[1] H. F. Blandford, _Climate and Weather of India_ (London, 1889).
LADD, GEORGE TRUMBULL (1842- ), American philosopher, was born in
Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, on the 19th of January 1842. He
graduated at Western Reserve College in 1864 and at Andover Theological
Seminary in 1869; preached in Edinburg, Ohio, in 1869-1871, and in the
Spring Street Congregational Church of Milwaukee in 1871-1879; and was
professor of philosophy at Bowdoin College in 1879-1881, and Clark
professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy at Yale from 1881 till
1901, when he took charge of the graduate department of philosophy and
psychology; he became professor emeritus in 1905. In 1879-1882 he
lectured on theology at Andover Theological Seminary, and in 1883 at
Harvard, where in 1895-1896 he conducted a graduate seminary in ethics.
He lectured in Japan in 1892, 1899 (when he also visited the
universities of India) and 1906-1907. He was much influenced by Lotze,
whose _Outlines of Philosophy_ he translated (6 vols., 1877), and was
one of the first to introduce (1879) the study of experimental
psychology into America, the Yale psychological laboratory being founded
by him.
PUBLICATIONS.--_The Principles of Church Polity_ (1882); _The Doctrine
of Sacred Scripture_ (1884); _What is the Bible?_ (1888); _Essays on
the Higher Education_ (1899), defending the "old" (Yale) system
against the Harvard or "new" education, as praised by George H.
Palmer; _Elements of Physiological Psychology_ (1889, rewritten as
_Outlines of Physiological Psychology_, in 1890); _Primer of
Psychology_ (1894); _Psychology, Descriptive and Explanatory_ (1894);
and _Outlines of Descriptive Psychology_ (1898); in a "system of
philosophy," _Philosophy of the Mind_ (1891); _Philosophy of
Knowledge_ (1897); _A Theory of Reality_ (1899); _Philosophy of
Conduct_ (1902); and _Philosophy of Religion_ (2 vols., 1905); _In
Korea with Marquis Ito_ (1908); and _Knowledge, Life and Reality_
(1909).
LADDER, (O. Eng. _hlaeder_; of Teutonic origin, cf. Dutch _leer_, Ger.
_Leiter_; the ultimate origin is in the root seen in "lean," Gr. [Greek:
klimax]), a set of steps or "rungs" between two supports to enable one
to get up and down; usually made of wood and sometimes of metal or rope.
Ladders are generally movable, and differ from a staircase also in
having only treads and no "risers." The term "Jacob's ladder," taken
from the dream of Jacob in the Bible, is applied to a rope ladder with
wooden steps used at sea to go aloft, and to a common garden plant of
the genus _Polemonium_ on account of the ladder-like formation of the
leaves. The flower known in England as Solomon's seal is in some
countries called the "ladder of heaven."
LADING (from "to lade," O. Eng. _hladan_, to put cargo on board; cf.
"load"), BILL OF, the document given as receipt by the master of a
merchant vessel to the consignor of goods, as a guarantee for their safe
delivery to the consignee. (See AFFREIGHTMENT.)
LADISLAUS I, Saint (1040-1095), king of Hungary, the son of Béla I.,
king of Hungary, and the Polish princess Richeza, was born in Poland,
whither his father had sought refuge, but was recalled by his elder
brother Andrew I. to Hungary (1047) and brought up there. He succeeded
to the throne on the death of his uncle Geza in 1077, as the eldest
member of the royal family, and speedily won for himself a reputation
scarcely inferior to that of Stephen I., by nationalizing Christianity
and laying the foundations of Hungary's political greatness.
Instinctively recognizing that Germany was the natural enemy of the
Magyars, Ladislaus formed a close alliance with the pope and all the
other enemies of the emperor Henry IV., including the anti-emperor
Rudolph of Swabia and his chief supporter Welf, duke of Bavaria, whose
daughter Adelaide he married. She bore him one son and three daughters,
one of whom, Piriska, married the Byzantine emperor John Comnenus. The
collapse of the German emperor in his struggle with the pope left
Ladislaus free to extend his dominions towards the south, and colonize
and Christianize the wildernesses of Transylvania and the lower Danube.
