King's County (66), an inland Irish county on the left bank of the Shannon, between Tipperary and West Meath; is mostly flat, a quarter of it bogland and a quarter under crops; the chief towns are Tullamore (5), the county town, on the Grand Canal, and Birr or Parsonstown (4), where Lord Rosse's great telescope is.
Kingsley, Charles, canon of Westminster and chaplain to the Queen, born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor; studied at Cambridge; became rector of Eversley, in Hampshire, in 1844; was the author in 1848 of a drama, entitled "The Saint's Tragedy," with St. Elizabeth of Hungary for heroine, which was followed successively by "Alton Locke" (1849), and "Yeast" (1851), chiefly in a Socialistic interest; "Hypatia," a brilliant book in the interest of early Christianity in Alexandria and "Westward Ho!" a narrative of the rivalry of England with Spain in the days of Elizabeth, and besides other works, including "Two Years Ago," "Water Babies," and "Hereward the Wake," he was the author of the popular ballads of "The Three Fishers," "The Starlings," and "The Sands of Dee"; his writings had a great influence on his contemporaries, particularly on young men; Professor Saintsbury writes an appreciative estimate of Kingsley (1819-1875).
Kingsley, Henry, younger brother of the preceding; after a brief experience of life in Australia he returned home to start on the career of letters in rivalry with his brother, and distinguished himself by exhibitions of similar literary ability, as a novelist especially, as well as kindred sympathies; his principal novels were "Geoffrey Hamlyn," one of the best novels on Australian life; "Ravenshoe," his masterpiece, and "The Hillyars and the Burtons" (1830-1876).
Kingston, 1, capital (13) of Frontenac County, Ontario, on the NE. shore of the Lake, 150 m. E. of Toronto, an important commercial town with shipbuilding and engineering works; is the seat of Queen's University, military and medical colleges, and an observatory. 2, Capital (47) of Jamaica, on a great bay on the S. coast, on the edge of a sugar-growing district; exports sugar, tobacco, and dye-woods, and imports cotton, flour, and rice. 3, a town (21) on the Hudson, N.Y., has great blue stone-flag quarries, and cement-works, breweries, and tanneries.
Kingston-upon-Thames (27), in Surrey, 10 m. SW. of London, has a fine church and other buildings, and malting industry.
Kingston, W. H. G., popular boys' story-writer, born in London, spent his youth in Oporto, was interested in philosophic schemes, and helped to arrange the Anglo-Portuguese commercial treaty; he wrote 120 tales, of which the "Three Midshipmen" series is the best, and died at Willesden (1814-1880).
Kingstown, seaport of Dublin, 7 m. SE.; was till 1817 but a fishing village; has a harbour designed by Rennie, which cost £525,000; was originally Dunleary, and changed into Kingstown on George IV.'s visit in 1821.
Kinkel, Johann Gottfried, German poet and writer on æsthetics, born near Bonn; studied for the Church, but became lecturer on Art in Bonn, 1846; two years later he was imprisoned for revolutionary proceedings; escaped in 1850 to England, and became professor at Zurich in 1866; wrote "Otto der Schütz," an epic, and "Nimrod," a drama (1815-1882).
Kinross (7), small Scottish county lying between Perth and Fife, round Loch Leven, is agricultural and grazing, with some hills of no great height, and coal mines; the co. town, Kinross (2), is on the W. shore of Loch Leven; manufactures tartan.
Kinsale (5), a once important seaport in co. Cork, at the mouth of the Bandon, 13 m. S. of Cork; has lost its trade, and is now a summer resort and fishing station; King James II. landed here in 1689, and re-embarked in 1690.
Kintyre, a long narrow isthmus on the W. coast of Scotland, between the Atlantic and the Firth of Clyde, is chiefly hill and grass country; but at Campbeltown are great distilleries; at Machrihanish Bay, on the W. coast, are fine golfing links.
Kipchaks, a nomadic Turkish race who settled on the south-eastern steppes of Russia about the 11th century, and whose descendants still occupy the district.
