LA FAYETTE, COUNTESS DE. 



LAGRANQE, JOSEPH-LOUIS DE. 



763 



to the frown detvrts of Rusia; the bleached bones of two millions 

 of Frenchmen scattered all over the globe attest our deTotion to him ; 

 but that devotion," he added, " i* now exhausted, u his cause is no 

 longer the cause of the nation." On the return of the Bourbons, La- 

 fayette retirrd to hi country residence at Lagrange. In 1818 bewas 

 returned after a great struggle to the Chamber of Deputies for the 

 department of La Sarthe. During that and the following session he 

 poke in favour of constitutional liberty and against exceptional laws, 

 but to no effect. In 1824 be again went on a visit to the United States, 

 where he was receive.) with the greatest enthusiasm in every state of 

 the Union. In 1830, being in the house of deputies, he was foremot 

 among the members who resisted the arbitrary ordon nances of Charles X. 

 He then called out again the national guards and placed himself at 

 their head. He was one of the first to propose Lous Philippe as king 

 of the French, stating his conviction that a monarchy based on popular 

 institutions was the government best suited to France ; and bU influence 

 with the national guard did much to compel the submission of the re- 

 publican party. During the trials of the ex-ministers he further exerted 

 himself zealously to save them from popular fury. But he soon lost 

 the friendship of the king, who was jealous of Lafayette's popularity 

 and influence, which Lafayette himself was too fond of displaying. 

 A measure was almost immediately afterwards brought forward by the 

 ministry for suppressing the office of commander-in-chief of the national 

 guard. Lafayette anticipated its effect by at once tendering his resig- 

 nation ; but from this time all appearance even of cordiality between 

 him and the king was at an end. Of the subsequent differences between 

 them concerning views of foreign and domestic policy several versions 

 have been given. La Fayette died at Paris on the 20th of May 1834, 

 and his funeral took place on the 28th of the same month, being attended 

 by numerous friends, foreigners as well as French, peers and deputies, 

 who showed the high sense which they entertained of the personal 

 character of the deceased. He was interred, according to his own 

 directions, in the same grave with his wife. Lafayette was iu no sense 

 a great man, but he was always actuated by worthy motives, and be 

 was one of the few public men whose character passed unscathed 

 through the ordeal of half a century of revolutions. 



LAFAYETTE, MARIE-MAQDELAINE DE LA VERQNE, 

 COUNTESS DE, a celebrated French writer of the 17th century, was 

 the daughter of an officer and a nobleman of Provence. She took 

 lessons in Latin of Manage and Father Rapin, aud soon made great 

 progress in that language. Iu 1655 she married Francis count de La- 

 fayette, and her house became the rendezvous of the literary men and 

 the wits of the age. Lafontaine, Manage, Huet, and Segrais were her moat 

 frequent visitors. The Duke de La Rochefoucault, celebrate i for bis 

 wit and bis licentiousness, became acquainted with her, and she boasted 

 afterwards of having contributed to his reformation. Madame de 

 Sevigne', in her letters, speaks highly of the moral character of Madame 

 de Lafayette as well as of her talents. She wrote several novels which 

 obtained a high reputation at the time, being the first of the kind in 

 France written in a natural style, and free from the exaggerations 

 and affectation of former novelists. She also wrote ' Meiuoires de la 

 Cour de France, pour Us annexes 1681-89,' which contain some curious 

 particulars; ' Divers Portraits de quelques Pmonnes de la Cour,' being 

 true sketches of living characters ; and ' AU'moires de Henriette d'Angle- 

 terre,' which are not so interesting as the other two. Madame de La- 

 fayette left also other memoirs of contemporary history which have 

 not been published. Her printed works were collected and published 

 together in 8 vols. 12mo, Paris, 1786, with a notice of her life, and 

 again in 1804, together with the works of Madame de Tencin. Her 

 correspondence was published in 1805. Madame de La Fayette died 

 in 1693. 



LAFFITTE, JACQUES, the leading banker of France during the 

 empire and the restoration, was born on the 24th of October 1767 at 

 Bayonne, where his father was an honest but indigent carpenter. In 

 1787, unfriended, with no references, having nothing to speak for him 

 but an open countenance, a frank disposition, and that lively humour 

 which is the birthright of the couth, he walked up to Paris. Almost 

 immediately he obtained a situation as supernumerary clerk in the 

 banking-bouse of Prrregaux, with a salary of 1200 francs, or 482. Here 

 be became bookkeeper in 1789; cashier in 1792; chief clerk and 

 manager of the firm in 1800; junior partner in 1804 ; an<l in 1809 he 

 succeeded to the business, thenceforward carried on in his name 

 Meanwhile nine brothers and sisters had been called up to the capital, 

 where by his means they were all comfortably provided for. In 1809 

 Laffitte was created Regent of the Bank of France, and President of 

 the Chamber of Commerce iu Paris. In 1814 he succeeded Comte 

 Jaubert as Governor of the Bunk of France, but declined receiving 

 any salary for bis services. His annual reports of the operations of 

 the bank were much admired for their clearness, brevity, and precision, 

 M well as for the practical suggestions they contained. 



