L a letter which was the twelfth letter of the Phoenician alphabet. It
has in its history passed through many changes of form, ending curiously
enough in its usual manuscript form with a shape almost identical with
that which it had about 900 B.C. ([symbol] L). As was the case with B
and some other letters the Greeks did not everywhere keep the symbol in
the position in which they had borrowed it [symbol]. This, which was its
oldest form in Attica and in the Chalcidian colonies of Italy, was the
form adopted by the Romans, who in time converted it into the rectangle
L, which passed from them to the nations of western Europe. In the Ionic
alphabet, however, from which the ordinary Greek alphabet is derived it
appeared as [symbol]. A still more common form in other parts of Greece
was [symbol], with the legs of unequal length. The editors of Herodotus
have not always recognized that the name of Labda, the mother of
Cypselus, in the story (v. 92) of the founding of the great family of
Corinthian despots, was derived from the fact that she was lame and so
suggested the form of the Corinthian [symbol]. Another form [symbol] or
[symbol] was practically confined to the west of Argolis. The name of
the Greek letter is ordinarily given as _Lambda_, but in Herodotus
(above) and in Athenaeus x. p. 453 _e_, where the names of the letters
are given, the best authenticated form is _Labda_. The Hebrew name,
which was probably identical with the Phoenician, is _Lamed_, which,
with a final vowel added as usual, would easily become _Lambda_, _b_
being inserted between m and another consonant. The pronunciation of _l_
varies a great deal according to the point at which the tongue makes
contact with the roof of the mouth. The contact, generally speaking, is
at the same point as for _d_, and this accounts for an interchange
between these sounds which occurs in various languages, e.g. in Latin
_lacrima_ from the same root as the Greek [Greek: dakru] and the English
_tear_. The change in Latin occurs in a very limited number of cases and
one explanation of their occurrence is that they are borrowed (Sabine)
words. In pronunciation the breath may be allowed to escape at one or
both sides of the tongue. In most languages _l_ is a fairly stable
sound. Orientals, however, have much difficulty in distinguishing
between _l_ and _r_. In Old Persian _l_ is found in only two foreign
words, and in Sanskrit different dialects employ _r_ and _l_ differently
in the same words. Otherwise, however, the interchanges between _r_ and
_l_ were somewhat exaggerated by the older philologists. Before other
consonants _l_ becomes silent in not a few languages, notably in French,
where it is replaced by _u_, and in English where it has occasionally
been restored in recent times, e.g. in _fault_ which earlier was spelt
without _l_ (as in French whence it was borrowed), and which Goldsmith
could still rhyme with _aught_. In the 15th century the Scottish dialect
of English dropped _l_ largely both before consonants and finally after
_a_ and _u_, _a'_ = all, _fa'_ = fall, _pu'_ = pull, _'oo'_ = wool,
_bulk_ pronounced like _book_, &c., while after _o_ it appears as _w_,
_row_ (pronounced _rau_) = roll, _know_ = knoll, &c. It is to be
observed that L = 50 does not come from this symbol, but was an
adaptation of [symbol], the western Greek form of [chi], which had no
corresponding sound in Latin and was therefore not included in the
ordinary alphabet. This symbol was first rounded into [symbol] and then
changed first to [symbol], and ultimately to L. (P. Gi.)
LAACHER SEE, a lake of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 5 m. W.
of Brohl on the Rhine, and N. of the village of Niedermendig. It
occupies what is supposed to be a crater of the Eifel volcanic
formation, and the pumice stone and basalt found in great quantities
around it lend credence to this theory. It lies 850 ft. above the sea,
is 5 m. in circumference and 160 ft. deep, and is surrounded by an
amphitheatre of high hills. The water is sky blue in colour, very cold
and bitter to the taste. The lake has no natural outlet and consequently
is subjected to a considerable rise and fall. On the western side lies
the Benedictine abbey of St Maria Laach (_Abballa Lacensis_) founded in
1093 by Henry II., count palatine of the Rhine. The abbey church, dating
from the 12th century, was restored in 1838. The history of the
monastery down to modern times appears to have been uneventful. In 1802
it was abolished and at the close of the Napoleonic wars it became a
Prussian state demesne. In 1863 it passed into the hands of the Jesuits,
who, down to their expulsion in 1873, published here a periodical, which
still appears, entitled _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_. In 1892 the monastery
was again occupied by the Benedictines.