Kipling, Rudyard, story-teller and poet, born in Bombay, and educated in England; went out to India as a journalist; his stories respect Anglo-Indian, and especially military, life in India, and his "Soldiers Three," with the rest that followed, such as "Wee Willie Winkie," gained for him an immediate and wide reputation; as a poet, his most successful effort is his "Barrack-Room Ballads," instinct with a martial spirit, in 1864; he is a writer of conspicuous realistic power; he deems it the mission of civilisation to drill the savage races in humanity; b. 1865.
Kirby, William, entomologist, born in Suffolk; distinguished as the author of "Monographia Apium Angliæ," and "Introduction to Entomology"; was rector of Barham, Suffolk, for 68 years (1759-1850).
Kirghiz, a nomadic Turkish people occupying the Kirghiz steppes, an immense tract E. of the Ural River and the Caspian Sea, numbering 2½ millions, adventurous, witty, and free-spirited; refuse to settle; retain ancient customs and characteristics, and are Moslems only in name.
Kirk Session, an ecclesiastical court in Scotland, composed of the minister and elders of a parish, subject to the Presbytery of the district.
Kirkcaldy (27), a manufacturing and seaport town in Fifeshire, extending 4 m. along the north shore of the Forth, known as the "lang toon." It was the birthplace of Adam Smith, and one of the scenes of the schoolmastership period of Thomas Carlyle's life; manufactures textile fabrics and floorcloth; is a busy town.
Kirkcudbright (40), a Scottish county on the Solway shore between Wigtown and Dumfries, watered by the rivers Nith, Dee, and Cree; has Mount Merrick on the NW. border, and Loch Dee in the middle; one-third of its area cultivated, the rest chiefly hill pasturage. County town Kirkcudbright (3), on the Dee, 6 m. from the Solway; held St. Cuthbert's church.
Kirkdale Cave, a cave in the vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, discovered by Buckland to contain the remains of a number of extinct species of mammals.
Kirke's Lambs, the soldiers of Colonel Kirke, an officer of the English army in James the Second's time, distinguished for their acts of cruelty inflicted on the Monmouth party.
Kirkintilloch (10), a town on the Forth and Clyde Canal, 7 m. N. of Glasgow, manufactures chemicals, has calico works, and mines of coal and iron.
Kirkwall (4), capital of Orkney, in the E. of Mainland, 35 m. NE. of Thurso; has a fine cathedral named St. Magnus, and some shipping trade; it was in mediæval times subject to Norway, and was the residence of the jarls.
Kirriemuir (4), a small Forfarshire town, 5 m. NW. of Forfar, native place of J. M. Barrie, and the "Thrums" of his books; manufactures brown linens.
Kirschwasser (cherry water), a liqueur formed from ripe cherries with the stones pounded in it after fermentation and then distilled.
Kisfaludy, Karoly, Hungarian dramatist, brother of the following, was founder of the national drama, and with his brother ranks high in the literature of the country (1788-1830).
Kisfaludy, Sandor, a Hungarian lyric poet, "Himfy's Loves" his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist (1772-1844).
Kissingen (4), Bavarian watering-place on the Saale, 65 m. E. of Frankfort-on-the-Main, visited for its saline springs by 14,000 people annually; its waters are used both internally and externally, and are good for dyspepsia, gout, and skin-diseases.
Kitcat Club, founded in 1688 ostensibly to encourage literature and art, and named after Christopher Catt, in whose premises it met; became ultimately a Whig society to promote the Hanoverian succession; Marlborough, Walpole, Congreve, Addison, and Steele were among the thirty-nine members.
Kitchener of Khartoum, Horatio Herbert, Lord, son of Col. Kitchener; joined the Royal Engineers, and was first engaged in survey work in Palestine and Cyprus; became a major of cavalry in the Egyptian army 1882, served in the 1884 expedition, was governor of Suakim 1886, and after leading the Egyptian troops at Handub 1888 was made aide-de-camp to the Queen, C.B., and adjutant-general in the Egyptian army; he was appointed Sirdar, commander-in-chief of that army, in 1892, organised and led the expedition of 1898 which overthrew the Khalifa at Omdurman, and for which he was awarded a peerage and received many honours, the freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh, &c.; a gift of £30,000 was voted by the Government in 1899; b. 1850.
Kizil (red river), the ancient Halys, the largest river in Asia Minor, which flows into the Black Sea 40 m. E. of Sinope after a course of 450 m.
