LOWENDAL LOW GERMAN. 



573 



per second each. In some instances, the whole 

 power is used at one operation, applied to wheels 

 of 30 feet diameter ; but more frequently the power 

 is divided into two distinct falls of 13 and 17 feet 

 each. The water power is held and disposed of by 

 a company. 



The quantity of cotton manufactured at Lowell, in 

 1831, is estimated at 17,000 bales, of 300 pounds 

 each. Population, by the census of 1830, 6477. 



LOWENDAL, ULRICH FREDERIC WOLDEMAR, 

 count of, great grandson of Frederic III., king of 

 Denmark, born 1700, at Hamburg, began his mili- 

 tary career in Poland (1713), became captain in 

 1714, and entered the Danish service, as a volun- 

 teer, during the war with Sweden. In 17 1 G, he 

 served in Hungary, and distinguished himself at the 

 battle of Peterwardein, and at the sieges of Temes- 

 war and Belgrade. He next took part in the wars 

 in Sardinia and Sicily, and was present at all the 

 battles from 1718 to 1721. During the peace, lie 

 studied gunnery and engineering, and was made 

 field-marshal and inspector-general of the Saxon 

 infantry in the service of Augustus, king of Poland. 

 The. death of this monarch (1733), gave hiin an op- 

 portunity of distinguishing himself by his valiant 

 defence of Cracow. Having entered the service of 

 the empress of Russia, she was so well satisfied with 

 his conduct in the Crimea and Ukraine, that she 

 appointed him commander of her forces. In 1743, 

 he was made lieutenant-general in the French ser- 

 vice, and, at the sieges of Menin, Ypres, and Fri- 

 burg, was conspicuous for his courage and skill. In 

 1745. he commanded the corps of reserve at the bat- 

 tle of Fontenoy, in which he took an honourable 

 share. After having taken many strong places in 

 Flanders, he obtained possession of Bergen-op-Zoom, 

 by storm, September 16, 1747. This place, till 

 then, had been considered impregnable, and was 

 occupied by a strong garrison, and covered by a 

 formidable army. The following day, he received 

 the staff of marshal. He died 1755. Lowendal was 

 thoroughly acquainted with engineering, geography, 

 and tactics, and spoke Latin, German, English, 

 Italian, Russian, and French, with fluency. With 

 these accomplishments, he combined modesty and 

 amiableness of disposition, though a devotee of 

 pleasure, like the marshal Saxe, his most intimate 

 friend, whom he also resembled in his application to 

 military studies. 



LOWER EMPIRE (Bas Empire); a term applied 

 to the Roman empire during the period of its de- 

 cline. From the establishment of the seat of govern- 

 ment at Byzantium (Constantinople), and the division 

 of the empire into the Eastern and Western, the 

 former is often called the Byzantine empire, and, 

 after the restoration of the Western or Latin empire, 

 under Charlemagne, the Greek empire. Lebeau's 

 Histoire du Bas Empire begins with the reign of 

 Constantine. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the 

 Roman Empire embraces the whole period. 



LOW GERMAN (in German, Plattdeutsch, Nie- 

 derdeutsch, Niedersdchsisch ; since the sixteenth 

 century, also Sassisch) is that softer German dialect, 

 which was formerly spoken over a great part of 

 Germany, and even now is the language of the 

 common people in most parts of North or Lower 

 Germany, and many of the educated rank use it 

 when they wish to be very familiar, or when they 

 address people of the classes before mentioned. In 

 some legal forms, it has maintained itself ; thus the 

 Hamburg oath of citizenship is in Low German 

 Recently, more attention has been directed to this 

 interesting dialect. It is not, as is sometimes sup 

 posed, a corrupted language, but a distinct dialect, 

 us much so as the high German, though circum 



stances have caused the latter to become the lan- 

 guage of literature and the educated classes. (See 

 the division German Language, in the article Ger- 

 many ; also Dialed.) It is difficult to decide which 

 of the two dialects, High and Low German, is the 

 more ancient. Probably, in very remote times, soon 

 after the first Asiatic tribes had entered Germany, 

 two chief dialects were formed a softer and a 

 harsher whilst one of the Asiatic nomadic tribes 

 went northward, and the other inclined to the south, 

 along the Danube. Diversities of climate, soil, and 

 way of living, may soon have exerted an important 

 influence on the dialects of the tribes. The rough 

 and woody mountains of the south of Germany, and 

 the warlike occupations of the dwellers on the banks 

 of the Danube, gave roughness and sharpness to the 

 speech of this region, whilst the open and plain 

 country of the north produced milder manners and 

 a softer language. Yet an entire separation of these 

 two dialects could not take place as long as the tribes 

 speaking them led a nomadic life ; and, even after 

 they had formed permanent settlements, much simi- 

 larity must have remained for a considerable time. 

 Hence we find, in the most ancient records of the 

 German language, a constant mixture of both the 

 chief dialects. (See the article jlnglo-Saxon.) The 

 time of their separation is not to be fixed with cer- 

 tainty. So much, however, is clear, that both dia- 

 lects, for a long time, were mixed, and, after their 

 total separation, existed for a long time independently 

 of each other the harsher dialect in the southern 

 part of Germany, in Austria, Bavaria, Franconia, 

 Suabia, on the Upper Rhine, and in part of Upper 

 Saxony ; the smoother in the north of Germany, 

 Lower Saxony, Westphalia, on the Lower Rhine, 

 and in all Belgium. 



The long and extended dominion of the Low Ger- 

 man dialect is proved by the number of idioms 

 derived from it. Of these the most important are, 

 I. the Anglo-Saxon (q. v.); 2. the Norman ; 3. the 

 Dutch, so called since the thirteenth century ; 4. the 

 Icelandic; 5. the Norwegian; 6. the Swedish; 7. 

 the Low Saxon, as spoken at present. That the 

 High German attained, nevertheless, at an early 

 period, a somewhat superior standing, was chiefly 

 owing to the circumstance, that the higher intellec- 

 tual cultivation of Germany must be dated from the 

 period of the Hohenstaufen or Suabian emperors, 

 and with them, consequently, the High German 

 gained the ascendency. When, on the other hand, 

 in the latter part of the twelfth century, at the time 

 of the emigration from Holland into Germany, the 

 Low German had become enriched from the Belgian 

 dialect of the emigrants, and the Hansa produced so 

 much activity in the North, Low German also 

 became, for some time, a literary language, and 

 affords works of much repute, particularly the in- 

 comparable Renard the Fox. But Luther's transla- 

 tion of the Bible gave predominance to the High 

 German, and a natural consequence was, that, whilst 

 this became the exclusive language of literature, 

 Low German was checked in its development, and 

 was obliged to give way to its rival in courts, 

 churches, schools, and the circles of the well edu. 

 cated. In a few parts of the country only, it main- 

 tained its ground in works both of a spiritual and 

 secular character, down to the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, as in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, 

 Westphalia. As the language of the people, 

 Low German still exists, but in a great number 

 of different dialects, which, in several respects, 

 differ considerably. A supercilious disparagement 

 of this dialect, as if it were a mere corrup- 

 tion of the High German, has led many Ger- 

 man scholars to neglect it entirely ; and they 



