,
France and Germany--differ very much in their local institutions, partly
through historical, partly through temperamental, causes. A certain
shifting of ideas from time to time, as to what is local and what is
central, is inevitable, and the same view is not possible in countries
of different configuration, history or political system. The history and
present state of the local government in the various countries are dealt
with in the separate articles on them (ENGLAND, GERMANY, &c.), in the
sections dealing with government and administration, or political
institutions.
The best recent comparative study of local government is Percy
Ashley's _Local and Central Government_ (Murray, 1906), an admirable
account of the evolution and working of the systems in England,
France, Prussia and United States. Other important works, in addition
to general works on constitutional law, are J. A. Fairlie's _Municipal
Administration_, Shaw's _Municipal Government in Continental Europe_,
Redlich and Hirst's _Local Government in England_, Mr and Mrs Sidney
Webb's elaborate historical inquiry into English local government
(1906), and for Germany, Bornhak's _Geschichte des preussischen
Verwaltungsrechts_.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD, a department of the administration of the United
Kingdom, constituted in 1871. It is the successor of the General Board
of Health, established in 1848 pursuant to the Public Health Act of that
year. The General Board of Health continued in existence until 1854,
when it was reconstituted. Its existence under its new constitution was
originally limited to one year, but was extended from year to year until
1858, when it was allowed to expire, its powers under the various acts
for the prevention of diseases being transferred to the privy council,
while those which related to the control of local authorities passed to
the secretary of state for the home department, to whose department the
staff of officers and clerks belonging to the board was transferred.
This state of affairs continued until 1871, when the Local Government
Board was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871. It consists of
the lord president of the council, the five principal secretaries of
state, the lord privy seal, the chancellor of the exchequer and a
president appointed by the sovereign. The board itself seldom meets, and
the duties of the department are discharged by the president assisted by
a parliamentary and a permanent secretary and a permanent staff. The
president and one of the secretaries usually have seats in parliament,
and the president is generally a member of the cabinet. The salary of
the president, formerly £2000, was raised in 1910 to £5000 a year. The
board has all the powers of the secretary of state under the Public
Health Act 1848, and the numerous subsequent acts relating to sanitary
matters and the government of sanitary districts; together with all the
powers and duties of the privy council under the acts relating to the
prevention of epidemic disease and to vaccination. The powers and duties
of the board have been largely added to by legislation since its
creation; it may be said that the board exercises a general supervision
over the numerous authorities to whom local government has been
entrusted (see ENGLAND: _Local Government_). A committee presided over
by Lord Jersey in 1904 inquired into the constitution and duties of the
board, but made no recommendation as to any change therein. It
recommended, however, an increase in the salaries of the president and
of the parliamentary and permanent secretaries.
LOCARNO (Ger. _Luggarus_), a small town of Italian appearance in the
Swiss canton of Tessin or Ticino, of which till 1881 it was one of the
three capitals (the others being Bellinzona, q.v., and Lugano, q.v.). It
is built at the north or Swiss end of the Lago Maggiore, not far from
the point at which the Maggia enters that lake, and is by rail 14 m.
S.W. of Bellinzona. Its height above the sea-level is only 682 ft., so
that it is said to be the lowest spot in Switzerland. In 1900 its
population was 3603, mainly Italian-speaking and Romanists. It was taken
from the Milanese in 1512 by the Swiss who ruled it till 1798, when it
became part of the canton of Lugano in the Helvetic Republic, and in
1803 part of that of Tessin or Ticino, then first erected. In 1555 a
number of Protestant inhabitants were expelled for religious reasons,
and going to Zürich founded the silk industry there. Above Locarno is
the romantically situated sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso (now
rendered easily accessible by a funicular railway) that commands a
glorious view over the lake and the surrounding country. (W. A. B. C.)
LOCH, HENRY BROUGHAM LOCH, 1ST BARON (1827-1900), British colonial
administrator, son of James Loch, M.P., of Drylaw, Midlothian, was born
on the 23rd of May 1827. He entered the navy, but at the end of two
years quitted it for the East India Company's military service, and in
1842 obtained a commission in the Bengal Light Cavalry. In the Sikh war
in 1845 he was given an appointment on the staff of Sir Hugh Gough, and
served throughout the Sutlej campaign. In 1852 he became second in
command of Skinner's Horse. At the outbreak of the Crimean war in 1854,
Loch severed his connexion with India, and obtained leave to raise a
body of irregular Bulgarian cavalry, which he commanded throughout the
war. In 1857 he was appointed attaché to Lord Elgin's mission to the
East, was present at the taking of Canton, and in 1858 brought home the
treaty of Yedo. In April 1860 he again accompanied Lord Elgin to China,
as secretary of the new embassy sent to secure the execution by China of
her treaty engagements. The embassy was backed up by an allied
Anglo-French force. With Harry S. Parkes he negotiated the surrender of
the Taku forts. During the advance on Peking Loch was chosen with Parkes
to complete the preliminary negotiations for peace at Tungchow. They
were accompanied by a small party of officers and Sikhs. It having been
discovered that the Chinese were planning a treacherous attack on the
British force, Loch rode back and warned the outposts. He then returned
to Parkes and his party under a flag of truce hoping to secure their
safety. They were all, however, made prisoners and taken to Peking,
where the majority died from torture or disease. Parkes and Loch, after
enduring irons and all the horrors of a Chinese prison, were afterwards
more leniently treated. After three weeks' time the negotiations for
their release were successful, but they had only been liberated ten
minutes when orders were received from the Chinese emperor, then a
fugitive in Mongolia, for their immediate execution. Loch never entirely
recovered his health after this experience in a Chinese dungeon.
