Lenney, or Linney, from Launer, Normandy.
Lewis, DeLues or Luiz, Normandy, 1180.
Liddell. From Lydale, on Scottish border; seat of a Norman.
Lile, for Lisle.
Lincoln. Alured de Lincoln came from Normandy with the Conqueror; held a great barony in Lincoln and Bedford. From a collateral branch, it is said—and the branches were numerous—descended the greatest of the "Rulers of Men," Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln. The following appreciation of the character of Abraham Lincoln is from Paul Bourget's Outre-Mer. The judgment of posterity is probably anticipated in this discriminating characterization by an able foreign writer: "That heroic struggle has left more noble vestiges than the shameful abuse of electoral pensions: the recollection in the first place of a common bravery, the proof that American industrialism has not in the least diminished the energies of the race; again, the legend of Lincoln, of one of those men who by their example alone model after their mind the conscience of an entire country. That personage, so American by the composite character of his individuality, humorous and pathetic at the same time; that politician experienced in all trickeries and nevertheless so capable of idealism and mysticism; that half-educated man who had at times magnificent simplicities of eloquence; that old wood-cutter, his face bitter with disgust, yet luminous with hope, worn out with trials and still so strong; that statesman so close to the people and nevertheless with so broad a vision, remains the most modern of heroes, one whom the United States can boldly place in opposition to a Napoleon, a Cavour, a Bismarck. The South to-day recognizes his greatness as well as the North. He had the luck to be exactly the workman that was needed for the task which he undertook, and to die as soon as that task was achieved. Such circumstances continued form great destinies."
"Abraham Lincoln" (says one of his admiring compatriots) "was an incomparable leader of men. While McClellan and Grant could conduct more or less successfully the operations of a hundred thousand men in the field, it was Abraham Lincoln alone that could keep in hand the vast and turbulent electorate of eighteen Northern States. It was Lincoln's consummate generalship, happily for the South, that held these radical and aggressive elements in check: 'Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem.'"
Lindsay, or de Lines. Branch of a baronial Norman house; one of the sovereign families that ruled in Norway till dispossessed by Harold Harfager. The name "Lindsay" is from the Norman seigneury Limesay. There are various branches with armorial identifications pointing to a common origin. Chief Justice Lindsay, of Kentucky, stands in the front rank of Anglo-Norman lawyers.
Lisle.
Littell, or Little. Parvus or Le Petit, Normandy, 1180.