lifi 



LF.RMA LESBOS. 



diflerent diseases. The elephantiasis is sometimes 

 called Itprosy of the Arabt. The leprosy of t/i<- ./.;<.< 

 b distinguished by white, cutaneous spots, comi>n-e.l 

 of smaller spots, which appear .sometimes in one place 

 ami sometimes in another, nntl are covered with a 

 rough scaly matter. It appears to have been the 

 Xti/* of the (Jreek writers. The Greek leprosy is 

 characterised by hard, insensible tubercles, which 

 appear upon the skin, and are accompanied by a pro- 

 gressive insensibility, and the loss of the voice. It 

 is endemic in Egypt, Java, and some parts of Norway 

 and Sweden. The use of unhealthy articles of food 

 seems to be one of its causes. It is hereditary and 

 contagious. It was introduced into Western Europe 

 in the time of the crusades, but has gradually dis- 

 appeared. The tubercles which characterize leprosy 

 appear in different parts of the skin : they are hard, 

 rough and numerous, and cause the loss of the hair 

 at the places where they appear. They finally ter- 

 minate in ulcers, which penetrate even to the bone, 

 producing a caries. They also cause the separation 

 of parts of the body, the toes and fingers, for example, 

 dropping off. These symptoms are accompanied with 

 a languor in the motions, a dulness of the senses, a 

 change of the voice, offensive breath, and lethargy. 

 There are three sorts of leprosy the squamous, or 

 scaly, the crustaceous, in wluch the skin is covered 

 with crusts, and the tuberculous. The remedy re- 

 commended for this disgusting disease is light food, 

 such as vegetables, soups, milk : sulphur baths, 

 sudorific drinks, mercury, are sometimes prescribed. 

 But all remedies are too frequently unavailing. In 

 the middle ages, leprosy, under all the forms of 

 disease to which this term has been applied, seems 

 to have been very common and general. It should, 

 however, be observed, that almost all cutaneous 

 disorders were considered as of a leprous nature, and 

 treated as such. From the sixth to the fifteenth 

 century, these loathsome disorders attracted the 

 attention of lawgivers and of the benevolent, and we 

 find numerous ordinances relating to lepers, affecting 

 their civil rights, and great numbers of lazar-houses 

 in all the countries of Europe. In the historians of 

 those times, therefore, we are to consider the word 

 leprosy as used indiscriminately of all cutaneous dis- 

 eases ; and we may well be astonished and shocked 

 to find that all such patients were treated somewhat 

 after the manner prescribed in Leviticus for the 

 Jewish leprosy. They were, in fact, treated as civilly 

 dead : their funeral obsequies were performed, and 

 masses said for the benefit of their souls. Their 

 marriage ties were dissolved, but a leper might enter 

 into a new connexion with a person who was also 

 afflicted with the disease. They were allowed to 

 enter the cities at certain seasons, but were required 

 to give notice of their approach by sounding a rattle. 

 The consequences of such a treatment may be easily 

 imagined. The improved condition of the lower 

 classes, in food, clothing, and manner of living in 

 general, and the advancement of medical science, 

 have contributed to eradicate this loathsome and 

 disgusting malady. 



LERMA, FRANCIS DE ROXAS DE SANDOVAL, duke 

 de, first minister of Philip III. of Spain, was marquis 

 of Denia, when he was appointed equerry to the 

 Infant don Philip, over whom he acquired such influ- 

 ence, that, when the prince ascended the throne, in 

 1598, he made him his favourite and prime minister. 

 He concluded peace with Britain and Holland, and 

 endeavoured to relieve the embarrassed state of the 

 finances, by encouraging agriculture; but his measures 

 were ill-contrived. After the death of his wife, he 

 took the ecclesiastical habit, and obtained a cardinal's 

 hat, which he conceived would protect him in the I 

 possession of his power. But he was deceived ; for 1 



his own son, the duke D'Uzeda, contrived to supplant 

 him in the king's favour, and succeeded to his post 

 on his being dismissed, in 1618. He was accused, 

 without any proltability, of having employed his 

 secretary, Roueric Calderon, to poison the queen. 