Hungary was still semi-savage, and her native barbarians were being
perpetually recruited from the hordes of Pechenegs, Kumanians and other
races which swept over her during the 11th century. Ladislaus himself
had fought valiantly in his youth against the Pechenegs, and to defend
the land against the Kumanians, who now occupied Moldavia and Wallachia
as far as the Alt, he built the fortresses of Turnu-Severin and Gyula
Féhervár. He also planted in Transylvania the Szeklers, the supposed
remnant of the ancient Magyars from beyond the Dnieper, and founded the
bishoprics of Nagy-Várad, or Gross-Wardein, and of Agram, as fresh foci
of Catholicism in south Hungary and the hitherto uncultivated districts
between the Drave and the Save. He subsequently conquered Croatia,
though here his authority was questioned by the pope, the Venetian
republic and the Greek emperor. Ladislaus died suddenly in 1095 when
about to take part in the first Crusade. No other Hungarian king was so
generally beloved. The whole nation mourned for him for three years, and
regarded him as a saint long before his canonization. A whole cycle of
legends is associated with his name.
See J. Babik, _Life of St Ladislaus_ (Hung.) (Eger, 1892); György
Pray, _Dissertatio de St Ladislao_ (Pressburg, 1774); Antál Gánóczy,
_Diss. hist. crit. de St Ladislao_ (Vienna, 1775). (R. N. B.)
LADISLAUS IV., The Kumanian (1262-1290), king of Hungary, was the son of
Stephen V., whom he succeeded in 1272. From his tenth year, when he was
kidnapped from his father's court by the rebellious vassals, till his
assassination eighteen years later, his whole life, with one bright
interval of military glory was unrelieved tragedy. His minority,
1272-1277, was an alternation of palace revolutions and civil wars, in
the course of which his brave Kumanian mother Elizabeth barely contrived
to keep the upper hand. In this terrible school Ladislaus matured
precociously. At fifteen he was a man, resolute, spirited, enterprising,
with the germs of many talents and virtues, but rough, reckless and very
imperfectly educated. He was married betimes to Elizabeth of Anjou, who
had been brought up at the Hungarian court. The marriage was a purely
political one, arranged by his father and a section of the Hungarian
magnates to counterpoise hostile German and Czech influences. During
the earlier part of his reign, Ladislaus obsequiously followed the
direction of the Neapolitan court in foreign affairs. In Hungary itself
a large party was in favour of the Germans, but the civil wars which
raged between the two factions from 1276 to 1278 did not prevent
Ladislaus, at the head of 20,000 Magyars and Kumanians, from
co-operating with Rudolph of Habsburg in the great battle of Durnkrüt
(August 26th, 1278), which destroyed, once for all, the empire of the
Premyslidae. A month later a papal legate arrived in Hungary to inquire
into the conduct of the king, who was accused by his neighbours, and
many of his own subjects, of adopting the ways of his Kumanian kinsfolk
and thereby undermining Christianity. Ladislaus was not really a pagan,
or he would not have devoted his share of the spoil of Durnkrüt to the
building of the Franciscan church at Pressburg, nor would he have
venerated as he did his aunt St Margaret. Political enmity was largely
responsible for the movement against him, yet the result of a very
careful investigation (1279-1281) by Philip, bishop of Fermo, more than
justified many of the accusations brought against Ladislaus. He clearly
preferred the society of the semi-heathen Kumanians to that of the
Christians; wore, and made his court wear, Kumanian dress; surrounded
himself with Kumanian concubines, and neglected and ill-used his
ill-favoured Neapolitan consort. He was finally compelled to take up
arms against his Kumanian friends, whom he routed at Hodmézö (May 1282)
with fearful loss; but, previously to this, he had arrested the legate,
whom he subsequently attempted to starve into submission, and his
conduct generally was regarded as so unsatisfactory that, after repeated
warnings, the Holy See resolved to supersede him by his Angevin
kinsfolk, whom he had also alienated, and on the 8th of August 1288 Pope
Nicholas IV. proclaimed a crusade against him. For the next two years
all Hungary was convulsed by a horrible civil war, during which the
unhappy young king, who fought for his heritage to the last with
desperate valour, was driven from one end of his kingdom to the other
like a hunted beast. On the 25th of December 1289 he issued a manifesto
to the lesser gentry, a large portion of whom sided with him, urging
them to continue the struggle against the magnates and their foreign
supporters; but on the 10th of July 1290 he was murdered in his camp at
Korosszeg by the Kumanians, who never forgave him for deserting them.
See Karoly Szabó, _Ladislaus the Cumanian_ (Hung.), (Budapest, 1886);
and Acsády, _History of the Hungarian Realm_, i. 2 (Budapest, 1903).
The latter is, however, too favourable to Ladislaus. (R. N. B.)