Klapka, a Hungarian patriot, distinguished in arms against the Austrians during the revolution, and for his heroic defence of Komorn in the end (1820-1892).
Klaproth, Julius von, Orientalist and philologist; was an accomplished Chinese scholar; explored Siberia and Caucasia (1783-1835).
Klaus, Peter, the German prototype of Rip Van Winkle, a goat-herd who slept for the same number of years and at the end had similar experiences.
Klausthal (9), in Hanover, 25 m. NE. of Göttingen, is the chief mining town of the northern Hartz Mountains, and the seat of the German mining administration, surrounded by silver, copper, lead, and zinc mines.
Kléber, Jean Baptiste, French general, born at Strasburg; originally an architect, served with distinction in the Revolutionary army, accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and was left by him in command, where, after a bold attempt to regain lost ground and while in the act of concluding a treaty with the Turks, he was assassinated by an Arab fanatic (1753-1800).
Kleist, Heinrich von, German dramatist and poet, born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; entered the army, but afterwards devoted himself to literature; slow recognition and other trials preyed on his mind, and he shot himself near Potsdam (1777-1811).
Klondike, a small section of Yukon, a territory in the extreme NW. of N. America, and a present-day centre of pilgrimage by gold-seekers since the recent discovery of the gold-fields there.
Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, German poet, born at Quedlinburg; distinguished as the author of an epic poem entitled the "Messiah," which is his chief work, his treatment of which invested him with a certain sense of sanctity, and the publication of which did much to quicken and elevate the literary life of Germany (1724-1803).
Knaresborough (5), Yorkshire market-town, 14 m. W. of York; manufactures woollen rugs, grinds flour, and trades in corn.
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, portrait-painter, born at Lübeck; studied under Rembrandt and at Italy, came to England in 1674, and was appointed court painter to Charles II., James II., William III., and George I.; practised his art till he was seventy, and made a large fortune (1646-1723).
Knickerbocker, the imaginary author of the fictitious "History of New York," by Washington Irving.
Knight, Charles, London publisher and editor, publisher for the Useful Knowledge Society, of "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," of the "Penny Magazine," and the "Penny Cyclopædia," &c., as well as a "Pictorial Shakespeare," edited by himself (1791-1873).
Knighthood, a distinction granted to commoners, ranking next to baronet, now bestowed by the crown; formerly knighthood was a military order, any member of which might create new knights; it was originally the highest rank of Chivalry (q. v.); it was an order of many subdivisions developed during the crusades, and in full flower before the Norman conquest of England.
Knights of Labour, an American labour organisation, founded in 1869, resembling a union of all trades, male and female; in 1886 had 730,000 members, which have since disagreed and fallen off.
Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur's knights, so called from the round table at which they sat, so that when seated there might seem no precedency, numbered popularly at twelve, though reckoned by some at forty.
Knights of the Shire, English gentry representing a middle class between the barons and the peasants, acting as members of Parliament for the county they belonged to.
Knowles, Sheridan, dramatist, born at Cork; was connected with the stage first as actor and then as an author of plays, which include "Virginius," "The Hunchback," and "The Wife"; latterly he gave up the stage, and took to preaching in connection with the Baptist body (1784-1862).
Know-nothings, a party in the United States that sprung up in 1853 and restricted the right of American citizenship to those who were born in America or of an American parentage, so called because to those inquisitive about their secret organisation they uniformly answered "I know nothing."