LAAGER, a South African Dutch word (Dutch _leger_, Ger. _lager_,
connected with Eng. "lair") for a temporary defensive encampment, formed
by a circle of wagons. The English word is "leaguer," an armed camp,
especially that of a besieging or "beleaguering" army. The Ger. _lager_,
in the sense of "store," is familiar as the name of a light beer (see
BREWING).
LAAS, ERNST (1837-1885), German philosopher, was born on the 16th of
June 1837 at Fürstenwalde. He studied theology and philosophy under
Trendelenburg at Berlin, and eventually became professor of philosophy
in the new university of Strassburg. In _Kant's Analogien der Erfahrung_
(1876) he keenly criticized Kant's transcendentalism, and in his chief
work _Idealismus und Positivismus_ (3 vols., 1879-1884), he drew a
clear contrast between Platonism, from which he derived
transcendentalism, and positivism, of which he considered Protagoras the
founder. Laas in reality was a disciple of Hume. Throughout his
philosophy he endeavours to connect metaphysics with ethics and the
theory of education.
His chief educational works were _Der deutsche Aufsatz in den obern
Gymnasialklassen_ (1868; 3rd ed., part i., 1898, part ii, 1894), and
_Der deutsche Unterricht auf höhern Lehranstalten_ (1872; 2nd ed.
1886). He contributed largely to the _Vierteljahrsschr. f. wiss.
Philos._ (1880-1882); the _Litterarischer Nachlass_, a posthumous
collection, was published at Vienna (1887). See Hanisch, _Der
Positivismus von Ernst Laas_ (1902); Gjurits, _Die Erkenntnistheorie
des Ernst Laas_ (1903); Falckenberg, _Hist. of Mod. Philos._ (Eng.
trans., 1895).
LA BADIE, JEAN DE (1610-1674), French divine, founder of the school
known as the Labadists, was born at Bourg, not far from Bordeaux, on the
13th of February 1610, being the son of Jean Charles de la Badie,
governor of Guienne. He was sent to the Jesuit school at Bordeaux, and
when fifteen entered the Jesuit college there. In 1626 he began to study
philosophy and theology. He was led to hold somewhat extreme views about
the efficacy of prayer and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit upon
believers, and adopted Augustinian views about grace, free will and
predestination, which brought him into collision with his order. He
therefore separated from the Jesuits, and then became a preacher to the
people, carrying on this work in Bordeaux, Paris and Amiens. At Amiens
in 1640 he was appointed a canon and teacher of theology. The hostility
of Cardinal Mazarin, however, forced him to retire to the Carmelite
hermitage at Graville. A study of Calvin's _Institutes_ showed him that
he had more in common with the Reformed than with the Roman Catholic
Church, and after various adventures he joined the Reformed Church of
France and became professor of theology at Montauban in 1650. His
reasons for doing so he published in the same year in his _Déclaration
de Jean de la Badie_. His accession to the ranks of the Protestants was
deemed a great triumph; no such man since Calvin himself, it was said,
had left the Roman Catholic Church. He was called to the pastorate of
the church at Orange on the Rhone in 1657, and at once became noted for
his severity of discipline. He set his face zealously against dancing,
card-playing and worldly entertainments. The unsettled state of the
country, recently annexed to France, compelled him to leave Orange, and
in 1659 he became a pastor in Geneva. He then accepted a call to the
French church in London, but after various wanderings settled at
Middelburg, where he was pastor to the French-speaking congregation at a
Walloon church. His peculiar opinions were by this time (1666) well
known, and he and his congregation found themselves in conflict with the
ecclesiastical authorities. The result was that la Badie and his
followers established a separate church in a neighbouring town. In 1669
he moved to Amsterdam. He had enthusiastic disciples, Pierre Yvon
(1646-1707) at Montauban, Pierre Dulignon (d. 1679), François Menuret
(d. 1670), Theodor Untereyk (d. 1693), F. Spanheim (1632-1701), and,
more important than any, Anna Maria v. Schürman (1607-1678), whose book
_Eucleria_ is perhaps the best exposition of the tenets of her master.
