815 



LELY, SIR PETER. 



LENFANT, JACQUES. 



the constancy and the energy with which the author, approaching his 

 seventieth year in poverty and exile, has devoted himself to researches 

 which are generally the luxury of a learned leisure. As a bibliographer 

 Lelewel is also a writer of note, but his work on the subject was an 

 early one. Much information not to be found elsewhere is contained 

 in his ' Bibliograficznych Ksiag Dwoje,' ('A Pair of Books of Biblio- 

 graphy ') 2 vola. 8vo, Wilna, 1823-26, in which he enters at length into 

 the history of printing and of libraries in Poland, and has some 

 judicious observations on the arrangement and cataloguing in libraries, 

 objects to which his attention had been drawn when in early life 

 librarian for a short period of the University library of Warsaw. 



LELY, SIR PETER, or PETER VANDER FAES, was born in 

 1617, at Soest in Westphalia. He was placed, at what age does not 

 appear, under Peter Orebber at Haarlem, an artist of considerable 

 merit, whose school was in high esteem, and with whom he continued 

 two years. Lely acquired great reputation by his portraits, and was 

 appointed state painter to King Charles II., who probably became 

 acquainted with him when he was in Holland. He is especially 

 admired for his talent in giving a pleasing representation of female 

 beauty. His pencil was light and delicate, his colouring beautiful, the 

 tone warm, clear, and full, and his execution often spirited. The airs 

 of his heads and his 6gures are graceful, and the attitudes easy though 

 somewhat affected ; and it must be confessed that he too frequently 

 conveys an expression considerably removed from mental purity or 

 delicacy. The hands of his figures are painted with remarkable care 

 and delicacy. His draperies are arranged, with an appearance of 

 negligence, in broad folds. He sometimes gave his pictures a land- 

 scape background in a style well calculated to give relief to his figures. 

 He occasionally painted historical pictures, one of the best of which 

 is a representation of ' Susannah and the Elders,' at Burleigh House. 

 His most celebrated performance is the series of portraits of the 

 beauties of the Court of King Charles II., preserved at Hampton Court, 

 and in which his immodest pencil found ample scope. Lely equally 

 excelled as a crayon painter, and his portraits in that style are esteemed 

 little inferior to his paintings in oil. He died in England in 1680, at 

 the age of sixty-three. 



LEMOINE, FRANCOIS, a celebrated French painter of the 18th 

 century, was born at Paris in 1688. He was the pupil of Louis Gal- 

 loche, early distinguished himself, and in 1718 was elected a member 

 of the Royal Academy of Painting ; his presentation-piece was an 

 excellent picture of Hercules killing Cacus. He obtained a great 

 reputation by his painting, in oil, of the 'Transfiguration of Christ" 

 on tho ceiling of the choir of the church des Jacobins, Rue du Bacq. 

 In 1724 Lemoine visited Italy, where he remained for a year ; the 

 artists whoso works chiefly attracted his attention were Pietro da 

 Cortona, Lanfranco, and Bernini. After his return to France he was 

 made professor of painting in the Academy, ami in a very few years 

 his reputation surpassed that of all his Parisian contemporaries. 

 Louis XV. appointed him in 1736 his principal painter, with a salary 

 of 4100 francs, in the place of Louis de Boullogne, deceased. The 

 firet of Lemoine's great works was the cupola of the chapel of the 

 Virgin in St. Sulpice, in fresco, which he commenced in 1729 a work 

 of three years' labour. His master-piece however is the ' Apotheosis 

 of Hercules," painted in oil on canvas pasted on the ceiling of the 

 Salon d'Hercule at Versailles, commenced in 1732 and finished in 

 1736. It is a composition on a grand scale, containing 142 figures, 

 bat in a florid and superficial style, and, like the works of his model, 

 Pietro da Cortona, belongs to the class of works called " pittura di 

 macchina" by the Italians. The composition is arranged in nine 

 groups, is vigorous and effective in arrangement, colour, and light, 

 and especially in aerial perspective; but it is a purely decorative 

 work, and is effective only as a whole : the parts have little individual 

 merit, and the drawing wants correctness, expression, and distinctive 

 character. Lemoine used on tho ground of this picture the blue 

 vault of heaven ultramarine to the value of 10,000 francs : it is 

 sixty-four feet by fifty-four. 



After the completion of this great work he was without a rival in 

 France, but he never enjoyed his success. He was naturally of a 

 melancholy temperament, which tho loss of his wife, and vexation 

 arising from the detractions of his lesa successful contemporaries, 

 aggravated to such a degree that it amounted to a chronic aberration 

 of intellect, and he destroyed himself in one of these nervous fits, 

 June 4th, 1737, ten months after the termination of his great work at 

 Versailles. 



Lemoine painted also many easel-pieces, both of large and of very 

 small dimensions, and the latter have realised high prices at auctions : 

 a ' Flight into Egypt ' is considered his best easel-piece. Many of his 

 works have been engraved by some of the best French engravers, as 

 L. Cars, N. Cochin, H. S. Thomassin, Silvestre, Larmessin, Et. Fessard, 

 Ac. Boucher, Natoire, and Nonotte, distinguished painters, were 

 the pupils of Lemoine. 