LADISLAUS V. (1440-1457), king of Hungary and Bohemia, the only son of
Albert, king of Hungary, and Elizabeth, daughter of the emperor
Sigismund, was born at Komárom on the 22nd of February 1440, four months
after his father's death, and was hence called Ladislaus Posthumus. The
estates of Hungary had already elected Wladislaus III. of Poland their
king, but Ladislaus's mother caused the holy crown to be stolen from its
guardians at Visegrad, and compelled the primate to crown the infant
king at Székesfejérvár on the 15th of May 1440; whereupon, for safety's
sake, she placed the child beneath the guardianship of his uncle the
emperor Frederick III. On the death of Wladislaus III. (Nov. 10th,
1444), Ladislaus V. was elected king by the Hungarian estates, though
not without considerable opposition, and a deputation was sent to Vienna
to induce the emperor to surrender the child and the holy crown; but it
was not till 1452 that Frederick was compelled to relinquish both. The
child was then transferred to the pernicious guardianship of his
maternal grandfather Ulrich Cillei, who corrupted him soul and body and
inspired him with a jealous hatred of the Hunyadis. On the 28th of
October 1453 he was crowned king of Bohemia, and henceforth spent most
of his time at Prague and Vienna. He remained supinely indifferent to
the Turkish peril; at the instigation of Cillei did his best to hinder
the defensive preparations of the great Hunyadi, and fled from the
country on the tidings of the siege of Belgrade. On the death of Hunyadi
he made Cillei governor of Hungary at the diet of Futtak (October 1456),
and when that traitor paid with his life for his murderous attempt on
Laszló Hunyadi at Belgrade, Ladislaus procured the decapitation of young
Hunyadi (16th of March 1457), after a mock trial which raised such a
storm in Hungary that the king fled to Prague, where he died suddenly
(Nov. 23rd, 1457), while making preparations for his marriage with
Magdalena, daughter of Charles VII. of France. He is supposed to have
been poisoned by his political opponents in Bohemia.
See F. Palacky, _Zeugenverhör über den Tod König Ladislaus von Ungarn
u. Böhmen_ (Prague, 1856); Ignacz Acsády, _History of the Hungarian
State_ (Hung.), vol. i. (Budapest, 1903).
LA DIXMERIE, NICOLAS BRICAIRE DE (c. 1730-1791), French man of letters,
was born at Lamothe (Haute-Marne). While still young he removed to
Paris, where the rest of his life was spent in literary activity. He
died on the 26th of November 1791. His numerous works include _Contes
philosophiques et moraux_ (1765), _Les Deux Âges du goût et du génie
sous Louis XIV. et sous Louis XV._ (1769), a parallel and contrast, in
which the decision is given in favour of the latter; _L'Espagne
littéraire_ (1774); _Éloge de Voltaire_ (1779) and _Éloge de Montaigne_
(1781).
LADO ENCLAVE, a region of the upper Nile formerly administered by the
Congo Free State, but since 1910 a province of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
It has an area of about 15,000 sq. m., and a population estimated at
250,000 and consisting of Bari, Madi, Kuku and other Nilotic Negroes.
The enclave is bounded S.E. by the north-west shores of Albert
Nyanza--as far south as the port of Mahagi--E. by the western bank of
the Nile (Bahr-el-Jebel) to the point where the river is intersected by
5° 30´ N., which parallel forms its northern frontier from the Nile
westward to 30° E. This meridian forms the west frontier to 4° N., the
frontier thence being the Nile-Congo watershed to the point nearest to
Mahagi and from that point direct to Albert Nyanza.
The country is a moderately elevated plateau sloping northward from the
higher ground marking the Congo-Nile watershed. The plains are mostly
covered with bush, with stretches of forest in the northern districts.
Traversing the plateau are two parallel mountainous chains having a
general north to south direction. One chain, the Kuku Mountains (average
height 2000 ft.), approaches close to the Nile and presents, as seen
from the river, several apparently isolated peaks. At other places these
mountains form precipices which stretch in a continuous line like a huge
wall. From Dufile in 3° 34´ N. to below the Bedden Rapids in 4° 40´ N.
the bed of the Nile is much obstructed and the river throughout this
reach is unnavigable (see Nile). Below the Bedden Rapids rises the
conical hill of Rejaf, and north of that point the Nile valley becomes
flat. Ranges of hill, however, are visible farther westwards, and a
little north of 5° N. is Jebel Lado, a conspicuous mountain 2500 ft.
high and some 12 m. distant from the Nile. It has given its name to the
district, being the first hill seen from the Nile in the ascent of some
1000 m. from Khartum. On the river at Rejaf, at Lado, and at Kiro, 28 m.