Knox, John, the great Scottish Reformer, born at Giffordgate, Haddington, in 1505; studied at Glasgow University; took priest's orders; officiated as a priest, and did tutoring from 1530 to 1540; came under the influence of George Wishart, and avowed the Reformed faith; took refuge from persecution in St. Andrews Castle in 1547; was there summoned to lead on the movement; on the surrender of the castle was taken prisoner, and made a slave in a French galley for 19 months; liberated in 1549 at the intercession of Edward VI., came and assisted the Protestant cause in England; was offered preferments in the Church, but declined them; fled in 1553 to France, from the persecution of Bloody Mary; ministered at Frankfort and Geneva to the English refugees; returned to Scotland in 1555, but having married, went back next year to Geneva; was in absence, in 1557, condemned to be burned; published in 1558 his "First Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women"; returned to Scotland for good in 1559, and became minister in Edinburgh; saw in 1560 the jurisdiction of the Pope abolished in Scotland; had successive interviews with Queen Mary after her arrival at Leith in 1561; was tried for high-treason before the Privy Council, but acquitted in 1563; began his "History of the Reformation in Scotland" in 1566; preached in 1567 at James VI.'s coronation in Stirling; was in 1571 struck by apoplexy; died in Edinburgh on the 24th November 1572, aged 67, the Regent Morton pronouncing an éloge at his grave, "There lies one who never feared the face of man." Knox is pronounced by Carlyle to have been the one Scotchman to whom, "of all others, his country and the world owe a debt"; "In the history of Scotland," he says, "I can find properly but one epoch; we may say it contains nothing of world interest at all but this Reformation by Knox.... It is as yet a country without a soul ... the people now begin to live ... Scottish literature and thought, Scottish industry, James Watt, David Hume, Walter Scott (little as he dreamt of debt in that quarter), and Robert Burns, I find Knox and the Reformation acting on the heart's core of every one of these persons and phenomena; I find that without the Reformation they would not have been; or," he adds, "the Puritanism of England and of New England either"; and he sums up his message thus: "Let men know that they are men, created by God, responsible to God; who work in any meanest moment of time what will last through eternity. This great message," he adds, "Knox delivered with a man's voice and strength, and found a people to believe him."
Kobdo, a town in Mongolia, the entrepôt of Russian dealers in connection with the Altai mines.
Koch, Robert, an eminent bacteriologist, born at Klansthal, in Hanover; famous for his researches in bacteriology; discovered sundry bacilli, among others the cholera bacillus and the phthisis bacillus, and a specific against it; b. 1843.
Kock, Charles Paul de, popular French novelist and dramatist, born near Paris, and educated for a mercantile career, but turned to writing and produced a series of works, not of first merit, but illustrating contemporary French middle-class life (1794-1871).
Koheleth (the preacher, originally gatherer), the Hebrew name for the book of Ecclesiastes, and a personification of wisdom.
Kola, a small town, the most northerly in Russia, on a peninsula of the same name, with a capacious harbour.
Kolin, a Bohemian town on the Elbe, 40 m. SE. of Prague, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Marshal Daun in 1757.
Kölliker, an eminent embryologist, born at Zurich; professor of Anatomy at Würzburg; b. 1817.
Köln, the German name for Cologne (q. v.).
König, Friedrich, German mechanician, born in Eisleben; bred a printer, and invented the steam-press, or printing by machinery (1774-1833).
Königgrätz (16), a Bohemian town 60 m. E. of Prague; was the scene of a terrible battle called Sa'dowa, in Austria, where the Germans defeated the Austrians in 1866.
Königsberg (161), the capital of E. Prussia, on the Pregel, with several manufactures and an extensive trade; has a famous university, and is the birthplace of Kant, where also he lived and died.
Korân (i. e. book to be read), the Bible of the Mohammedans, accepted among them as "the standard of all law and all practice; thing to be gone upon in speculation and life; it is read through in the mosques daily, and some of their doctors have read it 70,000 times, and hard reading it is"; it contains the teaching of Mahomet, collected by his disciples after his death, and arranged the longest chapters first and the shortest, which were the earliest, last; a confused book.
Kordofan (280), an Egyptian Soudanese province on the W. bank of the Nile; an undulating dry country, furnishing crops of millet, and exporting gums, hides, and ivory; was lost in the Mahdist revolt of 1883, but recovered by Lord Kitchener's expedition in 1898; El Obeid (30), the capital is 230 m. SW. of Khartoum.
Koreish, the chief tribe among the Arabs in Mahomet's time, and to which his family belonged.
Körner, Karl Theodor, a German soldier poet, often called the German Tyrtæus, born in Dresden; famous for his patriotic songs and their influence on German patriots; fell in a skirmish with the French at Mecklenburg (1791-1813).