At the head of his separatist congregation, la Badie developed his views
for a reformation of the Reformed Churches: the church is a communion of
holy people who have been born again from sin; baptism is the sign and
seal of this regeneration, and is to be administered only to believers;
the Holy Spirit guides the regenerate into all truth, and the church
possesses throughout all time those gifts of prophecy which it had in
the ancient days; the community at Jerusalem is the continual type of
every Christian congregation, therefore there should be a community of
goods, the disciples should live together, eat together, dance together;
marriage is a holy ordinance between two believers, and the children of
the regenerate are born without original sin, marriage with an
unregenerate person is not binding. They did not observe the Sabbath,
because--so they said--their life was a continual Sabbath. The life and
separatism of the community brought them into frequent collision with
their neighbours and with the magistrates, and in 1670 they accepted
Society is in Miss Edith Sichel's _Women and Men of the French
Renaissance_ (1901). See also J. Favre, _Olivier de Magny_ (1885).
LABEL (a French word, now represented by _lambeau_, possibly a variant;
it is of obscure origin and may be connected with a Teutonic word
appearing in the English "lap," a flap or fold), a slip, ticket, or card
of paper, metal or other material, attached to an object, such as a
parcel, bottle, &c., and containing a name, address, description or
other information, for the purpose of identification. Originally the
word meant a band or ribbon of linen or other material, and was thus
applied to the fillets (_infulae_) attached to a bishop's mitre. In
heraldry the "label" is a mark of "cadency."
In architecture the term "label" is applied to the outer projecting
moulding over doors, windows, arches, &c., sometimes called "Dripstone"
or "Weather Moulding," or "Hood Mould." The former terms seem scarcely
applicable, as this moulding is often inside a building where no rain
could come, and consequently there is no drip. In Norman times the label
frequently did not project, and when it did it was very little, and
formed part of the series of arch mouldings. In the Early English styles
they were not very large, sometimes slightly undercut, sometimes deeply,
sometimes a quarter round with chamfer, and very frequently a "roll" or
"scroll-moulding," so called because it resembles the part of a scroll
where the edge laps over the body of the roll. Labels generally resemble
the string-courses of the period, and, in fact, often return
horizontally and form strings. They are less common in Continental
architecture than in English.
LABEO, MARCUS ANTISTIUS (c. 50 B.C.-A.D. 18), Roman jurist, was the son
of Pacuvius Antistius Labeo, a jurist who caused himself to be slain
after the defeat of his party at Philippi. A member of the plebeian
nobility, and in easy circumstances, the younger Labeo early entered
public life, and soon rose to the praetorship; but his undisguised
antipathy to the new régime, and the somewhat brusque manner in which in
the senate he occasionally gave expression to his republican
sympathies--what Tacitus (_Ann._ iii. 75) calls his _incorrupta
libertas_--proved an obstacle to his advancement, and his rival, Ateius
Capito, who had unreservedly given in his adhesion to the ruling powers,
was promoted by Augustus to the consulate, when the appointment should
have fallen to Labeo; smarting under the wrong done him, Labeo declined
the office when it was offered to him in a subsequent year (Tac. _Ann._
iii. 75; Pompon, in fr. 47, _Dig._ i. 2). From this time he seems to
have devoted his whole time to jurisprudence. His training in the
science had been derived principally from Trebatius Testa. To his
knowledge of the law he added a wide general culture, devoting his
attention specially to dialectics, philology (_grammatica_), and
antiquities, as valuable aids in the exposition, expansion, and
application of legal doctrine (Gell. xiii. 10). Down to the time of
Hadrian his was probably the name of greatest authority; and several of
his works were abridged and annotated by later hands. While Capito is
hardly ever referred to, the dicta of Labeo are of constant recurrence
in the writings of the classical jurists, such as Gaius, Ulpian and
Paul; and no inconsiderable number of them were thought worthy of
preservation in Justinian's _Digest_. Labeo gets the credit of being the
founder of the Proculian sect or school, while Capito is spoken of as
the founder of the rival Sabinian one (Pomponius in fr. 47, _Dig._ i.
2); but it is probable that the real founders of the two _scholae_ were
Proculus and Sabinus, followers respectively of the methods of Labeo and
Capito.