N. of Lado, are government stations and trading establishments. The
western chain of hills has loftier peaks than those of Kuku, Jebel Loka
being about 3000 ft. high. This western chain forms a secondary
watershed separating the basin of the Yei, a large river, some 400 m. in
length, which runs almost due north to join the Nile, from the other
streams of the enclave, which have an easterly or north-easterly
direction and join the Nile after comparatively short courses.
The northern part of the district was first visited by Europeans in
1841-1842, when the Nile was ascended by an expedition despatched by
Mehemet Ali to the foot of the rapids at Bedden. The neighbouring posts
of Gondokoro, on the east bank of the Nile, and Lado, soon became
stations of the Khartum ivory and slave traders. After the discovery of
Albert Nyanza by Sir Samuel Baker in 1864, the whole country was overrun
by Arabs, Levantines, Turks and others, whose chief occupation was slave
raiding. The region was claimed as part of the Egyptian Sudan, but it
was not until the arrival of Sir Samuel Baker at Gondokoro in 1870 as
governor of the equatorial provinces, that any effective control of the
slave traders was attempted. Baker was succeeded by General C. G.
Gordon, who established a separate administration for the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. In 1878 Emin Pasha became governor of the Equatorial
Province, a term henceforth confined to the region adjoining the main
Nile above the Sobat confluence, and the region south of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal province. (The whole of the Lado Enclave thus formed part
of Emin's old province.) Emin made his headquarters at Lado, whence he
was driven in 1885 by the Mahdists. He then removed to Wadelai, a
station farther south, but in 1889 the pasha, to whose aid H. M. Stanley
had conducted an expedition from the Congo, evacuated the country and
with Stanley made his way to the east coast. While the Mahdists remained
in possession at Rejaf, Great Britain in virtue of her position in
Uganda claimed the upper Nile region as within the British sphere; a
claim admitted by Germany in 1890. In February 1894 the union jack was
hoisted at Wadelai, while in May of the same year Great Britain granted
to Leopold II., as sovereign of the Congo State, a lease of large areas
lying west of the upper Nile inclusive of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and
Fashoda. Pressed however by France, Leopold II. agreed to occupy only
that part of the leased area east of 30° E. and south of 5° 30´ N., and
in this manner the actual limits of the Lado Enclave, as it was
thereafter called, were fixed. Congo State forces had penetrated to the
Nile valley as early as 1891, but it was not until 1897, when on the
17th of February Commandant Chaltin inflicted a decisive defeat on the
Mahdists at Rejaf, that their occupation of the Lado Enclave was
assured. After the withdrawal of the French from Fashoda, Leopold II.
revived (1899) his claim to the whole of the area, leased to him in
1894. In this claim he was unsuccessful, and the lease, by a new
agreement made with Great Britain in 1906, was annulled (see AFRICA, §
5). The king however retained the enclave, with the stipulation that six
months after the termination of his reign it should be handed over to
the Anglo-Sudanese government (see _Treaty Series_, No. 4, 1906).
See _Le Mouvement géographique_ (Brussels) _passim_, and especially
articles in the 1910 issues.
LADOGA (formerly NEVO), a lake of northern Russia, between 59° 56´ and
61° 46´ N., and 29° 53´ and 32° 50´ E., surrounded by the governments of
St Petersburg and Olonets, and of Viborg in Finland. It has the form of
a quadrilateral, elongated from N.W. to S.E. Its eastern and southern
shores are flat and marshy, the north-western craggy and fringed by
numerous small rocky islands, the largest of which are Valamo and
Konnevitz, together having an area of 14 sq. m. Ladoga is 7000 sq. m. in
area, that is, thirty-one times as large as the Lake of Geneva; but, its
depth being less, it contains only nineteen times as much water as the
Swiss lake. The greatest depth, 730 ft., is in a trough in the
north-western part, the average depth not exceeding 250 to 350 ft. The
level of Lake Ladoga is 55 ft. above the Gulf of Finland, but it rises
and falls about 7 ft., according to atmospheric conditions, a phenomenon
very similar to the _seiches_ of the Lake of Geneva being observed in
connexion with this.
The western and eastern shores consist of boulder clay, as well as a
narrow strip on the southern shore, south of which runs a ridge of
crags of Silurian sandstones. The hills of the north-western shore
afford a variety of granites and crystalline slates of the Laurentian
system, whilst Valamo island is made up of a rock which Russian
geologists describe as orthoclastic hypersthenite. The granite and
marble of Serdobol, and the sandstone of Putilovo, are much used for
buildings at St Petersburg; copper and tin from the Pitkäranta mine
are exported.