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, Polish general and patriot, born in Lithuania, of noble parentage, bred to arms; first saw service in the American War on the side of the colonists, and returning to Poland, twice over did valiant service against Russia, but at length he was taken prisoner at the battle of Maciejowice in 1794; he was subsequently set at liberty by the Emperor Paul, when he removed to America, but soon returned to settle in Switzerland, where he died by a fall of his horse over a precipice; he was buried at Cracow beside John Sobieski (1746-1817).
Kossuth, Louis, Hungarian patriot, born near Zemplen; studied for his father's profession, the law, but giving that up for politics, became editor of several Liberal papers in succession; elected member of the Diet at Pesth in 1847, he next year demanded autonomy for Hungary, and set himself to drive out the Hapsburgs and establish a republic; he raised a large army and large funds, but Russia aided Austria, and the struggle, though hopeful at first, proved in vain, defeated at Temesvar and escaping to Turkey, he came to England in 1851, was enthusiastically received, and lived there for many years; ultimately he resided in Turin, studied science, and died there (1802 or 1806-1894).
Kotzebue, German dramatist, born at Weimar; went to St. Petersburg, obtained favour at court and a government appointment; was banished to Siberia, but regained the favour of Paul, and was recalled; on Paul's death he returned to Germany, but went back to Russia from fear of Napoleon, whom he had violently attacked; he had a facile pen, and wrote no fewer than 200 dramatic pieces; his strictures on the German university students greatly exasperated them, and one of them attacked him in his house at Mannheim and stabbed him to death (1761-1819).
Koumiss, an intoxicating beverage among the Kalmucks, made by fermentation from mare's milk.
Kovalevsky, Alexander, Russian embryologist, professor at St. Petersburg; studied and wrote on the Ascidians; b. 1840.
Krakatao, a volcanic island in the narrow Strait of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra; was the scene of a terrific eruption in 1883, causing a tidal wave that swept round the globe, and raising quantities of dust that made the sunsets in Britain even more than usually red for three years.
Kraken, a huge fabulous sea-monster, reported as at one time seen in the Norwegian seas; it would rise to the surface, and as it plunged down drag ships and every floating or swimming thing along with it.
Krapotkin, Prince Peter, a Russian Nihilist, born in Moscow; became a member of the International (q. v.); was arrested in Russia and imprisoned, but escaped, as also in France, but released, and settled in England; has written extensively on Socialistic subjects; b. 1842.
Krause, Karl Christian Friedrich, German philosopher, born at Eisenberg; studied under Fichte and Schelling, and was himself lecturer successively in Jena, Dresden, Berlin, Göttingen, and Münich, where he died; of the school of Kant, his work has suffered through the pedantry of his style; he wrote "The Ideal of Humanity," and many philosophical treatises (1781-1832).
Krefeld (105), in Rhenish Prussia, 12 m. NW. of Düsseldorf; important manufacturing town; noted for its silk and velvet factories founded by Protestant refugees; has also machinery and chemical works.
Kremlin, gigantic pile of buildings in Moscow of all styles of architecture;, including palaces, cathedrals, museums, government offices; founded by Ivan III. in 1485.
Kreuzer, a German coin, worth one-third or one-fifth of an English penny.
Kriegsspiel, a military game played on large-scale maps with metal blocks for troops, and designed to represent as fully as possible the conditions of warfare; was invented by a Prussian lieutenant in 1824.
Krilof, Ivan Andreevich, the great Russian fabulist, born at Moscow, son of a soldier; began his literary career writing dramas and editing magazines; was some time secretary to the governor of Livonia, and for years lived an idle roving life; at 40 his fables in the Moscow Spectator brought him fame in 1805; next year he was appointed to a Government post at St. Petersburg, and in 1821 to a post in the Imperial Public Library; he was an eccentric, much-loved man, and the humour and sympathy of his writings have won for him the title of the La Fontaine of Russia (1768-1844).
Krishna (i. e. the swarthy one), the man-god, or god-man, viewed as the 8th and final incarnation or avatar of Vishnu (q. v.), in whose manifestation the latter first reveals himself as supreme divinity, being, as the Theosophist might say, his Mahatma. See Theosophy.
Krüdener, Madame de, novelist, born at Riga; authoress of an autobiographical novel entitled "Valérie"; lived partly at St. Petersburg and partly at Paris; was a mystic religious enthusiast and political prophetess (1764-1824).