Labeo's most important literary work was the _Libri Posteriorum_, so
called because published only after his death. It contained a
systematic exposition of the common law. His _Libri ad Edictum_
embraced a commentary, not only on the edicts of the urban and
peregrine praetors, but also on that of the curule aediles. His
_Probabilium_ ([Greek: pithanôn]) _lib. VIII._, a collection of
definitions and axiomatic legal propositions, seems to have been one
of his most characteristic productions.
See van Eck, "De vita, moribus, et studiis M. Ant. Labeonis"
(Franeker, 1692), in Oelrichs's _Thes. nov._, vol. i.; Mascovius, _De
sectis Sabinianor. et Proculianor._ (1728); Pernice, _M. Antistius
Labeo. Das röm. Privatrecht im ersten Jahrhunderte der Kaizerzeit_
(Halle, 1873-1892).
LABERIUS, DECIMUS (c. 105-43 B.C.), Roman knight and writer of mimes. He
seems to have been a man of caustic wit, who wrote for his own pleasure.
In 45 Julius Caesar ordered him to appear in one of his own mimes in a
public contest with the actor Publilius Syrus. Laberius pronounced a
dignified prologue on the degradation thus thrust on his sixty years,
and directed several sharp allusions against the dictator. Caesar
awarded the victory to Publilius, but restored Laberius to his
equestrian rank, which he had forfeited by appearing as a mimus
(Macrobius, _Sat._ ii. 7). Laberius was the chief of those who
introduced the mimus into Latin literature towards the close of the
republican period. He seems to have been a man of learning and culture,
but his pieces did not escape the coarseness inherent to the class of
literature to which they belonged; and Aulus Gellius (xvi. 7, 1) accuses
him of extravagance in the coining of new words. Horace (_Sat._ i. 10)
speaks of him in terms of qualified praise.
In addition to the prologue (in Macrobius), the titles of forty-four
of his mimi have been preserved; the fragments have been collected by
O. Ribbeck in his _Comicorum Latinorum reliquiae_ (1873).
LABIATAE (i.e. "lipped," Lat. _labium_, lip), in botany, a natural order
of seed-plants belonging to the series Tubiflorae of the dicotyledons,
and containing about 150 genera with 2800 species. The majority are
annual or perennial herbs inhabiting the temperate zone, becoming
shrubby in warmer climates. The stem is generally square in section and
the simple exstipulate leaves are arranged in decussating pairs (i.e.
each pair is in a plane at right angles to that of the pairs immediately
above and below it); the blade is entire, or toothed, lobed or more or
less deeply cut. The plant is often hairy, and the hairs are frequently
glandular, the secretion containing a scent characteristic of the genus
or species. The flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves or bracts;
they are rarely solitary as in _Scutellaria_ (skull-cap), and generally
form an apparent whorl (_verticillaster_) at the node, consisting of a
pair of cymose inflorescences each of which is a simple three-flowered
dichasium as in _Brunella_, _Salvia_, &c., or more generally a dichasium
passing over into a pair of monochasial cymes as in _Lamium_ (fig. 1),
_Ballota_, _Nepeta_, &c. A number of whorls may be crowded at the apex
of the stem and the subtending leaves reduced to small bracts, the whole
forming a raceme- or spike-like inflorescence as in _Mentha_ (fig. 2, 5)
_Brunella_, &c.; the bracts are sometimes large and coloured as in
_Monarda_, species of _Salvia_, &c., in the latter the apex of the stem
is sometimes occupied with a cluster of sterile coloured bracts. The
plan of the flower is remarkably uniform (fig. 1, 3); it is bisexual,
and zygomorphic in the median plane, with 5 sepals united to form a
persistent cup-like calyx, 5 petals united to form a two-lipped gaping
corolla, 4 stamens inserted on the corolla-tube, two of which, generally
the anterior pair, are longer than the other two (didynamous
arrangement)--sometimes as in _Salvia_, the posterior pair is
aborted--and two superior median carpels, each very early divided by a
constriction in a vertical plane, the pistil consisting of four cells
each containing one erect anatropous ovule attached to the base of an
axile placenta; the style springs from the centre of the pistil between
the four segments (_gynobasic_), and is simple with a bifid apex. The
fruit comprises four one-seeded nutlets included in the persistent
calyx; the seed has a thin testa and the embryo almost or completely
fills it. Although the general form and plan of arrangement of the
flower is very uniform, there are wide variations in detail. Thus the
