LISLE, WILLIAM DE. 



LITTLETON, THOMAS. 



was the fint who fall under the castigation of hi* pen. After this he 

 became private McreUry to Qrheimenratb. von Blame, from which 

 time nothing on be traced reipecting him till he entered the service 

 of Von Heinecker at Dresden. Under this accomplished and generous 

 patron he might have passed hia dayi in tranquillity, had not his love 

 of ridicule prevailed over his prudence. Having offended the English 

 minuter at that court by Borne sarcasma, he drew upon himself tlio 

 resentment of the all-powerful Count Bruhl, who caused him to be 

 nent as a state-prisoner to Eilenburg, where he died shortly after, 

 October 30th, 1760. Some however have questioned the truth of his 

 having bem in confinement. 



Posterity has been more just to Liscov'g merits than were his con- 

 temporaries. His satire waa directed only against presumption and 

 folly, and was besides far more general than personal, certainly impar- 

 tial, and without any respect to persons, for a powerful offender was in 

 hU eves no more than the meanest. That ho possessed no ordinary 

 ability for politics may well be conceived when we find Pott, the 

 editor of a posthumous work of his, saying that had Count Bruhl 

 listened to Liscov's advice, Germany would have been spared the 

 Seven Yean' War. The first complete edition of his works was pub- 

 lished by Kriegrath Muchler, in 3 vols. 8vo, Berlin, 1806. Of several 

 of these pieces the titles will convey eome notion of the subjects : 

 ' On the Excellence and Usefulness of Bad Writers ; ' ' On the Useless- 

 ness of Good Works towards Salvation ; ' and the ' Inaugural Discourse 

 f the learned J. E. P., &c., at the Academy of Small Wits ; together 

 with the Reply of that eminent Society.' Liscov's own Apology for 

 his satirical attacks is admirable. 



LISLE, WILLIAM DE. [DELISLE.] 



LISTA Y ARAGON, ALBERTO, an eminent Spanish mathema- 

 tician, poet, and critic, was born at Triana, a suburb of Seville, in 1775, 

 on the 15th of October, the day which as he delighted to remember was 

 also the birthday of his favourite poet Virgil. His parents were iu 

 humble circumstances, and engaged in silk-weaving, and in his early 

 yean Lista was himself obliged to work at the trade, but lie soon dis- 

 played such talents for mathematics, that by the time he was thirteen 

 he waa already enabled to earn his own living by giving lessons to 

 pupils. As he went about from one house to another for this purpose, 

 he filled up the intervals by playing with the other boys in the streets. 

 At fifteen be was made teacher of mathematics in the schools of the 

 focitty of ' Amigos del Pais,' and at twenty nominated by the king to 

 the same office in the nautical college of San Telmo at Seville. 

 Before that time he had studied philosophy, theology, and canon law 

 (it the university, and he had also devoted himself to the priesthood. 

 This however did not prevent him from engaging in private theatri- 

 cals, and gaining applause in some of the principal characters in Lope 

 and Caldtron. At that period there were four young men in S< -ville 

 nthnsiastic in their devotion to literature and intimate personal 

 friends, Arjona, Keyno-o, Lista, and Don Jose' Maria Blanco, after- 

 wards so well-known in England by the name of Blanco White. 



In 1808, soon after Liata's appointment to the professorship of 

 poetry and rhetoric at the University of Seville, the French invasion 

 brought rain to every literary circle in the peninsula. Lista at first 

 joined with Blanco in continuing the ' Semanario Patriotico,' begun 

 by Quintana, but his firmness appears afterwards to have failed him. 

 Wheu the French entered Seville he remained, and while improvising 

 patriotic odes on the victory of Baylen, he allowed himself to earn 

 the compliments of Soult by the skill with which, under compulsion, 

 he turned the French proclamations into excellent Spanish. The 

 consequence was that when the French armies wore driven out of the 

 country in 1818, Lista found himself obliged to keep them company, 

 and spent some years in France as a teacher of Spanish and also as a 

 curate, occasionally venturing to preach in French, though he could 

 never conquer the Spanish accent In 1817 he was allowed to re-enter 

 Spain, and after passing a few years in the provinces as a teacher of 

 mathematics, was established in 1820 nt Madrid as, in conjunction 

 with Hermosilla and Minano, editor of the magazine 'El Ceusor,' one 

 of the btst periodicals Spain has ever produced. In 1822 he pub- 

 linhed his poems with a dedication to Blanco White, under the name 

 of ' Albino.' They at once placed their author among the first poets 

 of modern Spain. Not long after he established a sort of private 

 college at Madrid, the reputation of which rose singularly high, and 

 bad the effect of exposing him to many annoyances on the part of 

 the government Among the pupils of Lista at different periods of 

 his life are found the names of Duran, Esproncede, Ventura de la 

 Vega, Roca de Togoree, and many others of peninsular eminence. He 

 became, so dispirited at the obstacles thrown in his way by the 

 authorities, that he finally left the country and established himself at 

 Bayounc, where he published a ' Oaceta de Bayona ' in Spanish, which 

 supported him by its circulation in Spain till it was prohibited by the 

 ministry. He then went to reside at Paris, and while there paid a 

 visit of a fortnight to London for the exclusive purpose of renewing 

 his intercourse with his old frieinl White, then a minister of the 

 Church of England, resident at Oxford. When the frieuds met their 

 emotion wan so great that both were for some time unable to speak. 

