LUCAYAS LUCCHESINI 



077 



when Lucan ventured to enter the lists as his rival, 

 with a poem upon Orpheus, and the auditors ad- 

 judged him the superiority. From that time, Nero 

 looked upon Lucan with hatred, forbade him to make 

 his appearance in public, and spoke of his works 

 with derision and contempt. This induced Lucan to 

 conspire against him, with several distinguished per- 

 sons, of whom Piso was the head. The plot was 

 discovered, and Lucan, who, according to the asser- 

 tion of an old grammarian, was so unnatural as to 

 inform against his own mother as accessary, was con- 

 demned to death. He chose the death of his uncle, 

 and had his veins opened. He died in the twenty- 

 seventh year of his age. Of his poems, only his 

 Fharsalia has come down to us, in which he narrates 

 the events of the civil war between Cassar and Pom- 

 pey. The poem is unfinished, and is frequently dis- 

 figured with harshness and obscurity in the expres- 

 sion, rhetorical bombast, and exaggerated figures ; 

 but these defects are, at least in part, compensated 

 by a nobleness of sentiment, and a love of freedom, 

 which run through the whole work, and some pas- 

 sages are truly poetical. The best editions are the 

 Variorum (Leyden, 1658, 8vo), Oudendorp's (Ley- 

 den, 1728, 2 vols., 4to), Burmann's (Leyden, 1740, 

 4to), and Weder's, with the notes of Bentley and 

 Grotius (Leipsic, 1819, 2 vols.) Lucan has been 

 translated into English by Rowe. 



LUCAYAS. See Bahamas. 



LUCCA ; a city and duchy in Italy, originally a 

 colony of the Romans, which, on the fall of the Lom- 

 bard kingdom (774), was added by Charlemagne to 

 his territories, and annexed by Otho I. (the Great) 

 to his German dominions. During the middle ages, 

 it was repeatedly sold by its masters, on account of 

 the liberal principles of its citizens. Louis of Bavaria 

 appointed the brave Castruccio Castracani duke of 

 Lucca, but this dignity became extinct at his death. 

 After many changes of its tyrants, having been sold 

 to Florence, Lucca finally obtained its freedom, in 

 1370, of^the emperor Charles IV., for 200,000 guil- 

 ders. Though often at war with Florence, it main- 

 tained its independence until the time of Napoleon, 

 under the government of a gonfaloniers and a coun- 

 cil. The French obliged it to adopt a new constitu- 

 tion, and, in 1797, it was united with Piombino, and 

 given to Bacciocchi, brother-in-law of Napoleon, as 

 a principality. In 1815, the Austrians took posses- 

 sion of it, and, by an act of the congress of Vienna, 

 it was granted to the Infanta Maria Louisa, daughter 

 of king Charles IV. of Spain, and widow of the king 

 of Etruria, with the title of a duchy, and with com- 

 plete sovereignty. To the revenue of the country 

 (700,000 guilders), an annuity of 500,000 francs was 

 added, which Austria and Tuscany bound themselves 

 to pay. In case of the .extinction of the family of the 

 Infanta, or its transference to any other throne, the 

 duchy of Lucca is to be united to Tuscany. Maria 

 Louisa accepted the government in 1818, after the 

 reversion of Parma was secured to her. 



The duchy of Lucca (413 square miles, 137,500 

 inhabitants) is Ixwnded by the Mediterranean, Mod- 

 ena, and Tuscany, and, although the soil is not uni- 

 versally fertile, the people are in good condition. 

 The Apennines stretch along its boundaries ; in 

 other parts it is well cultivated. The Serchio is not 

 navigable, and is only used for floating down wood. 

 It forms the beautiful Val di Serchio. The produc- 

 tions are corn (not sufficient to supply the inhabi- 

 tants), great quantities of fruit, as olives, chestnuts, 

 almonds, oranges, lemons, figs, and mulberries. It 

 also yields good wine ; olives form the richest agri- 

 cultural produce ; the oil of Lucca is the best of 

 Italy. The cultivation of silk, and the raising of 

 cattle, are also lucrative. The legislative power of 



the duke is limited by a senate, which he annually 

 assembles. 