calyx may be tubular, bell-shaped, or almost spherical, or straight or
bent, and the length and form of the teeth or lobes varies also; it may
be equally toothed as in mint (_Mentha_) (fig. 2, 3), and marjoram
(_Origanum_), or two-lipped as in thyme (_Thymus_), _Lamium_ (fig. 1)
and _Salvia_ (fig. 2, 1); the number of nerves affords useful characters
for distinction of genera, there are normally five main nerves between
which simple or forked secondary nerves are more or less developed. The
shape of the corolla varies widely, the differences being doubtless
intimately associated with the pollination of the flowers by
insect-agency. The tube is straight or variously bent and often widens
towards the mouth. Occasionally the limb is equally five-toothed, or
forms, as in _Mentha_ (fig. 2, 3, 4) an almost regular four-toothed
corolla by union of the two posterior teeth. Usually it is two-lipped,
the upper lip being formed by the two posterior, the lower lip by the
three anterior petals (see fig. 1, and fig. 2, 1, 6); the median lobe of
the lower lip is generally most developed and forms a resting-place for
the bee or other insect when probing the flower for honey, the upper lip
shows great variety in form, often, as in _Lamium_ (fig. 1), _Stachys_,
&c., it is arched forming a protection from rain for the stamens, or it
may be flat as in thyme. In the tribe _Ocimoideae_ the four upper petals
form the upper lip, and the single anterior one the lower lip, and in
_Teucrium_ the upper lip is absent, all five lobes being pushed forward
to form the lower. The posterior stamen is sometimes present as a
staminode, but generally suppressed; the upper pair are often reduced to
staminodes or more or less completely suppressed as in _Salvia_ (fig. 2,
2, 6); rarely are these developed and the anterior pair reduced. In
_Coleus_ the stamens are monadelphous. In _Nepeta_ and allied genera the
posterior pair are the longer, but this is rare, the didynamous
character being generally the result of the anterior pair being the
longer. The anthers are two-celled, each cell splitting lengthwise; the
connective may be more or less developed between the cells; an extreme
case is seen in _Salvia_ (fig. 2, 2), where the connective is filiform
and jointed to the filament, while the anterior anther-cell is reduced
to a sterile appendage. Honey is secreted by a hypogynous disk. In the
more general type of flower the anthers and stigmas are protected by the
arching upper lip as in dead-nettle (fig. 1) and many other British
genera; the lower lip affords a resting-place for the insect which in
probing the flower for the honey, secreted on the lower side of the
disk, collects pollen on its back. Numerous variations in detail are
found in the different genera; in _Salvia_ (fig. 2), for instance, there
is a lever mechanism, the barren half of each anther forming a knob at
the end of a short arm which when touched by the head of an insect
causes the anther at the end of the longer arm to descend on the
insect's back. In the less common type, where the anterior part of the
flower is more developed, as in the _Ocimoideae_, the stamens and style
lie on the under lip and honey is secreted on the upper side of the
hypogynous disk; the insect in probing the flower gets smeared with
pollen on its belly and legs. Both types include brightly-coloured
flowers with longer tubes adapted to the visits of butterflies and
moths, as species of _Salvia_, _Stachys_, _Monarda_, &c.; some South
American species of _Salvia_ are pollinated by humming-birds. In
_Mentha_ (fig. 2, 3), thyme, marjoram (_Origanum_), and allied genera,
the flowers are nearly regular and the stamens spread beyond the
corolla.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Flowering Shoot of Dead-nettle (_Lamium album_).
1, Flower cut lengthwise, enlarged; 2 calyx, enlarged; 3, floral
diagram.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--1, Flower of Sage (_Salvia officinalis_); 2,
Corolla of same cut open showing the two stamens; 3, flower of spearmint
(_Mentha viridis_); 4, corolla of same cut open showing stamens; 5,
flowering shoot of same, reduced; 6, floral diagram of _Salvia_.]
The persistent calyx encloses the ripe nutlets, and aids in their
distribution in various ways, by means of winged spiny or hairy lobes or
teeth; sometimes it forms a swollen bladder. A scanty endosperm is
sometimes present in the seed; the embryo is generally parallel to the
fruit axis with a short inferior radicle and generally flat cotyledons.