No fewer than seventy rivers enter Ladoga, pouring into it the waters
of numberless smaller lakes which lie at higher levels round it. The
Volkhov, which conveys the waters of Lake Ilmen, is the largest; Lake
Onega discharges its waters by the Svir; and the Saima system of lakes
of eastern Finland contributes the Vuoxen and Taipale rivers; the Syas
brings the waters from the smaller lakes and marshes of the Valdai
plateau. Ladoga discharges its surplus water by means of the Neva,
which flows from its south-western corner into the Gulf of Finland,
rolling down its broad channel 104,000 cubic ft. of water per second.
The water of Ladoga is very pure and cold; in May the surface
temperature does not exceed 36° Fahr., and even in August it reaches
only 50° and 53°, the average yearly temperature of the air at Valamo
being 36.8°. The lake begins to freeze in October, but it is only
about the end of December that it is frozen in its deeper parts; and
it remains ice-bound until the end of March, though broad icefields
continue to float in the middle of the lake until broken up by gales.
Only a small part of the Ladoga ice is discharged by the Neva; but it
is enough to produce in the middle of June a return of cold in the
northern capital. The thickness of the ice does not exceed 3 or 4 ft.;
but during the alternations of cold and warm weather, with strong
gales, in winter, stacks of ice, 70 and 80 ft. high, are raised on the
shores and on the icefields. The water is in continuous rotatory
motion, being carried along the western shore from north to south, and
along the eastern from south to north. The vegetation on the shores is
poor; immense forests, which formerly covered them, are now mostly
destroyed. But the fauna of the lake is somewhat rich; a species of
seal which inhabits its waters, as well as several species of arctic
crustaceans, recall its former connexion with the Arctic Ocean. The
sweet water _Diatomaceae_ which are found in great variety in the ooze
of the deepest parts of the lake also have an arctic character.
Fishing is very extensively carried on. Navigation, which is
practicable for only one hundred and eighty days in the year, is
rather difficult owing to fogs and gales, which are often accompanied,
even in April and September, with snow-storms. The prevailing winds
blow from N.W. and S.W.; N.E. winds cause the water to rise in the
south-western part, sometimes 3 to 5 ft. Steamers ply regularly in two
directions from St Petersburg--to the monasteries of Konnevitz and
Valamo, and to the mouth of the Svir, whence they go up that river to
Lake Onega and Petrozavodsk; and small vessels transport timber,
firewood, planks, iron, kaolin, granite, marble, fish, hay and various
small wares from the northern shore to Schlüsselburg, and thence to St
Petersburg. Navigation on the lake being too dangerous for small
craft, canals with an aggregate length of 104 m. were dug in
1718-1731, and others in 1861-1886 having an aggregate length of 101
m. along its southern shore, uniting with the Neva at Schlüsselburg
the mouths of the rivers Volkhov, Syas and Svir, all links in the
elaborate system of canals which connect the upper Volga with the Gulf
of Finland.
The population (35,000) on the shores of the lake is sparse, and the
towns--Schlüsselburg (5285 inhabitants in 1897); New Ladoga (4144);
Kexholm (1325) and Serdobol--are small. The monasteries of Valamo,
founded in 992, on the island of the same name, and Konnevskiy, on
Konnevitz island, founded in 1393, are visited every year by many
thousands of pilgrims. (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
LADY (O. Eng. _hlaéfdige_, Mid. Eng. _láfdi_, _lavedi_; the first part
of the word is _hláf_, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding _hláford_,
lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to
knead, seen also in "dough"; the sense development from bread-kneader,
bread-maker, to the ordinary meaning, though not clearly to be traced
historically, may be illustrated by that of "lord"), a term of which the
main applications are two, (1) as the correlative of "lord" (q.v.) in
certain of the usages of that word, (2) as the correlative of
"gentleman" (q.v.). The primary meaning of mistress of a household is,
if not obsolete, in present usage only a vulgarism. The special use of
the word as a title of the Virgin Mary, usually "Our Lady," represents
the Lat. _Domina Nostra_. In Lady Day and Lady Chapel the word is
properly a genitive, representing the O. Eng. _hlaéfdigan_. As a title
of nobility the uses of "lady" are mainly paralleled by those of "lord."