After the second capitulation in July 1815, the public funds having 

 been so much reduced by the late wars that the French army behind 

 the Loire could not be paid, the government was placed iu a critical 

 position, and disturbances were apprehended in the capital, when 

 Laffitte delivered to the finance minister, Mallien, the sum of 2,000,000 

 francs dr*wn from his own coffers ; aud his able management of the 

 national resources did much to maintain public confidence during the 

 crisis. In October 1816 Jacques Laffitte was elected a member of the 



Chambre des D^pntea for the Electoral College of the department of 

 the Seine, and re-elected for the same constituency in 1817. On the 

 16th of December of the latter year he delivered an impressive s)*ech 

 in defence of the liberty of the press, a principle which he steadily 

 advocated through life. A moderate republican himself, his character 

 was respected by men of every party. In 1815 Louis XV11I., deporting 

 for Uheut, deposited a con-idmal>le sum in Lnffitte's bank, which the 

 emperor left untouched. Nearly four mouths later. Napoleon I., 

 quitting Paris for the last time, sent a sum of 5,000,000 francs to the 

 same depdt ; and when Laffitte waited on him with a reotipt. Napoleon 

 said, " It is unncce*sary ; I know you, M. Laffitte ; you never liked 

 my government, but you are an honest man." This large deposit was 

 likewise respected by the Bourbons. 



In 1830 the private fortune of M. Laffitte hod rien to upwards of 

 2.000.000/. sterling. This great accumulation had been acquired by 

 sheer industry and integrity, without it is affirmed any private 

 lation, iu the midst of revolution, war, and public disturbances of 

 every kind. In that year catue the revolution of July. At first Luftilte 

 strove to arrest the movement. In company with Casimir I 

 Ge'rard, Lobau, and Mauguin, be went through the barricades to the 

 head-quarters of Marshal Marmont, expostulated with that officer, and 

 entreated him to use bis influence with. Charles X. to induce him to 

 withdraw the ordonuonoes which had caused the insurrection. This 

 proposal having been rejected, Laffitte took a decisive course, and 

 joining the insurgent party, opened his hotel to their leaders, issued 

 proclamations, organised the movement, and sustained the popular 

 cause with his owu funds. It was be, and not M. Thiers, who pro- 

 posed the Duke of Orleans as chief magistrate a fact which has been 

 preserved iu his despatch to that prince on the 29th of July 1830 : 

 "Do not hesitate, but moke your choice between a crown and a 

 passport." 



On the 3rd of November 1830 Laffitte became prime minister (pro 1 - 

 sident du couseil), and also minister of finance; but he resigned office 

 in March 1831. Soon after occurred the great monetary panic, which, 

 being felt all over Europe, threw down so many continental houses ; 

 whilst Laffitte, who was the creditor of many of the largest, was 

 involved in the same ruin with those he hod trusted. In this extremity, 

 desirous of meeting if possible every claim, he sold off all his private 

 property, still amounting to 50,000,000 francs. This surrender being 

 then deemed inadequate to liquidate his debts, Laffitte put up for sale 

 his hotel, iu which the new monarchy had been formed ; but to permit 

 this it was felt would be a national discredit : a subscription of 1,500.000 

 francs was raised, and his hotel preserved for his family. Subsequently, 

 when the exact state of his asaeti became known, he was found to have 

 a surplus of 8,000,000 francs, after the full discharge of his liabilities. 

 He died at Paris, May 26th 1844, and was buried at the cemetery of 

 Pere-la-Chaise on the 30th. His obsequies were attended by the elite 

 of the capital : Arago and Dupin delivered orations over his grave. 



LA FONTAINE. [FONTAINE, LA.] 



LAONY, THOMAS FANTET DE, a French mathematician, was 

 bora at Lyon in 1660, and dird at Paris 12th of April 1734. At an 

 early period bis scientific attainments led to his beiu< appointed 

 hydrographer royal at Rochefort. Subsequently be became sub- 

 director of the general bank of Paris, and lost the principal part of 

 his fortune by the failure of that establishment. His mathematical 

 labours appear to have been in a great measure directed to objects 

 of mere curiosity ; as an instance of which he occupied himself with 

 the quadrature of the circle, and computed the ratio of the circum- 

 ference to the diameter, as far as 120 decimal places, a degree of 

 approximation which could never be of any practical utility. Ho 

 however bos called forth the eulogium of Kontenelle, who, speaking 

 of his treatise on the ' Cubature of the Sphere,' says, " it is a choice 

 and singular production which only a great mathematician could have 

 written." His methods of facilitating the solution of indeterminate 

 problems are ingenious, and the theorems which he adcKd to the 

 u-ithmetic of sines are important. He was elected member of the 

 lioyal Academy of Paris iu 1696; associate-geometrician in 1699; 

 veteran pensioner in 1723 ; and fellow of the Royal Society of London 

 in 1718. The following is a list of his published works: 'New 

 Uethod of Extracting and Approximating to the Hoots of Quadratic 

 and Cubic Equations,' Paris, 1691, of which on enlarged edition was 

 published in the following year ; ' Elements of Arithmetic and 

 Algebra,' Paris, 1697; ' Cubature of the Sphere,' La Hochelle, 1702; 

 binary System of Arithmetic,' Rochefort, 1703; 'Analysis of the 

 New Methods of Resolving Problems,' Paris, 1733; besides numerous 

 memoirs in the Transactions of the Royal Academy. 



LAGRANGE, JOSEPH-LOUIS DE, was born at Turin, 25th 

 January 1736. His parents were Joseph-Luis Lagrange and Murie- 

 i'herese Grass, the daughter of a physician at Catubiauo. His father 

 leld the office of treasurer of war at Turin, and had once been in 

 iffluent circumstances, but had ruined himself by injudiciously enter- 

 ng into hazardous speculations. To this circumstance, which was 

 then regarded a* a misfortune, Lograuge himself lias frequently 

 attributed a considerable share of his subsequent fame and happiness. 

 " Had I been rich," he has been heard to say, " 1 should probably 

 not have become a mathematician." 



In the early part of hU studies he manifested no particular love 

 cither for the pure mathematics or the physical sciences. His chief 