The order occurs in all warm and temperate regions; its chief centre
is the Mediterranean region, where some genera such as _Lavandula_,
_Thymus_, _Rosmarinus_ and others form an important feature in the
vegetation. The tribe _Ocimoideae_ is exclusively tropical and
subtropical and occurs in both hemispheres. The order is well
represented in Britain by seventeen native genera; _Mentha_ (mint)
including also _M. piperita_ (peppermint) and _M. Pulegium_
(pennyroyal); _Origanum vulgare_ (marjoram); _Thymus Serpyllum_
(thyme); _Calamintha_ (calamint), including also _C. Clinopodium_
(wild basil) and _C. Acinos_ (basil thyme); _Salvia_ (sage), including
_S. Verbenaca_ (clary); _Nepeta Cataria_ (catmint), _N. Glechoma_
(ground-ivy); _Brunella_ (self-heal); _Scutellaria_ (skull-cap);
_Stachys (woundwort); _S. Betonica_ is wood betony; _Galeopsis_
(hemp-nettle); Lamium_ (dead-nettle); _Ballota_ (black horehound);
_Teucrium_ (germander); and _Ajuga_ (bugle).
Labiatae are readily distinguished from all other orders of the series
excepting Verbenaceae, in which, however, the style is terminal; but
several genera, e.g. _Ajuga_, _Teucrium_ and _Rosmarinus_, approach
Verbenaceae in this respect, and in some genera of that order the
style is more or less sunk between the ovary lobes. The
fruit-character indicates an affinity with Boraginaceae from which,
however, they differ in habit and by characters of ovule and embryo.
The presence of volatile oil renders many genera of economic use, such
are thyme, marjoram (_Origanum_), sage (_Salvia_), lavender
(_Lavandula_), rosemary (_Rosmarinus_), patchouli (_Pogostemon_). The
tubers of _Stachys Sieboldi_ are eaten in France.
LABICANA, VIA, an ancient highroad of Italy, leading E.S.E. from Rome.
It seems possible that the road at first led to Tusculum, that it was
then prolonged to Labici, and later still became a road for through
traffic; it may even have superseded the Via Latina as a route to the
S.E., for, while the distance from Rome to their main junction at Ad
Bivium (or to another junction at Compitum Anagninum) is practically
identical, the summit level of the former is 725 ft. lower than that of
the latter, a little to the west of the pass of Algidus. After their
junction it is probable that the road bore the name Via Latina rather
than Via Labicana. The course of the road after the first six miles from
Rome is not identical with that of any modern road, but can be clearly
traced by remains of pavement and buildings along its course.
See T. Ashby in _Papers of the British School at Rome_, i. 215 sqq.
(T. As.)
LABICHE, EUGÈNE MARIN (1815-1888), French dramatist, was born on the 5th
of May 1815, of _bourgeois_ parentage. He read for the bar, but
literature had more powerful attractions, and he was hardly twenty when
he gave to the _Chérubin_--an impertinent little magazine, long vanished
and forgotten--a short story, entitled, in the cavalier style of the
period, _Les plus belles sont les plus fausses_. A few others followed
much in the same strain, but failed to catch the attention of the
public. He tried his hand at dramatic criticism in the _Revue des
théâtres_, and in 1838 made a double venture on the stage. The small
Théâtre du Panthéon produced, amid some signs of popular favour, a drama
of his, _L'Avocat Loubet_, while a vaudeville, _Monsieur de Coislin ou
l'homme infiniment poli_, written in collaboration with Marc Michel, and
given at the Palais Royal, introduced for the first time to the
Parisians a provincial actor who was to become and to remain a great
favourite with them, Grassot, the famous low comedian. In the same year
Labiche, still doubtful about his true vocation, published a romance
called _La Clé des champs_. M. Léon Halévy, his successor at the Academy
and his panegyrist, informs us that the publisher became a bankrupt soon
after the novel was out. "A lucky misadventure, for," the biographer
concludes, "this timely warning of Destiny sent him back to the stage,
where a career of success was awaiting him." There was yet another
obstacle in the way. When he married, he solemnly promised his wife's
parents that he would renounce a profession then considered incompatible
with moral regularity and domestic happiness. But a year afterwards his
wife spontaneously released him from his vow, and Labiche recalled the
incident when he dedicated the first edition of his complete works: "To
my wife." Labiche, in conjunction with Varin,[1] Marc Michel,[2]
Clairville,[3] Dumanoir,[4] and others contributed comic plays
interspersed with couplets to various Paris theatres. The series
culminated in the memorable farce in five acts, _Un Chapeau de paille
d'Italie_ (August 1851). It remains an accomplished specimen of the
