334 



LARKSPUR LASSO. 



Inhabitant of both continents. It is of a pale rufous 

 colour beneath, with the breast spotted with black ; 

 tail feathers blackish, the outer half white; the 

 second, while at lip. It is usually found in open 

 fields, cultivated gtounds, &c., near the water, and 

 feeds exclusively on insects. 



The meadow-lark, which Wilson classed with the 

 alanda, does not belong to this genus, being a 

 sftirnus, or rather a sturnella (Viell), a genus some- 

 what allied to alauila. See Meadow-Lark. 



LARKSPUR (delphinium) ; a genus of plants allied 

 to the ranunculus and columbine, distinguished by its 

 petaloid calyx, the superior leaflet of which terminates 

 in a long spur. The stem is herbaceous, bearing 

 alternate leaves, which are usually very much divided; 

 and the flowers are disposed in terminal racemes. 

 Some of the species are common in our gardens, 

 where they are cultivated for the beauty and brilliant 

 colours of their flowers, the prevailing tint of whicli 

 is blue. Fifty species are known, all belonging to 

 the northern hemisphere, and most of them to the 

 regions around the Mediterranean and Black seas. 

 Five only inhabit North America. 



LAROCHE-JACQUELIN. See Roche Jacquelin, 

 and La J'endee. 



LA ROMANA, MARQUIS DE. See Romano. 



LARTA. See Arta. 



LARVAE; a name given to evil spirits and appar- 

 itions, which, according to the notions of the Romans, 

 issued from their graves in the night, and came to 

 terrify the world. The word properly signifies a mask, 

 whose horrid and uncouth appearance serves to fright- 

 en children. See Lemures. 



LASCARIS; the name of two noble Greeks of the 

 fifteenth century, descendants of the imperial family, 

 and both natives of Constantinople, who, on the tak- 

 ing of that capital by the Turks, in 1453, fled to 

 Italy. 



Constantine, the elder, settled first at Milan, where 

 he was received into the grand-duke's household, as 

 tutor to his daughter. He afterwards visited Rome 

 and Naples, in which latter city he opened a school 

 of eloquence, and, finally, took up his abode at Mes- 

 sina, whither the fame of his literary attainments, 

 especially in the Greek language, attracted many 

 distinguished disciples, and, among others, the cele- 

 brated Pietro Bembo, afterwards known as the car- 

 dinal of that name. He was the author of a Greek 

 Grammar, and of some other works in that language 

 and in Latin, which were first printed at Milan, in 

 1476, and again at Venice, in 1495, at the Aldine 

 press. He died about the close of the century. 



John, the younger of the two, snrnamed Rhynda- 

 cenus, took up his residence at Padua, under the 

 protection of Lorenzo de' Medici, who distinguished 

 him by his favour, and despatched him into Greece, 

 to purchase valuable manuscripts. The sultan's 

 orders gained him access to the libraries, so that he 

 accomplished his mission much to the satisfaction of 

 his employer, and enriched the Florentine collection 

 with the fruits of his researches. In 1494, he quitted 

 Italy, ' and entered the service of Louis XII. of 

 France, who made him his envoy to the Venetian 

 senate ; but, on the elevation of John de' Medici to 

 the popedom, by the title of Leo X., Lascaris went 

 to Rome, at the invitation of that pontiff, and, on the 

 foundation of his Greek college there, was appointed 

 its first principal, and superintendent of the Greek 

 press. To promote the ends of this institution, of 

 which the ascertaining and preserving the true pro- 

 nunciation of the Greek language was one of the 

 chief, Lascaris made a second journey into Greece, 

 and brought back with him some youths of good 

 families, who were to communicate and receive 

 instruction. The remainder of his life was divided 



between Paris, where he assisted Francis I. in form- 

 ing the royal library, and Rome, in which latter 

 city he died of the gout, at the age of ninety, in 1535. 

 He published a translation of Polybius and of the 

 Argonautics of Apollonius, together with a Greek 

 Anthology (1494, folio); annotations on the works of 

 Sophocles and Homer; four of the plays of Euripides; 

 and a collection of epigrams and apophthegms in 

 Greek and Latin (Paris, 4to, 1527). 



LASCARS; native Indian sailors, many of whom 

 are in the service of the East India company. 



LAS CASAS. See Casus. 



LASCY, PETER, count de; a military officer, born 

 in Ireland, in 1678. After the conquest of Ireland 

 by William III., he entered the French service. After 

 the peace of Ryswick, he entered into the Austrian 

 army and served against the Turks. He was next 

 employed by the king of Poland, and then by Peter 

 the Great of Russia. In 1709, he was wounded at 

 Pultowa; and he assisted in the taking of Riga, of 

 which he was made governor. He was made a lieu- 

 tenant-general in 1720. Catharine I. appointed him 

 governor of Livonia. He died in 1751, having 

 attained the rank of field-marshal. The prince de 

 Ligne published a collection of the works, and a jour- 

 nal of the campaigns, of marshal Lascy. 



LASCY, JOSEPH FRANCIS MAURICE, count de, son 

 of the foregoing, was born at Petersburg, in 1725. 

 In 1744, he entered into the Austrian service, and 

 made a campaign in Italy. He gradually rose to 

 the rank of general, after having displayed his mili- 

 tary talents at the battles of Lowositz, Breslau, and 

 Hochkirchen ; and, in 1760, he penetrated to Berlin, 

 at the head of 15,000 men; for which bold exploit, 

 he was made a commander of the order of Maria 

 Theresa, and, in 1762 received the baton of marshal. 

 Under Joseph II., he was a member of the council 

 of war at Vienna, and was the author of the military 

 regulations adopted by that prince. He was employed 

 against the Turks in 1788, and again after the 

 death of Laudohn. He died at Vienna, November 

 30, 1801. 



LASHER (coitus scorpius}; a formidable-looking 

 and singular fish, belonging to the great order of 

 acanthopterygiens (Cuvier). It is about half a foot 

 long, having the head and anterior part much larger 

 in proportion than the posterior. The head is 

 blackish, the black variegated with pale and black 

 patches, placed transversely; sides divided by a 

 rough longitudinal line, below which they are yellow, 

 becoming whiter as they approach the belly. The 

 gill-covers and head are furnished with formidable 

 spines, which are capable of inflicting a painful 

 wound, which circumstances appears to have been 

 well known to the ancients : " Et capitis duro noci- 

 turus scorpius ictu.'' This fish lias the faculty of 

 swelling out its gill-covers and cheeks to an enor- 

 mous size. It is found in all parts of the northern 

 Atlantic ocean, being very frequent about Newfound- 

 land and the Eastern States, where it is called scal- 

 ping. In Greenland, it forms a favourite article of 

 food. 



LASS A; a city of Asia, the capital of Great Thi- 

 bet, little known to Europeans. It is chiefly distin- 

 guished as the residence of the Dalai-lama, or the 

 great head of the Shaman religion. Hence it is 

 usually crowded with royal and noble personages, 

 from all parts of Asia, who come to present their 

 homage, and to offer splendid presents to this 

 earthly divinity. Lon. 91* 6' E.; lat. 29 30' N. 

 See Lama. 



LASSO, ORLANDO m (Orlandus Lassus); one of 

 the greatest musicians of the sixteenth century. He 

 was bom at Mons, in Hainaut. in 1530. Thuanus 

 (De Thou) relates that he was carried otf^ while a 