Lucca, the capital, and ducal residence (with 

 18,000 inhabitants, on the river Serchio, in a fertile 

 plain, encompassed by hills, which are covered with 

 olive trees, and, at the summits, with oak and fir 

 trees), is surrounded with ramparts planted with 

 trees, and forming a beautiful walk. The streets 

 are generally crooked and narrow; the churches and 

 public buildings plain. The cathedral is large, but 

 in a bad style; the palace is old, and without beauty. 

 The Accademia degli Oscuri, founded in 1584, was 

 reorganized in 1805, under the title Accademia Luc- 

 chesina di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, by prince Baccioc- 

 chi. Here is also a university with an observatory. 

 It is the see of an archbishop, and contains two large 

 woollen and considerable silk manufactories. The 

 inhabitants carry on a trade in oil and silk, and are 

 actively engaged in agriculture. The beautiful en- 

 virons of the town are adorned with country seats. 

 In the vicinity are a mineral bath and the harbour of 

 Viareggio. 



LUCCHESINI, GIROLAMO, marquis of, formerly 

 Prussian minister of state, descended from a patrician 

 family of Lucca, where he was born in 1752, was 

 introduced by the abbe Fontana to Frederic II., 

 about 1778, who took him into his service as librarian, 

 with the title of a chamberlain. Lucchesini, the 

 literary friend of Frederic II., first received a diplo- 

 matic appointment under his successor, being sent to 

 Warsaw, where, at the opening of the council of 

 state, in 1788, he exerted himself with great activity, 

 encouraged the advocates of independence against 

 Russia, and, in March, 1790, brought about an alli- 

 ance between Prussia and Poland. In 1791, he was 

 present at the congress of Reichenbach, in the capa- 

 city of a plenipotentiary, for effecting, in conjunction 

 with the British and Dutch ministers, a peace be- 

 tween the Turks and the emperor. In July, 1792, 

 he went once more to Warsaw, where he was com- 

 pelled, by existing circumstances, to break the alli- 

 ance that he himself had signed. In January, 1793, 

 the king appointed him his ambassador to Vienna ; 

 he, however, accompanied the king during the greater 

 part of that campaign. In March, 1797, he was 

 recalled from Vienna, and, in September, 1802, was 

 sent as ambassador extraordinary to Paris, and after- 

 wards visited Napoleon at Milan. The breaking out 

 of the war between Prussia and France, in October, 

 1806, was unjustly ascribed to his instigation. He 

 accompanied the king to the battle of Jena, then 

 signed an armistice with Napoleon at Charlottenburg, 

 of which, however, the king did not approve ; in 

 consequence of which, as he believed himself to have 

 lost the favour of the king, he took his dismission, in 

 order to return to Lucca. He was afterwards cham- 

 berlain to Napoleon's sister, the princess of Lucca, 

 and accompanied her to Paris on the occasion of her 

 brother's second marriage. Count Se'gur, in his 

 Tableau historique et politique de V Europe, passes the 

 following judgment on his Polish mission : " No man 

 was better adapted for the post than he. His activity 

 left no opportunity unimproved. Vigilant in accom- 

 plishing his object, and rapid in choosing the best 

 means, the marquis of Lucchesini combined the qua- 

 lities of an experienced courtier with the practical 

 knowledge of a statesman. Learned without pedan- 

 try, his great memory supplied him with usefulfacts for 

 the purposes of business, as well as interesting anec- 

 dotes for conversation. His intimacy with Frederic 

 II. procured him a great influence ; his powers of 

 insinuation enabled him to penetrate into the interior 

 of all characters ; his sagacity easily removed the 

 veil from all mysteries; and his zeal and activity, 

 which gave him an open and frank appearance, con- 

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