French _imbroglio_, in which some one is in search of something, but
does not find it till five minutes before the curtain falls. Prior to
that date Labiche had been only a successful _vaudevilliste_ among a
crowd of others; but a twelvemonth later he made a new departure in _Le
Misanthrope et l'Auvergnat_. All the plays given for the next
twenty-five years, although constructed on the old plan, contained a
more or less appreciable dose of that comic observation and good sense
which gradually raised the French farce almost to the level of the
comedy of character and manners. "Of all the subjects," he said, "which
offered themselves to me, I have selected the _bourgeois_. Essentially
mediocre in his vices and in his virtues, he stands half-way between the
hero and the scoundrel, between the saint and the profligate." During
the second period of his career Labiche had the collaboration of
Delacour,[5] Choler,[6] and others. When it is asked what share in the
authorship and success of the plays may be claimed for those men, we
shall answer in Émile Augier's words: "The distinctive qualities which
secured a lasting vogue for the plays of Labiche are to be found in all
the comedies written by him with different collaborators, and are
conspicuously absent from those which they wrote without him." A more
useful and more important collaborator he found in Jean Marie Michel
Geoffroy (1813-1883) whom he had known as a _débutant_ in his younger
days, and who remained his faithful interpreter to the last. Geoffroy
impersonated the _bourgeois_ not only to the public, but to the author
himself; and it may be assumed that Labiche, when writing, could see and
hear Geoffroy acting the character and uttering, in his pompous, fussy
way, the words that he had just committed to paper. _Célimare le
bien-aimé_ (1863), _Le Voyage de M. Perrichon_ (1860), _La Grammaire_,
_Un Pied dans le crime_, _La Cagnotte_ (1864), may be quoted as the
happiest productions of Labiche.
In 1877 he brought his connexion with the stage to a close, and retired
to his rural property in Sologne. There he could be seen, dressed as a
farmer, with low-brimmed hat, thick gaiters and an enormous stick,
superintending the agricultural work and busily engaged in reclaiming
land and marshes. His lifelong friend, Augier, visited him in his
principality, and, being left alone in the library, took to reading his
host's dramatic productions, scattered here and there in the shape of
theatrical _brochures_. He strongly advised Labiche to publish a
collected and revised edition of his works. The suggestion, first
declined as a joke and long resisted, was finally accepted and carried
into effect. Labiche's comic plays, in ten volumes, were issued during
1878 and 1879. The success was even greater than had been expected by
the author's most sanguine friends. It had been commonly believed that
these plays owed their popularity in great measure to the favourite
actors who had appeared in them; but it was now discovered that all,
with the exception of Geoffroy, had introduced into them a grotesque and
caricatural element, thus hiding from the spectator, in many cases, the
true comic vein and delightful delineation of human character. The
amazement turned into admiration, and the _engouement_ became so general
that very few dared grumble or appear scandalized when, in 1880, Labiche
was elected to the French Academy. It was fortunate that, in former
years, he had never dreamt of attaining this high distinction; for, as
M. Pailleron justly observed, while trying to get rid of the little
faults which were in him, he would have been in danger of losing some of
his sterling qualities. But when the honour was bestowed upon him, he
enjoyed it with his usual good sense and quiet modesty. He died in Paris
on the 23rd of January 1888.
Some foolish admirers have placed him on a level with Molière, but it
will be enough to say that he was something better than a public
_amuseur_. Many of his plays have been transferred to the English stage.
They are, on the whole, as sound as they are entertaining. Love is
practically absent from his theatre. In none of his plays did he ever
venture into the depths of feminine psychology, and womankind is only
represented in them by pretentious old maids and silly, insipid, almost
dumb, young ladies. He ridiculed marriage according to the invariable
custom of French playwrights, but in a friendly and good-natured manner
which always left a door open to repentance and timely amendment. He is
never coarse, never suggestive. After he died the French farce, which he
had raised to something akin to literature, relapsed into its former
grossness and unmeaning complexity. (A. Fi.)
His _Théâtre complet_ (10 vols., 1878-1879) contains a preface by
Émile Augier.