 Soon after, in 1833, the writer, whose 'Oaceta de Bayona' had been 

 forbiddi n to enter Spain, was summoned home to edit the ' Oaceta 

 <'e Madrid," where his leading articles were so highly approved, that 

 King Ferdinand offered him iu recompense the bishopric of Astorga, 



which he declined in favour of his friend Torres Amat, the biographer 

 of Catalan authors. From this time his life flowed through a series 

 of honours. When in 1837 he resigned the editorship of the 'Gazette,' 

 he became professor of mathematics at Madrid, and helped to establish 

 the 'Athenaeum,' or university' there. His health suffered by the 

 climate of Madrid, and he removed to Cadiz, where he superintended 

 the new college of St Philip Neri. In 1810 he gave this up, and 

 returned to his native Seville, on his road to which he was met at 

 two leagues off by a procession of frienda and admirers to escort him 

 in. He again accepted in hia old age the profe-sor-hip of mathe- 

 matics in the city where his early triumphs had been won, and 

 there he died on the 5th of October 1848. The municipality of 

 Seville decreed that one of the streets in which he had often played 

 when a boy should bear henceforth the name of ' Calle de Don Alberto 

 l.i i i.' 



Lista was an author of very various merit, his ' Tratado de Mate- 

 maticas puras y mixtai' is the standard book on mathematics in 

 Spain, and his amorous and anacreontic poetry is considered little 

 inferior to that of the admired Melendez. His philosophic poems in 

 the style of Horace are peculiarly happy, and his sacred poems are 

 superior to those of any of his contemporaries. As a literary critic 

 his 'Lecciones de Literature dramatica Etpanola' (Madrid, 1339), 

 and his ' Ensayos literarios y cnticos ' (2 vols., Seville, 1844) are in 

 high esteem, and contain a fund of valuable information for foreigners; 

 and he has also displayed his intimate acquaintance with the literature 

 of his country in an excellent collection of selected extracts, ' Trozos 

 escogidos de los mejores hablistas Espa&oles en prosa y verso.' A 

 translation of Scgur's French work on universal history, which he 

 executed when in France, has a title to be mentioned from the 

 numerous additions it contains, including among others, a history of 

 Spain to a late period. As a political writer he was distinguish <i by 

 his advocacy of moderate and cautious reforms ; and it should be 

 mentioned that among his poems is one entitled ' The Triumph of 

 Tolerance,' directed against the Inquisition. 



LISTER, JOSEPH JACKSON, a merchant in London, eminent for 

 his knowledge of mathematics and the science of optics. Mr. Lister 

 is one of that band of distinguished men who, although engiged in 

 commercial pursuits, uphold the honour of Englaud in the culture 

 and pursuit of those branches of natural science which are almost 

 wholly neglected in our universities. Mr. Lister is a member of the 

 Society of Friends, and from an early period of his life wai attached 

 to the study of natural history. This led him to the use of tbe micro- 

 scope. At that time, on account of the imperfect construction of the 

 lenses, compound microscopes were scarcely ever employed for pur- 

 poses of observation. The lenses wera however gradually improved 

 by M. Lelligues, Mr. Tulley, and Professor Amici, BO as to correct to 

 a certain extent the chromatic and spherical aberrations which had 

 hitherto prevented the use of this mure powerful form of the micro- 

 scope. The arrangements made were however of on entirely practical 

 nature, and several eminent mathematicians, as Sir John Herschel, 

 Professor Airy, Professor Barlow, and Mr. Coddiugtou, attempted to 

 solve the difficulty. It was at this time that the subject occupied the 

 attention of Mr. Lister. Being practically acquainted with the 

 microscope, and possessing the necessary mathematical knowledge, he 

 succeeded in forming a combination of lenses which proved perfectly 

 achromatic, and possessed the great quality of a sufficient aperture to 

 admit of observation over a very considerable field. The results of his 

 investigations were published in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' for 

 the year 1829. [MICROSCOPE, in Aura AND SCIENCES Div.J 



It has been allowed by all engaged in microscopic investigation, 

 that this paper laid the foundations of a perfect microscope, and led 

 to the unparalleled series of discoveries which has been made since 

 that period by its use. Although Mr. Lister has not published anything 

 further on the structure of this instrument than the paper referred 

 to, he has been unceasing in his efforts to perfect its construction. He 

 has accordingly rendered his aid to the great London makers, and 

 these English instruments have a perfection that it seems almost 

 impossible to improve, as the execution of the instrument equals its 

 theoretical possibility. It is of very few human instruments that 

 this can be said, and it is undoubtedly owing to that rare combination 

 of theoretical knowledge and practical skill possessed by Mr. Lister 

 that this has been accomplished. 



In the same modest manner has Mr. Lister made himself known as 

 an observer as he had previously done as an inventor. In the ' Philo- 

 sophical Transactions' for 1834 lie published a paper 'On the Structure 

 and Functions of Tubular and Cellular Polypi and Ascidiic.' He here 

 describes not only a new species but a new genus of Aeciiliau Mollusca ; 

 he however left it for others to give it a name, and Professor Wieg- 

 maun called it Perophora Luteri. It is the typo of a very interesting 

 group of the Ascidiou Mollusca, and the late Professor K. Forbes, in 

 his work on the British Mollusca, draws attention to Mr. Lister's 

 description as distinguished for the " minute accuracy " with which 

 it is drawn up. Mr. Lister was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 in 1832. 



LITTLETON, THOMAS, was the eldest son of Thomas Wcstcote, 

 of the county of Devon, Esq., by Elizabeth, the daughter and sole 

 heiress of Thomas Littleton, or Luttleton, Luttelton, or Lyttelton 

 (the last being the mode in which he himself appears to have written 



