LESAGE 



3385 



LESSEPS 



The colony on Culion is the largest in the 

 world, and has 8,000 lepers within its limits. 

 Until the establishment of the colony these 

 lepers were living unhygienically and mingling 

 with healthy people. They are all from the 

 Philippine Islands. Louisiana has a small hos- 

 pital for lepers, and the colony at Molokai, 

 Hawaii, cares for about 1,100 victims. The 

 good these leper colonies are accomplishing in 

 curing and controlling the disease is immeas- 

 urable, and it is possible that some day lep- 

 rosy may be exterminated. See MOLOKAI. 



Consult Blue's The Public Health Aspects of 

 Leprosy; also Studies upon Leprosy, in Public 

 Health Bulletin No. 61 (Washington, D. C.). 



LESAGE, lesazh', ALAIN RENE (1688-1747), 

 a French novelist and dramatist, whose most 

 enduring work, Gil Bias (1715), was a fore- 

 runner of the realistic novel of later French 

 literature. It was not only his finest literary 

 achievement, but was a masterpiece of eight- 

 eenth-century fiction. Gil Bias, the story of 

 a Spanish youth who lives down, the indis- 

 cretions of his early days and develops a char- 

 acter worthy of admiration, has been aptly 

 called "a gospel of a worldly-wise man's com- 

 mon sense." Lesage is also remembered for 

 his novel The Devil on Two Sticks and the 

 comedy Tur caret. The latter gives with cruel 

 realism a picture of the narrowness and petti- 

 ness of Parisian life. He was one of the early 

 masters of style, and his manner of writing is 

 still praised for its ease, naturalness and pithi- 

 ness. 



LESCARBOT, leskahr'bo', MARC (about 

 1570-1630), a French explorer and colonist, 

 whose accounts of his voyages form one of 

 the most important sources of early Cana- 

 dian history. In literary merit these records 

 rank high, and Lescarbot has been styled "the 

 French Hakluyt." Lescarbot was a lawyer by 

 training, but in 1605 joined his friend Poutrin- 

 court on an expedition to relieve Port Royal. 

 He returned to France in 1607, and two years 

 later issued his principal work, the History of 

 New France. The title is misleading, for he 

 covers not only New France, but narrates the 

 voyages of Verazzano, gives the story of the 

 settlement of Florida, Brazil and Acadia, and 

 gives other details which are not now consid- 

 ered as a part of French-Canadian history. 



LES MISERABLES, la mezarah'bl', one 

 of the world's great novels a "prose epic" 

 which presents a powerful plea for the poor 

 and unfortunate. It was written by the French 

 novelist Victor Hugo, and was published in 



1862. Its title means "The Wretched Ones," 

 and the author has supported well his theory 

 that much of the crime of the poorer classes 

 is the direct result of the injustice to which 

 they are subjected. The central figure, Jean 

 Valjean, is a character of great strength and 

 nobility. Forced by dire necessity to steal, he 

 is turned into a veritable criminal by the sort 

 of punishment which is meted out to him, and 

 is saved from a desperate career only by the 

 influence of the saintly Bishop Myriel. Later, 

 when he has made of his own life a benefi- 

 cent influence, he is thrown again into bitter 

 shame by a malicious enemy, but in the end 

 is saved by his love for little Cosette. The 

 memory of the Bishop is also an inspiration to 

 him throughout his life. 



This remarkable romance of Victor Hugo's 

 was written in French, but on the very day on 

 which it appeared in the French bookstalls, it 

 appeared also in ten other languages in eight 

 different cities. From the first it was popular, 

 for despite its prevailing gloom it has a note 

 of optimism, a gospel of redemption through 

 love and service. Besides the leading charac- 

 ter, there are others of scarcely minor interest, 

 notably Fantine, Gavroche, Marius and Cosette ; 

 and the plot which binds them together is a 

 complex one. Few portions of the book are 

 more discussed than the famous description of 

 the Battle of Waterloo, but the reader who 

 takes up the book for the first time will prob- 

 ably find his enjoyment heightened if he omits 

 this and returns to it afterward, when it will 

 not interfere with the movement of the story. 

 Dramatic versions of the story have been pre- 

 sented on the regular stage and in moving 

 pictures. See HUGO, VICTOR. A.MC c. 



LESSEPS, leseps' , FERDINAND, Vicomte de 

 (1805-1894), a French diplomat and civil engi- 

 neer who achieved fame through his construc- 

 tion of the Suez Canal. He was born in Ver- 

 sailles and served as consul at Madrid, Cairo 

 and other capitals. While on a second visit to 

 Egypt, in 1854, he obtained a charter from 

 Said Pasha to construct a canal which would 

 unite the Mediterranean and Red seas. The 

 Egyptian government defrayed the expense, 

 and this great work, about 100 miles in length, 

 was carried to completion in thirteen years. 



The scheme of connecting the Atlantic and 

 Pacific oceans by means of a canal across the 

 Isthmus of Panama had possessed an intense 

 interest for De Lesseps, as well as other scien- 

 tific men, and in May, 1879, an International 

 Congress convened in Paris to discuss the plan. 