LEMON, MARK, author, dramatist, Ac., was born in London 

 November 30th, 1809, and educated at the grammar-school, Cheam, 

 Surrey. Mr. Lemon is a distinguished exception to the common-place 

 discovery of biographies that the man who is the subject, originally 

 misappreciated his own genius. On the contrary, Mr. Lemon's earliest 

 literary efforts (childish tragedies of course excepted) were in tho 

 lighter drama ; and by these, and by later successes of the same kind, 



ie ia best known. He is the author of about sixty plays of various 

 description, farces and melodramas principally ; in many of which his 

 labours were shared by Mr. Henry Mayhew. ' The School for Tigers," 

 ' The Serious Family," ' The Ladies Club,' and many of the remaining 

 fifty-seven need not be mentioned to the present generation ; and if 

 the future dues not hear of them it will be the defect of the system of 

 writing plays for particular actors. On the establishment of ' Punch,' 

 Mr. Lemon became one of its editors, and in two years afterwards sole 

 editor. His name is familiar to the public from the pages of the 

 ' Illuminated Magazine' and other serials, some of his contributions to 

 which have since been collected and republished under the modest 

 title of ' Prose and Verse." Mr. Lemon has also published ' The 

 Enchanted Doll,' a Christmas fairy tale for children. He is literary 

 editor of, and a large contributor to, the ' Illustrated London News," 

 where ' M. L. ' may constantly be found appended to pleasant sketches 

 and graceful verses. 



L'ENCLOS, NINON DE, was born in 1616, of a noble though not 

 very rich family of Touraine. Her mother wished to make her a nun, 

 but her father, who was a man of pleasure, directed his daughter's 

 ideas in a very different course, giving her very Ipose notions of 

 morality, and preparing her to be, what she became in reality, a 

 devotee to sensual gratification. She lost both her parents at an early 

 age, and finding herself her own mistress, with a moderate independ- 

 ence, she fixed her residence at Paris. Being remarkably handsome 

 and graceful, she was courted by most of the noblemen and wits about 

 court, was very indulgent to all whom she liked, and had a numerous 

 and often renewed succession of favourites. She is eaid to have been 

 perfectly disinterested in her amours, being herself above want, and 

 having neither ambition nor a passion for hoarding money. Such was 

 the tone of morality in France in that age, that modest women 

 courted her society, which was considered a model of elegance and 

 fashion ; among others, Madame de la Fayette, Madame de Sully, 

 and Madame Scarron (afterwards Madame de Maintenon), often visited 

 her. Christina of Sweden, during her residence in France, was much 

 pleased with her company, and wished to attach her to her little 

 court; but Mademoiselle de 1'Enclos preferred her independence. 

 She is eaid to have retained her attractions to a very advanced age, 

 and to have been the object of a violent attachment at seventy. She 

 was good-tempered and liberal, witty and accomplished. Some of her 

 letters to St. Evremonrl, which are found in the works of that author, 

 and have been published separately in the ' Lettres de Femmcs 

 Cclebres,' edited by L. Collin, 1805, are the only authentic memorials 

 of her pen ; other works have been attributed to her, which are 

 apocryphal. She died in Paris in 1706, at ninety years of age. 



LENFANT, JACQUES, was born at Bazoche in Beaure, a district 

 of the ancient province of Orle";innois in France, on the 13th of April 

 1661, and was the son of Paul Lenfant, the Protestant minister of 

 Chatillon-sur-Seine. Being destined to the same profession as his 

 father, he was sent to prosecute his studies at Saumur ; and during 

 his residence at that university he lived with the learned Jacques 

 Cassel, the professor of Hebrew, with whom he formed a friendship 

 which continued during their lives. He completed hig theological 

 education at Geneva aiid Heidelberg, in which latter town he was 

 admitted into the ministry of the Protestant church during the 

 month of August 1684. Soon after his ordination he obtained the 

 appointment of minister of tho French church at Heidelberg, and 

 ch:t plain to the Dowager Electress Palatine. The invasion of the 

 Palatinate by the French troops, under Marshal Turenne [ TURENNE], 

 compelled Lenfaut to leave Heidelberg in 1638, and he settled at 

 Berlin. The fear of meeting his countrymen aroae from having 

 rendered himself obnoxious to the Jesuits by two letters which he 

 had written against that society, and which are appended to his 

 work entitled ' A Preservative against a re-union with the Church of 

 Rome." Though the Protestant French church of that city had 

 already a sufficient number of pastors attached to it, the reigning 

 Elector of Brandenburg, Frederic, afterwards King of Prussia, who 

 knew Lenfant by reputation, appointed him to that church, where 

 for upwards of thirty-nine years he performed duty. In the year 

 1705 he married Mademoiselle Gourgaud de Verones, a French lidy 

 from Poi'.ou. In 1707 he visited England, aud it is said that he was 

 admitted to preach before Queen Aune ; it is further stated that the 

 queen wished him to enter the Church of England, and offered him, 

 in case he resolved to do so, to appoint him her chaplain. In 1710 

 he obtained the situation of chaplain to the King of Prussia, and 

 councillor of the high consistory. Lenfant was suddenly attacked 

 with paralysis, while in the apparent enjoyment of perfect health, on 

 the 29th of July 1728, and he died on the 7th of August following. 



His disposition is represented to have been extremely amiable, and 

 his manner simple and modest. Of a reflective turn of mind, he 

 spoke but little, and that little well. Though a most voluminous 

 writer, he was fond of society, and opened himself without reserve 

 to the confidence of his friends. As a preacher, his manner was 

 pleasing and persuasive ; the matter of his discourse was chiefly of a 

 practical nature, and his eloquence was rather chaste than energetic. 

 The style of his writing is elegant, though never florid ; it has less 

 force than that of Jurieu [Juniuu], and less eloquence than that of 

 Saurin [SAUBIN], but the French in more pure, and tho diction more 

 chaste. It ia not certain whether he was the first to form the design 



