92 L A L 
that he appointed him fucceffively to the two places of 
chapel-matter, that of chamber-mufician to his majefty, 
and matter of his band; and foon after conferred on him 
the order of St. Michel. He died in 1726, at the age of 
67 ; forty-five years of which he had fpent in the fervice 
of Louis XIV. and XV. Lalande left behind him fixty 
motets, or anthems, which have had the higheft reputa¬ 
tion ; and fet feveral operas, but he never would let any 
of them be performed under his name. 
LALAN'DE (Jofeph-Jerome le Frangais de), a cele¬ 
brated French attronomer, was born at Bourg, in the de¬ 
partment of l’Ain, on the nth of July, 1732, of very re- 
fpeclable parents. His father, who was pofTeffed of pro¬ 
perty, intended him for the bar; and accordingly lent 
him to Paris to ftudy the law, to which, for fome time, 
lie applied with fomuch affiduity, as to more than anfwer 
the 1110ft /anguine expectations of his friends, when the 
fight of an obfervatory awakened in him a propenfity, 
which deranged the projects of his parents, and became 
the ruling paffior? of his life. He put himfelf under the 
inftructions of Le Monnier, one of the then moll celebrated 
aitronomers of France, and profited fo much by the lellbns 
of his able inftru&or, as to afford him the higheft degree 
of fatisfaclion, who, on his part, conceived for the young 
man a truly paternal affection, and was determined to 
promote his interelts. An opportunity foon offered. The 
great aftronomer Lecaille was preparing to fet out for the 
Cape of Good Hope, in order to determine the parallax 
of the moon, and its diftance from the earth. To accom- 
plifti this purpole, it was necelfary he fliould be feconded 
by an obferver placed under the fame meridian, and at the 
greateft diftance that could be conveniently cliofen on the 
globe. Berlin was fixed on, and Le Monnier fignified his 
intention of undertaking the bufinefs himfelf; but, the 
moment when he Ihould have been ready to depart, he 
had the credit to get his pupil appointed in liis ftead. 
Frederic, to whom Maupertuis had explained the delicacy 
and difficulty of the enterprife, could not forbear fliowing 
fome aftonifnment when the youthful aftronomer was pre- 
fented to him: “However,” faid he, “the Academy of 
Sciences has appointed you, and you will juftify their 
choice.” From that moment his age, being only eigh¬ 
teen, was an additional recommendation ; he was admit¬ 
ted at court, welcomed by the academy, and became inti¬ 
mate with the moft diftinguilhed perlons at Berlin. On 
his return, the account which he gave of his million pro¬ 
cured him free accefs to the Academy of Sciences, and its 
Tranfadtions were enriched every year by important com¬ 
munications from the young aftronomer. The afftive part 
which he took in the labours of the academy was not 
confined to the aftronomical fcience: we have from his 
pen a defcription of feven arts, as different from each 
other as they are remote from the objects of his habitual 
meditations. He publifhed the French edition of Dr. 
Halley’s Tables, and the hiftory of the comet of 1759, 
and he furnilhed Clairault with immenfe calculations for 
the theory of that famous comet. Being charged in 1760 
with the compilation of the Connoiffance des Temps, he 
entirely changed the form of that work ; and of this col- 
ledtion he publifhed thirty-two volumes, viz. from 1775 
to 1807. 
In 1764 appeared the firft edition of his Traite Aftro- 
nomique, which he afterwards completed, and upon w'hich 
his chief claim to glory refts. Lalande was the firft who 
calculated the perturbations of Mars and Venus ; and in 
the theory of fatellites, in which but little progrefs had 
been made, he explained a motion which Baillie claimed 
as his own difcovery. A literary difpute arofe out of this 
circumftance, which, however, was condudled with every 
regard to decency; and the probable reful t, as feen bydif- 
interefted fpeftators, was, that both had been led to the 
fame difcovery. He compofed all the aftronomical arti¬ 
cles for the Encyclopaedia of Yverdun, thofe for the fup- 
plements to the Encyclopedic de Paris, and thofe for the 
Encyclopedic Methodique, fubftituting for the articles 
L A L 
furnilhed by d’Alembert, and which he had compiled from 
the works of Le Monnier, fuch as were more complete 
and more modern, from his own obfervations and im¬ 
proved theories. 