It is thus a less formal alternative to the full title giving the
specific rank, of marchioness, countess, viscountess or baroness,
whether as the title of the husband's rank by right or courtesy, or as
the lady's title in her own right. In the case of the younger sons of a
duke or marquess, who by courtesy have lord prefixed to their Christian
and family name, the wife is known by the husband's Christian and family
name with Lady prefixed, e.g. Lady John B.; the daughters of dukes,
marquesses and earls are by courtesy Ladies; here that title is prefixed
to the Christian and family name of the lady, e.g. Lady Mary B., and
this is preserved if the lady marry a commoner, e.g. Mr and Lady Mary C.
"Lady" is also the customary title of the wife of a baronet or knight;
the proper title, now only used in legal documents or on sepulchral
monuments, is "dame" (q.v.); in the latter case the usage is to prefix
Dame to the Christian name of the wife followed by the surname of the
husband, thus Dame Eleanor B., but in the former, Lady with the surname
of the husband only, Sir A. and Lady B. During the 15th and 16th
centuries "princesses" or daughters of the blood royal were usually
known by their Christian names with "the Lady" prefixed, e.g. the Lady
Elizabeth.
While "lord" has retained its original application as a title of
nobility or rank without extension, an example which has been followed
in Spanish usage by "don," "lady" has been extended in meaning to be the
feminine correlative of "gentleman" throughout its sense developments,
and in this is paralleled by _Dame_ in German, _madame_ in French,
_donna_ in Spanish, &c. It is the general word for any woman of a
certain social position (see GENTLEMAN).
LADYBANK, a police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, 5½ m. S.W. of Cupar by
the North British railway, ½ m. from the left bank of the Eden. Pop.
(1901) 1340. Besides having a station on the main line to Dundee, it is
also connected with Perth and Kinross and is a railway junction of some
importance and possesses a locomotive depot. It is an industrial centre,
linen weaving, coal mining and malting being the principal industries.
KETTLE, a village 1 m. S., has prehistoric barrows and a fort. At
COLLESSIE, 2½ m. N. by W., a standing stone, a mound and traces of
ancient camps exist, while urns and coins have been found. Between the
parishes of Collessie and Monimail the boundary line takes the form of a
crescent known as the Bow of Fife. MONIMAIL contains the Mount, the
residence of Sir David Lindsay the poet (1490-1555). Its lofty site is
now marked by a clump of trees. Here, too, is the Doric pillar, 100 ft.
high, raised to the memory of John Hope, 4th earl of Hopetoun. Melville
House, the seat of the earls of Leven, lies amidst beautiful woods.
LADYBRAND, a town of the Orange Free State, 80 m. E. of Bloemfontein by
rail. Another railway connects it with Natal via Harrismith. Pop. (1904)
3862, of whom 2334 were whites. The town is pleasantly situated at the
foot of a flat-topped hill (the Platberg), about 4 m. W. of the Caledon
river, which separates the province from Basutoland. Ladybrand is the
centre of a rich arable district, has a large wheat market and is also a
health resort, the climate, owing to the proximity of the Maluti
Mountains, being bracing even during the summer months (November-March).
Coal and petroleum are found in the neighbourhood. It is named after the
wife of Sir J. H. Brand, president of the Orange Free State.
LADY-CHAPEL, the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and attached to
churches of large size. Generally the chapel was built eastward of the
high altar and formed a projection from the main building, as in
Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Wells, St Albans, Chichester,
Peterborough and Norwich cathedrals,--in the two latter cases now
destroyed. The earliest Lady-chapel built was that in the Saxon
cathedral of Canterbury; this was transfered in the rebuilding by
Archbishop Lanfranc to the west end of the nave, and again shifted in
1450 to the chapel on the east side of the north transept. The
Lady-chapel at Ely cathedral is a distinct building attached to the
north transept; at Rochester the Lady-chapel is west of the south
transept. Probably the largest Lady-chapel was that built by Henry III.
in 1220 at Westminster Abbey, which was 30 ft. wide, much in excess of
any foreign example, and extended to the end of the site now occupied by
Henry VII.'s chapel. Among other notable English examples of
Lady-chapels are those at Ottery-St-Mary, Thetford, Bury St Edmund's,
Wimborne, Christ-church, Hampshire; in Compton Church, Surrey, and
Compton Martin, Somersetshire, and Darenth, Kent, it was built over the
chancel. At Croyland Abbey there were two Lady-chapels. Lady-chapels
exist in most of the French cathedrals and churches, where they form
part of the chevet; in Belgium they were not introduced before the 14th
century; in some cases they are of the same size as the other chapels of
the chevet, but in others, probably rebuilt at a later period, they
became much more important features, and in Italy and Spain during the
Renaissance period constitute some of its best examples.