 For this imaginary crime, Calderon was executed in 

 the next reign. The duke of Lerma died in reti'-e- 

 inent, in 1625. 



LESAGE, ALAIN RENE; a celebrated French 

 novelist and dramatic writer. He was born May 8, 

 1668, at Sarzeau, a small town in Brittany, and was 

 the son of a lawyer, who held an office in the royal 

 court of Rhuys. His father dying in 1682, lie was 

 placed under the guardianship of an uncle, wtio 

 dissipated the fortune of his ward. He studied at 

 the college of the Jesuits, at Vannes, after which he 

 appears to have been employed in his native province 

 for five or six years. In 1692, he went to Paris to 

 study philosophy, and also to solicit some employ- 

 ment. His talents and manners procured him admis- 

 sion into the best society, where his wit and taste for 

 elegant literature rendered his company very accept- 

 able. His first literary undertaking was a translation 

 from the Greek of the Letters of Aristenaetus (1695). 

 Established as a resident in the capital, he was 

 admitted an advocate of parliament ; and the abbe 

 De Lyonne gave him a pension of 600 livres. He 

 studied the Spanish language, and produced a multi- 

 tude of translations or imitations of Castilian dramas 

 and romances. Two of his comedies were published 

 in 1700, and a third was acted in 1702; but it was 

 not till 1707, when his Crispin, Rival de son Maitre, 

 appeared, that he established his reputation as a 

 theatrical writer. His success as a novelist has most 

 contributed to make him known to foreigners. Le 

 Diable Boiteux, the title of which has been oddly 

 translated " The Devil upon two Sticks," became 

 extremely popular ; and Gil Bias de SantiUane (1715) 

 has furnished a model for numberless imitations in 

 various countries and languages. Lesage projected 

 a translation of the Orlando of Ariosto, and published, 

 in 1717 21, Roland VAmoureux, from Boiardo, as 

 an introduction to the former, which was never 

 executed. In 1732, he published Les Aventures de 

 Guzman d'Alfarache (two vols., Igmo) ; and, the 

 following year, Les Aventures de Robert, dit le 

 Chevalier de Beauchesne (two vols., 12mo), containing 

 the real history of a freebooter, from papers fur- 

 nished by his widow. In 1734, appeared UHistoire 

 d j Estevanille Gonzales (two vols., 12mo); and, in 1735, 

 an amusing dialogue, entitled Une Journce des 

 Parques (12mo). The last of his novels was Le 

 Bachelier de Salamanyue, which La Harpe considers 

 as inferior to all the preceding. He did not cease 

 writing, but, in 1740, produced a collection of satirical 

 letters, under the title of La Valise trouvee, and, in 

 1743, a volume of anecdotes. In the year last men- 

 tioned, he retired to Boulogne, where he died Nov. 

 17, 1747. Lesage produced a great number of 

 comic pieces for the theatre, seven of which he 

 published in his Theatre Francaise (1739, two vols., 

 12mo), including Crispin Rival de son Maitre, and 

 Turcaret, intended as a satire on the farmers-general. 

 Notwithstanding his talents, and the success of his 

 numerous compositions, the author of Gil Bias was 

 by no means rich, owing to a carelessness and 

 liberality of disposition, which prevented him from 

 soliciting the great for employments, or from steadily 

 accumulating the products of his literary industry. 



LESBOS (now Metclin, from the former capital, 

 Mitylene, once the residence of Aristotle, now a 

 Turkish fortress); a Greek island, 137 miles in cir- 

 cumference, containing 260 square miles, 40,000 

 inhabitants, for the most part Turks, in the northern 

 corner of the /Egcan sea (the Archipelago), on the 