To his written works he joined oral inftructions during 
a fpace of forty-fix years; for, from the year 1761, he had 
replaced the firft mafter, Delifle, in the chair of aftronomy, 
in the college of France, and gave a new luftre to this cu¬ 
rious part of public inftrudtion in a celebrated fchool, 
which pofTeffed the moft diftinguilhed profeffors of every 
kind, and which enjoyed and merited the extraordinary 
privilege of outliving the tremendous ftorms of a revolu¬ 
tion, and efcaping the almoft univerfal deftruftion which 
levelled all around it. As a profeffor, he taught with fo 
much ability, that his fchool became a feminary of" difci- 
ples who peopled the different obfervatories of the world. 
In the midft of Ills other labours he drew up his Voyage 
d’ltalie, the moft complete colledtion of curious objects 
that travellers can confult; his Traite des Canaux; and 
his Bibliographie Aftronomique, which is an immenle 
catalogue of all the works that have appeared on the fub- 
je< 5 t of that fcience. 
In the year 1793, Lalande publifhed “ Abrege de Na¬ 
vigation hiftorique, theorique, et praftique,” containing 
many valuable rules and tables; and in 1802 he publilhed 
a new edition of Montucla’s Hiftory of Mathematics, in 
4 vols. 4to. the lalt two volumes being prepared from 
Montucla’s papers, with the affiftance of La Place, La 
Croix, and other French mathematicians. He publifhed 
alfo this year a collection of tables of logarithms, fines, 
tangents, See. adapted to the pocket. 
Affociated to almoft all the diftinguifhed fcientific fo- 
cieties in the world, he was their common bond of union 
by the correfpondences which he maintained ; and he pro¬ 
moted a circulation of intelligence from one to another. 
He employed the credit arifing from the univerfal reputa¬ 
tion which'he enjoyed, for the general benefit of the fei- 
ences and their cultivators. To the extraordinary ardour 
and activity of his character, he joined a love for the truth, 
which he carried to the borders of fanaticifm. Every de¬ 
gree of concealment appeared to him unworthy of an lio- 
neft man ; and lie therefore, without referve, uttered his 
fentiments on all occafions ; and by the bluntnefs of his 
manners, he fometimes made himfelf enemies, who not 
only called in queftion his real merits, but who excited 
againft him a crowd of detractors ; and, becaufe they could 
not rival his high reputation, they attempted to blaft his 
well-earned fame. He was not without his Angularities 
and failings, but they were trifling in comparifon of his 
commendable qualities. One of his eulogilts fays, “ he 
always manifefted a benevolent difpofition, and approved 
himfelf a man of honour, probity, courage, full of afti- 
vity for all ufeful things, and of love and zeal in behalf 
of his fellow-creatures. To imitate the great BenefaCTor 
is the moft worthy homage we can pay to the infinite good- 
nefs, the fupreme intelligence which governs the uni- 
verfe.” He rendered ineftimable fervice to fcience during 
his life, and confulted its intetefts after his death, by 
founding an annual prize to the author of the beft aftro¬ 
nomical memoir, or moft curious obfervation. He died 
April 4th, 1807, in the 75th year of his age. Eulogy by 
Delambre. 
LALANG', an ifland near the north coaft of the ifland 
of Sumatra, in the Straits of Malacca. Lat. 1.45. N. Ion. 
99. 20. E. 
LALAN'NE (Noel de), a famous champion of the Jan- 
fenift tenets, and abbe of the Notre Dame de Val-Croiflant, 
was defeended from a noble family, and born at Paris in 
the year 1618. He was educated at the college of Na¬ 
varre, and when very young was admitted to the degree 
of D.D. by the faculty of the Sorbonne. He became emi¬ 
nently converfant in the writings of St. Auguftine and St. 
Thomas, and a zealous defender of the followers of the 
bifliop of Ypres. The numerous treatifes which he pub¬ 
lifhed in fupport of their principles difplayed fuch learn- 