LADY DAY, originally the name for all the days in the church calendar
marking any event in the Virgin Mary's life, but now restricted to the
feast of the Annunciation, held on the 25th of March in each year. Lady
Day was in medieval and later times the beginning of the legal year in
England. In 1752 this was altered to the 1st of January, but the 25th of
March remains one of the Quarter Days; though in some parts old Lady
Day, on the 6th of April, is still the date for rent paying. See
Annunciation.
LADYSMITH, a town of Natal, 189 m. N.W. of Durban by rail, on the left
bank of the Klip tributary of the Tugela. Pop. (1904) 5568, of whom 2269
were whites. It lies 3284 ft. above the sea and is encircled by hills,
while the Drakensberg are some 30 m. distant to the N.W. Ladysmith is
the trading centre of northern Natal, and is the chief railway junction
in the province, the main line from the south dividing here. One line
crosses Van Reenen's pass into the Orange Free State, the other runs
northwards to the Transvaal. There are extensive railway workshops.
Among the public buildings are the Anglican church and the town hall.
The church contains tablets with the names of 3200 men who perished in
the defence and relief of the town in the South African War (see below),
while the clock tower of the town hall, partially destroyed by a Boer
shell, is kept in its damaged condition.
Ladysmith, founded in 1851, is named after Juana, Lady Smith, wife of
Sir Harry Smith, then governor of Cape Colony. It stands near the site
of the camp of the Dutch farmers who in 1848 assembled for the purpose
of trekking across the Drakensberg. Here they were visited by Sir Harry
Smith, who induced the majority of the farmers to remain in Natal. The
growth of the town, at first slow, increased with the opening of the
railway from Durban in 1886 and the subsequent extension of the line to
Johannesburg.
In the first and most critical stage of the South African War of
1899-1902 (see TRANSVAAL) Ladysmith was the centre of the struggle.
During the British concentration on the town there were fought the
actions of Talana (or Dundee) on the 20th, Elandslaagte on the 21st and
Rietfontein on the 24th of October 1899. On the 30th of October the
British sustained a serious defeat in the general action of Lombard's
Kop or Farquhar's Farm, and Sir George White decided to hold the town,
which had been fortified, against investment and siege until he was
relieved directly or indirectly by Sir Redvers Buller's advance. The
greater portion of Buller's available troops were despatched to Natal in
November, with a view to the direct relief of Ladysmith, which meantime
the Boers had closely invested. His first attempt was repelled on the
15th of December in the battle of Colenso, his second on the 24th of
January 1900 by the successful Boer counterstroke against Spion Kop, and
his third was abandoned without serious fighting (Vaalkranz, Feb. 5).
But two or three days after Vaalkranz, almost simultaneously with Lord
Roberts's advance on Bloemfontein Sir Redvers Buller resumed the
offensive in the hills to the east of Colenso, which he gradually
cleared of the enemy, and although he was checked after reaching the
Tugela below Colenso (Feb. 24) he was finally successful in carrying the
Boer positions (Pieter's Hill) on the 27th and relieving Ladysmith,
which during these long and anxious months (Nov. 1-Feb. 28) had suffered
very severely from want of food, and on one occasion (Caesar's Camp,
Jan. 6, 1900) had only with heavy losses and great difficulty repelled a
powerful Boer assault. The garrison displayed its unbroken resolution on
the last day of the investment by setting on foot a mobile column,
composed of all men who were not too enfeebled to march out, in order to
harass the Boer retreat. This expedition was however countermanded by
Buller.
LAELIUS, the name of a Roman plebeian family, probably settled at Tibur
(Tivoli). The chief members were:--
GAIUS LAELIUS, general and statesman, was a friend of the elder Scipio,
whom he accompanied on his Spanish campaign (210-206 B.C.). In Scipio's
consulship (205), Laelius went with him to Sicily, whence he conducted
an expedition to Africa. In 203 he defeated the Massaesylian prince
Syphax, who, breaking his alliance with Scipio, had joined the
Carthaginians, and at Zama (202) rendered considerable service in
command of the cavalry. In 197 he was plebeian aedile and in 196 praetor
of Sicily. As consul in 190 he was employed in organizing the recently
conquered territory in Cisalpine Gaul. Placentia and Cremona were
repeopled, and a new colony founded at Bononia. He is last heard of in
170 as ambassador to Transalpine Gaul. Though little is known of his
personal qualities, his intimacy with Scipio is proof that he must have
been a man of some importance. Silius Italicus (_Punica_, xv. 450)
describes him as a man of great endowments, an eloquent orator and a
brave soldier.