Krüger, S. J. Paul, President of the Transvaal Republic, born at Rastenburg; became member of the Executive Council in 1872; in 1882 was chosen President, and has been three times elected to the same office since; a man of sturdy, stubborn principles, a champion of the rights of the Boers, and a cunning diplomatist; b. 1825.
Krummacher, Frederick, German theologian, author of "Elijah the Tisbite," a popular work; was an opponent of the Rationalists (1796-1868).
Krupp, Alfred, metal and steel founder, born at Essen, where through his father he became the proprietor of a small foundry which grew in his hands into such dimensions as to surpass every other establishment of the kind in the world; the Bessemer (q. v.) process was early introduced here in the manufacture of steel, which Krupp was the first to employ in the manufacture of guns; the works cover an immense area, and employ 20,000 people, and supply artillery to every Government of Europe (1810-1887).
Kubera or Kuvera, the Hindu Plutus, or god of riches, represented as deformed and mounted on a car drawn by hobgoblins.
Kublai Khan was a great Mongol emperor of the 13th century; built up an empire which included all the continent of Asia (except India, Arabia, and Asia Minor) and Russia, the most extensive that ever existed; he was an enlightened prince, adopted Chinese civilisation, promoted learning, and established Buddhism throughout his domains.
Kuenen, Abraham, a Dutch Biblical critic, born at Haarlem; studied at Leyden, and became professor there; distinguished for his researches on the lines of the so-called higher criticism bearing upon the literary history of the books of the Old Testament, beginning with that of the Pentateuch (1828-1891).
Kuen-Lun, N. of Thibet, a great snow-clad mountain range, 18,000 to 25,000 ft. high; stretches for 700 m., with a breadth of 100 m. It was explored by General Prjevalski, a Russian, 1876-88.
Kulm, a Bohemian village on the left bank of the Elbe, 50 m. NW. of Prague, where the French under Vandamme surrendered to the Russians and Prussians in 1813.
Kunersdorf, a village near Frankfort-on-Oder, where Frederick the Great was defeated by Russians and Austrians in 1759.
Kurdistan (2,250), a stretch of plateau and mountain land in Turkish, Persian, and Russian Trans-Caucasian territory, consisting of grassy plains and lofty ranges through which rivers like the Zabs, Batman-su, and Euphrates force their way; is inhabited by a partly nomad, partly agricultural people of ancient stock, who export wool, gum, and hides; the Kurds retain their old customs and organisation, are subject to their own chiefs, impatient of the rule of the Porte and the Shah; predatory by instinct, but brave and chivalrous; they are Moslems and Nestorians.
Kurile Islands, a chain of 26 islands, being a continuation of the peninsula of Kamchatka, enclosing the sea of Okhotsk; very sparsely inhabited.
Kurrachee (105), the chief port of the Punjab; situated on the delta of the Indus, with an extensive harbour and trade.
Kurtz, Heinrich, German theologian, professor at Dorpat; author, among other works, of a "Handbook of Church History"; b. 1809.
Kuruman, in Bechuanaland, 140 m. NW. of Kimberley; is the place where Livingstone and Moffat laboured.
Kyd, Thomas, Elizabethan dramatist, born in London, and trained a scrivener, but won fame as a writer of tragedies, of which the best was "The Spanish Tragedy" (1557-1595).
Kyoto (298), from 784 to 1868 the capital of Japan, on the Kamo River, inland, 190 m. W. of Yedo; is still the centre of Japanese Buddhism, and is noted for its pottery, bronze-work, crapes, and velvets.
Kyrie Eleison, means "Lord have mercy upon us," and with Christe Eleison, "Christ have mercy upon us," occurs in all Greek liturgies, in the Roman Mass, and in the English Prayer Book, where it forms the "lesser litany."
Kyrle, John, philanthropist, born in Gloucestershire; celebrated by Pope as the "Man of Ross," from the name of the place in Herefordshire where he lived; was distinguished for his benefactions; has given name to a society founded, among other things, for the betterment of the homes of the people (1637-1724).
L
Lab`arum, the standard, surmounted by the monogram of Christ, which was borne before the Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, and in symbol of the vision of the cross in the sky which led to it. It was a lance with a cross-bar at its extremity and a crown on top, and the monogram consisted of the Greek letter for Ch and R.