Returning home he was made C.B., and for a while was private secretary
to Sir George Grey, then at the Home Office. In 1863 he was appointed
lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man. During his governorship the
House of Keys was transformed into an elective assembly, the first line
of railway was opened, and the influx of tourists began to bring fresh
prosperity to the island. In 1882 Loch, who had become K.C.B. in 1880,
accepted a commissionership of woods and forests, and two years later
was made governor of Victoria, where he won the esteem of all classes.
In June 1889 he succeeded Sir Hercules Robinson as governor of Cape
Colony and high commissioner of South Africa.
As high commissioner his duties called for the exercise of great
judgment and firmness. The Boers were at the same time striving to
frustrate Cecil Rhodes's schemes of northern expansion and planning to
occupy Mashonaland, to secure control of Swaziland and Zululand and to
acquire the adjacent lands up to the ocean. Loch firmly supported
Rhodes, and, by informing President Kruger that troops would be sent to
prevent any invasion of territory under British protection, he
effectually crushed the "Banyailand trek" across the Limpopo (1890-91).
Loch, however, with the approval of the imperial government, concluded
in July-August 1890 a convention with President Kruger respecting
Swaziland, by which, while the Boers withdrew all claims to territory
north of the Transvaal, they were granted an outlet to the sea at Kosi
Bay on condition that the republic entered the South African Customs
Union. This convention was concluded after negotiations conducted with
President Kruger by J. H. Hofmeyr on behalf of the high commissioner,
and was made at a time when the British and Bond parties in Cape Colony
were working in harmony. The Transvaal did not, however, fulfil the
necessary condition, and in view of the increasingly hostile attitude of
the Pretoria administration to Great Britain Loch became a strong
advocate of the annexation by Britain of the territory east of
Swaziland, through which the Boer railway to the sea would have passed.
He at length induced the British government to adopt his view and on the
15th of March 1895 it was announced that these territories
(Amatongaland, &c.), would be annexed by Britain, an announcement
received by Mr Kruger "with the greatest astonishment and regret."
Meantime Loch had been forced to intervene in another matter. When the
commandeering difficulty of 1894 had roused the Uitlanders in the
Transvaal to a dangerous pitch of excitement, he travelled to Pretoria
to use his personal influence with President Kruger, and obtained the
withdrawal of the obnoxious commandeering regulations. In the following
year he entered a strong protest against the new Transvaal franchise
law. Meanwhile, however, the general situation in South Africa was
assuming year by year a more threatening aspect. Cecil Rhodes, then
prime minister of Cape Colony, was strongly in favour of a more
energetic policy than was supported by the Imperial government, and at
the end of March 1895 the high commissioner, finding himself, it is
believed, out of touch with his ministers, returned home a few months
before the expiry of his term of office. In the same year he was raised
to the peerage. When the Anglo-Boer war broke out in 1899 Loch took a
leading part in raising and equipping a body of mounted men, named after
him "Loch's Horse." He died in London on the 20th of June 1900, and was
succeeded as 2nd baron by his son Edward (b. 1873).
LOCHABER, a district of southern Inverness-shire, Scotland, bounded W.
by Loch Linnhe, the river and loch Lochy, N. by the Corryarrick range
and adjoining hills, N.E. and E. by the district of Badenoch, S.E. by
the district of Rannoch and S. by the river and loch Leven. It measures
32 m. from N.E. to S.W. and 25 m. from E. to W., and is remarkable for
wild and romantic scenery, Ben Nevis being the chief mountain. The
district has given its name to a celebrated type of axe, consisting of a
long shaft with a blade like a scythe and a large hook behind it, which,
according to Sir Walter Scott, was introduced into the Highlands and
Ireland from Scandinavia. It was the weapon of the old City Guard of
Edinburgh. The pathetic song of "Lochaber no more" was written by Allan
Ramsay.
LOCHES, a town in France, capital of an arrondissement in the department
of Indre-et-Loire, 29 m. S.E. of Tours by rail, on the left bank of the
Indre. Pop. (1906) 3751. The town, one of the most picturesque in
central France, lies at the foot of the rocky eminence on which stands
the castle of the Anjou family, surrounded by an outer wall 1¼ m. in
circumference, and consisting of the old collegiate church of St Ours,
the royal lodge and the donjon. The church of St Ours dates from the
10th to the 12th centuries; among its distinguishing features are the
huge stone pyramids surmounting the nave and the beautiful carving of
the west door. The royal lodge, built by Charles VII. and used as the
subprefecture, contains the tomb of Agnes Sorel and the oratory of Anne
of Brittany. The donjon includes, besides the ruined keep (12th
century), the Martelet, celebrated as the prison of Lodovico Sforza,
duke of Milan, who died there in 1508, and the Tour Ronde, built by
Louis XI. and containing the famous iron cages in which state prisoners,
including--according to a story now discredited--their inventor Cardinal
Balue, were confined. Loches has an hôtel-de-ville and several houses of
the Renaissance period. It has a tribunal of first instance, a communal
college and a training college. Liqueur-distilling and tanning are
carried on together with trade in farm-produce, wine, wood and
live-stock.
On the right bank of the Loire, opposite the town and practically its
suburb, is the village of Beaulieu-lès-Loches, once the seat of a
barony. Besides the parish church of St Laurent, a beautiful specimen of
12th-century architecture, it contains the remains of the great abbey
church of the Holy Sepulchre founded in the 11th century by Fulk Nerra,
count of Anjou, who is buried in the chancel. This chancel, which with
one of the older transepts now constitutes the church, dates from the
15th century. The Romanesque nave is in ruins, but of the two towers one
survives intact; it is square, crowned with an octagonal steeple of
stone, and is one of the finest extant monuments of Romanesque
architecture.