[Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent], one of the founders of modern chemistry, born in Paris; to prosecute his researches accepted the post of farmer-general in 1769, introduced in 1776 improvements in manufacturing gunpowder, discovered the composition of the air and the nature of oxygen, applied the principles of chemistry to agriculture, and indicated the presence and action of these principles in various other domains of scientific inquiry; called to account for his actions as farmer-general, one in particular "putting water in the tobacco," and condemned to the guillotine; he in vain begged for a fortnight's respite to finish some experiments, "the axe must do its work" (1742-1794).
[Law, John], financier and speculator, son of a goldsmith and banker, born at Edinburgh; was early noted for his calculating power; visiting London in 1691 he got into debt, sold his estate, killed a man in a duel, and escaped to Amsterdam, where he studied finance; came to Scotland with financial proposals for the Government in 1700, but they were refused, and he spent some years on the Continent as a gambling adventurer; in 1716 he and his brother William started a private bank in Paris, the success of which induced the Regent Orleans in 1718 to institute the "Royal Bank of France," with Law as director; next year he floated the "Mississippi Scheme" for the settlement of Louisiana, but after a show of success the scheme proved a bubble; he had to fly to Brussels, his property being confiscated; he died at Venice, poor, but scheming to the end (1671-1729).
[Law, William], author of "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," born at Kingscliffe, Northamptonshire, son of a grocer; entered Cambridge in 1705; became a Fellow, and took orders in 1711; became associated with the family of the elder Gibbon, father of the historian, in 1727, and spent ten years with them as tutor, friend, and spiritual director; in 1740 he retired to Kingscliffe, where he spent the remainder of his life in seclusion, shared by Miss Hester Gibbon, the historian's aunt, and Mrs. Hutcheson, a widow of means, occupying themselves much with charitable schemes; Law was an able theologian and dialectician, and an exponent of German mysticism; his writings contributed greatly to the evangelical revival (1686-1761).
[Lawrence, John, Lord], the "Saviour of India," born of Irish parentage at Richmond, Yorkshire; entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1829, and on the annexation of the Punjab was appointed Commissioner and afterwards Lieutenant-Governor; by his justice and the reforms he carried through he so won the esteem of the Sikhs that at the Mutiny he was able to disarm the Punjab mutineers, raise 50,000 men, and capture Delhi; returning to England he received a pension of £1000 a year, was made successively baronet and Privy Councillor, and sent out again as Governor-General of India in 1863; his rule was characterised by wise policy and sound finance; he disapproved of English interference in Afghan affairs; he was raised to the peerage in 1869 (1811-1879).
[Lawrence, St.], a deacon of the Church at Rome, who suffered martyrdom in the time of Valerian, 258, by being broiled on a gridiron, which he is represented in Christian art as holding in his hand.
[Lay Brother], a member of a monastery under the three monastic vows, but not in holy orders.
[Layamon], early English poet who flourished in the 12th century, and was by his own account priest near Bewdley, on the Severn; was author of a long poem or chronicle of 32,250 lines called "Brut d'Angleterre," and which is of interest as showing how Anglo-Saxon passed into the English of Chaucer.
[Layard, Sir Austen Henry], English traveller and diplomatist, born at Paris; spent his boyhood in Italy, and studied law in London; between 1845 and 1847 he conducted excavations at the ruins of Nineveh, securing for the British Museum its famous specimens of Assyrian art, and on his return published works on "Nineveh and its Remains" and "Monuments of Nineveh"; he received the freedom of London, Oxford gave him D.C.L., and Aberdeen University chose him for Lord Rector; entering Parliament in 1852, he sat for Aylesbury and for Southwark, and was Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs 1861-06; in 1809 he was sent as ambassador to Madrid, and from 1877 till 1880 represented England at Constantinople, where his philo-Turkish sympathies provoked much comment; he was a noted linguist (1817-1894).
[Lazzaroni], an indolent class of waifs under a chief who used to lounge about Naples, and proved formidable in periods of revolution; they subsisted partly by service as messengers, porters, &c., and partly as beggars.