Labé, Louise, poetess, surnamed "La belle Cordière" as the wife of a rope-maker, born in Lyons; wrote in prose "Dialogue d'Amour et de Folie," and elegies and sonnets, with "a singular approach to the ring of Shakespeare's" (1526-1566).
Labiche, Eugene, a French dramatist, born at Paris; his dramas give evidence of a genius of inexhaustible fertility of invention, wit, and humour; his best-known play "Le Voyage de M. Perrichon," 1860 (1815-1888).
Lablache, a celebrated operatic deep bass singer, born in Naples, of French origin; he created quite a furore wherever he went; was teacher of singing to Queen Victoria (1794-1858).
Laboulaye, René de, a French jurist, born in Paris; was a Moderate in politics; wrote on French law, and was the author of some tales of a humorous turn, such as "Paris in America" (1811-1883).
Labourdonnais, Maré de, French naval officer, born at St. Malo, Governor of the Isle of France; distinguished himself against the English in India; was accused of dishonourable conduct, and committed to the Bastille, but after a time found guiltless and liberated (1699-1753).
Labrador (6), the great peninsula in the E. of Canada, washed by Hudson's Bay, the Greenland Sea, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; is a high tableland, with many lakes and rivers, and forests of birch and fir. The climate is much too severe for agriculture. Summer is very short, and plagued with mosquitoes. The rivers abound in salmon; the fox, marten, otter, and other animals are trapped for their fur; iron and labradorite are plentiful. The population is largely Eskimo, christianised by the Moravians. The name Labrador specially belongs to the region along the eastern coast, between Capes St. Louis and Chudleigh, presenting a barren front to the sea, precipitous, much indented, and fringed with rocky islands. This region is governed by Newfoundland; its chief industry is cod and herring fishing.
La Bruyère, Jean de, a celebrated French moralist, born at Paris; was tutor to the Duke of Bourbon, the grandson of the great Condé, and spent a great part of his life in Paris in connection with the Condé family; his most celebrated work is "Les Caractères de Théophrastus" (1687), which abounds in wise maxims and reflections on life, but gave offence to contemporaries by the personal satires in it under disguised names; he ranks high as a writer no less than as a moralist; his style is "a model of ease, grace, and fluency, without weakness in his characters; a book," adds Professor Saintsbury, "most interesting to read, and especially to Englishmen" (1645-1696).
Labuan (6), a small island, distant 6 m. from the W. coast of North Borneo, ceded to Britain in 1846, and administered by the British North Borneo Company; has rich coal-beds; its town, Victoria, is a market for Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago, and exports sago, camphor, and pearls; the population is chiefly Malay and Chinese.
Labyrinth, a name given to sundry structures composed of winding passages so intricate as to render it difficult to find the way out, and sometimes in. Of these structures the most remarkable were those of Egypt and of Crete. The Egyptian to the E. of Lake Moeris, consisted of an endless number of dark chambers, connected by a maze of passages into which it was difficult to find entrance; and the Cretan, built by Dædalus, at the instance of Minos, to imprison the Minotaur, out of which one who entered could not find his way out again unless by means of a skein of thread. It was by means of this, provided him by Ariadne, Perseus (q. v.) found his way out after slaying the Minotaur (q. v.).
Lac, a term employed in India for a hundred thousand, a crore amounting to 100 lacs, usually of money.
Laccadives, The, or The Hundred Thousand Isles (14), a group of low-lying coral islands 200 m. W. of the Malabar coast of India, mostly barren, and yielding chiefly cocoa-nuts; the population being Hindus professing Mohammedanism and poorly off.
Lacépède, Comte de, French naturalist, born at Agen; was entrusted by Buffon to complete his Natural History on his death; wrote on his own account also the natural histories of reptiles, of fishes, and of man (1756-1825).
Lachaise, François de, a French Jesuit, an extremely politic member of the fraternity in the reign of Louis XIV.; had a country house E. of Paris, the garden of which is now the cemetery Père la Chaise (1624-1709).
Lachesis, the one of the three Fates that spun the thread of life and apportioned the destinies of man. See Parcæ.