See Index to Livy; Polybius x. 3. 9, 39, xi. 32, xiv. 4. 8, xv. 9. 12,
14; Appian, _Hisp._ 25-29; Cicero, _Philippica_, xi. 7.
His son, GAIUS LAELIUS, is known chiefly as the friend of the younger
Scipio, and as one of the speakers in Cicero's _De senectute_, _De
amicitia_ (or _Laelius_) and _De Republica_. He was surnamed _Sapiens_
("the wise"), either from his scholarly tastes or because, when tribune,
he "prudently" withdrew his proposal (151 B.C.) for the relief of the
farmers by distributions of land, when he saw that it was likely to
bring about disturbances. In the third Punic War (147) he accompanied
Scipio to Africa, and distinguished himself at the capture of the
Cothon, the military harbour of Carthage. In 145 he carried on
operations with moderate success against Viriathus in Spain; in 140 he
was elected consul. During the Gracchan period, as a staunch supporter
of Scipio and the aristocracy, Laelius became obnoxious to the
democrats. He was associated with P. Popillius Laenas in the prosecution
of those who had supported Tiberius Gracchus, and in 131 opposed the
bill brought forward by C. Papirius Carbo to render legal the election
of a tribune to a second year of office. The attempts of his enemies,
however, failed to shake his reputation. He was a highly accomplished
man and belonged to the so-called "Scipionic circle." He studied
philosophy under the Stoics Diogenes Babylonius and Panaetius of Rhodes;
he was a poet, and the plays of Terence, by reason of their elegance of
diction, were sometimes attributed to him. With Scipio he was mainly
instrumental in introducing the study of the Greek language and
literature into Rome. He was a gifted orator, though his refined
eloquence was perhaps less suited to the forum than to the senate. He
delivered speeches _De Collegiis_ (145) against the proposal of the
tribune C. Licinius Crassus to deprive the priestly colleges of their
right of co-optation and to transfer the power of election to the
people; _Pro Publicanis_ (139), on behalf of the farmers of the revenue;
against the proposal of Carbo noticed above; _Pro Se_, a speech in his
own defence, delivered in answer to Carbo and Gracchus; funeral
orations, amongst them two on his friend Scipio. Much information is
given concerning him in Cicero, who compares him to Socrates.
See Index to Cicero; Plutarch, _Tib. Gracchus_, 8; Appian, _Punica_,
126; Horace, _Sat._ ii. 1. 72; Quintilian, _Instit._ xii. 10. 10;
Suetonius, _Vita Terentii_; Terence, _Adelphi_, Prol. 15, with the
commentators.
LAENAS, the name of a plebeian family in ancient Rome, notorious for
cruelty and arrogance. The two most famous of the name[1] are:--
GAIUS POPILLIUS LAENAS, consul in 172 B.C. He was sent to Greece in 174
to allay the general disaffection, but met with little success. He took
part in the war against Perseus, king of Macedonia (Livy xliii. 17, 22).
When Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, invaded Egypt, Laenas was sent
to arrest his progress. Meeting him near Alexandria, he handed him the
decree of the senate, demanding the evacuation of Egypt. Antiochus
having asked time for consideration, Laenas drew a circle round him with
his staff, and told him he must give an answer before he stepped out of
it. Antiochus thereupon submitted (Livy xlv. 12; Polybius xxix. 11;
Cicero, _Philippica_, viii. 8; Vell. Pat. i. 10).
PUBLIUS POPILLIUS LAENAS, son of the preceding. When consul in 132 B.C.
he incurred the hatred of the democrats by his harsh measures as head of
a special commission appointed to take measures against the accomplices
of Tiberius Gracchus. In 123 Gaius Gracchus brought in a bill
prohibiting all such commissions, and declared that, in accordance with
the old laws of appeal, a magistrate who pronounced sentence of death
against a citizen, without the people's assent, should be guilty of
high treason. It is not known whether the bill contained a retrospective
clause against Laenas, but he left Rome and sentence of banishment from
Italy was pronounced against him. After the restoration of the
aristocracy the enactments against him were cancelled, and he was
recalled (121).
See Cicero, _Brutus_, 25. 34, and _De domo sua_, 31; Vell. Pat. ii. 7;
Plutarch, _C. Gracchus_, 4.