Lohengrin (lō´hen-grin).—The Knight of the Swan; the hero of a romance by Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German minnesinger of the thirteenth century, and also of a modern musical drama by Richard Wagner. He was the son of Parsival, and came to Brabant in a ship drawn by a white swan, which took him away again when his bride, disobeying his injunction, pressed him to discover his name and parentage.
Lorelei, or Loreley (lō´re-li).—In German poetry and romance, a siren supposed to haunt the Lurlenberg rock on the Rhine, and lure sailors and fisherman to destruction. She is the subject of a beautiful ballad by Heine.
Lorna Doone.—A novel by R. D. Blackmore, published in 1869, the scene of which is laid in Exmoor. The Doones are a family of robbers and freebooters from which Lorna, otherwise Lady Lorna Dugal, is rescued by John Ridd, a young man. Ridd finally broke up the band, drove them from Doone valley, and married Lorna.
Love’s Labor’s Lost.—A comedy by Shakespeare. Ferdinand, king of Navarre, with three lords named Biron, Dumain, and Longaville, agree to spend three years in study, during which time no woman was to approach the court. The compact signed, all went well until the princess of France, attended by Rosaline, Maria, and Katharine, besought an interview respecting certain debts said to be due from the king of France to the king of Navarre. The four gentleman fell in love with the four ladies. The love of the king sought the princess, by right, Biron loved Rosaline, Longaville admired Maria, and Dumain adored Katharine. In order to carry their suits, the four gentlemen, disguised as Muscovites, presented themselves before the ladies; but the ladies, being warned of the masquerade, [804] disguised themselves also, so that the gentlemen in every case addressed the wrong lady. A mutual arrangement was made that the suits should be deferred for twelve months and a day; and if, at the expiration of that time, they remained of the same mind, the matter should be taken into serious consideration.
Lusiad (lū´si-ad), The.—A Portuguese poem by Luiz Camoëns, in 1572. The Lusiad celebrates the chief events in the history of Portugal, and is remarkable as the only modern epic poem which is pervaded by anything approaching the national and popular spirit of ancient epic poems. Bacchus was the guardian power of the Mohammedans, and Venus, or Divine Love, of the Lusians. The fleet first sailed to Mozambique, then to Melinda (in Africa), where the adventurers were hospitably received and provided with a pilot to conduct them to India. In the Indian Ocean, Bacchus tried to destroy the fleet; Venus, however, calmed the sea, and Gama arrived in India in safety. Having accomplished his object, he returned to Lisbon. Among the most famous passages are the tragical story of Inez de Castro, and the apparition of the giant Adamastor, who appears as the spirit of the storm to Vasco da Gama, when crossing the cape. The versification of The Lusiad is extremely charming.
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Mab.—The queen of the fairies, famous in English literature if only on account of the exquisite description of her put into the mouth of Mercutio, in Romeo and Juliet, beginning “O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.”
Macbeth.—One of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies, whose chief characters are Macbeth, king of Scotland, and Lady Macbeth, his murderously ambitious wife. Urged by the latter he kills Duncan, the rightful king, and in turn is himself slain by Macduff. The tale of Macbeth and Banquo was borrowed from the legendary history of Scotland, but the interest of the play is not historical. It is a tragedy of human life, intensely real, the soul, with all its powers for good or evil, deliberately choosing evil. The three witches in the desert place, in thunder, lightning, storm, strike the keynote of evil suggestion. The awfulness of soul destruction is felt in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as in no other of Shakespeare’s dramas.
Macheath, Captain.—A highwayman who is the hero of Gay’s Beggar’s Opera.
Mac-Ivor (mak-ē´vor), Fergus.—Waverley, Scott, Fergus Mac-Ivor is a prominent character in the novel, and his sister, Flora Mac-Ivor, the heroine. They are of the family of a Scottish chieftain.