LINARES, an inland province of central Chile, between Talca on the N. and Ńuble on the S., bounded E. by Argentina and W. by the province of Maule. Pop. (1895) 101,858; area, 3942 sq. m. The river Maule forms its northern boundary and drains its northern and north-eastern regions. The province belongs partly to the great central valley of Chile and partly to the western slopes of the Andes, the S. Pedro volcano rising to a height of 11,800 ft. not far from the sources of the Maule. The northern part is fertile, as are the valleys of the Andean foothills, but arid conditions prevail throughout the central districts, and irrigation is necessary for the production of crops. The vine is cultivated to some extent, and good pasturage is found on the Andean slopes. The province is traversed from N. to S. by the Chilean Central railway, and the river Maule gives access to the small port of Constitucion, at its mouth. From Parral, near the southern boundary, a branch railway extends westward to Cauquenes, the capital of Maule. The capital, Linares, is centrally situated, on an open plain, about 20 m. S. of the river Maule. It had a population of 7331 in 1895 (which an official estimate of 1902 reduced to 7256). Parral (pop. 8586 in 1895; est. 10,219 in 1902) is a railway junction and manufacturing town.
LINARES, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Jaen, among the southern foothills of the Sierra Morena, 1375 ft. above sea-level and 3 m. N.W. of the river Guadalimar. Pop. (1900) 38,245. It is connected by four branch railways with the important argentiferous lead mines on the north-west, and with the main railways from Madrid to Seville, Granada and the principal ports on the south coast. The town was greatly improved in the second half of the 19th century, when the town hall, bull-ring, theatre and many other handsome buildings were erected; it contains little of antiquarian interest save a fine fountain of Roman origin. Its population is chiefly engaged in the lead-mines, and in such allied industries as the manufacture of gunpowder, dynamite, match for blasting purposes, rope and the like. The mining plant is entirely imported, principally from England; and smelting, desilverizing and the manufacture of lead sheets, pipes, &c., are carried on by British firms, which also purchase most of the ore raised. Linares lead is unsurpassed in quality, but the output tends to decrease. There is a thriving local trade in grain, wine and oil. About 2 m. S. is the village of Cazlona, which shows some remains of the ancient Castulo. The ancient mines some 5 m. N., which are now known as Los Pozos de Anibal, may possibly date from the 3rd century B.C., when this part of Spain was ruled by the Carthaginians.
LINCOLN, EARLS OF. The first earl of Lincoln was probably William de Roumare (c. 1095-c. 1155), who was created earl about 1140, although it is possible that William de Albini, earl of Arundel, had previously held the earldom. Roumare’s grandson, another William de Roumare (c. 1150-c. 1198), is sometimes called earl of Lincoln, but he was never recognized as such, and about 1148 King Stephen granted the earldom to one of his supporters, Gilbert de Gand (d. 1156), who was related to the former earl. After Gilbert’s death the earldom was dormant for about sixty years; then in 1216 it was given to another Gilbert de Gand, and later it was claimed by the great earl of Chester, Ranulf, or Randulph, de Blundevill (d. 1232). From Ranulf the title to the earldom passed through his sister Hawise to the family of Lacy, John de Lacy (d. 1240) being made earl of Lincoln in 1232. He was son of Roger de Lacy (d. 1212), justiciar of England and constable of Chester. It was held by the Lacys until the death of Henry, the 3rd earl. Henry served Edward I. in Wales, France and Scotland, both as a soldier and a diplomatist. He went to France with Edmund, earl of Lancaster, in 1296, and when Edmund died in June of this year, succeeded him as commander of the English forces in Gascony; but he did not experience any great success in this capacity and returned to England early in 1298. The earl fought at the battle of Falkirk in July 1298, and took some part in the subsequent conquest of Scotland. He was then employed by Edward to negotiate successively with popes Boniface VIII. and Clement V., and also with Philip IV. of France; and was present at the death of the English king in July 1307. For a short time Lincoln was friendly with the new king, Edward II., and his favourite, Piers Gaveston; but quickly changing his attitude, he joined earl Thomas of Lancaster and the baronial party, was one of the “ordainers” appointed in 1310 and was regent of the kingdom during the king’s absence in Scotland in the same year. He died in London on the 5th of February 1311, and was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral. He married Margaret (d. 1309), granddaughter and heiress of William Longsword, 2nd earl of Salisbury, and his only surviving child, Alice (1283-1348), became the wife of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, who thus inherited his father-in-law’s earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. Lincoln’s Inn in London gets its name from the earl, whose London residence occupied this site. He founded Whalley Abbey in Lancashire, and built Denbigh Castle.
In 1349 Henry Plantagenet, earl (afterwards duke) of Lancaster, a nephew of Earl Thomas, was created earl of Lincoln; and when his grandson Henry became king of England as Henry IV. in 1399 the title merged in the crown. In 1467 John de la Pole (c. 1464-1487), a nephew of Edward IV., was made earl of Lincoln, and the same dignity was conferred in 1525 upon Henry Brandon (1516-1545), son of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. Both died without sons, and the next family to hold the earldom was that of Clinton.
Edward Fiennes Clinton, 9th Lord Clinton (1512-1585), lord high admiral and the husband of Henry VIII.’s mistress, Elizabeth Blount, was created earl of Lincoln in 1572. Before his elevation he had rendered very valuable services both on sea and land to Edward VI., to Mary and to Elizabeth, and he was in the confidence of the leading men of these reigns, including William Cecil, Lord Burghley. From 1572 until the present day the title has been held by Clinton’s descendants. In 1768 Henry Clinton, the 9th earl (1720-1794), succeeded his uncle Thomas Pelham as 2nd duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, and since this date the title of earl of Lincoln has been the courtesy title of the eldest son of the duke of Newcastle.
See G. E. C.(okayne), Complete Peerage, vol. v. (1893).
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM (1809-1865), sixteenth president of the United States of America, was born on “Rock Spring” farm, 3 m. from Hodgenville, in Hardin (now Larue) county, Kentucky, on the 12th of February 1809.[1] His grandfather,[2] Abraham Lincoln, settled in Kentucky about 1780 and was killed by Indians in 1784. His father, Thomas (1778-1851), was born in Rockingham (then Augusta) county, Virginia; he was hospitable, shiftless, restless and unsuccessful, working now as a carpenter and now as a farmer, and could not read or write before his marriage, in Washington county, Kentucky, on the 12th of June 1806, to Nancy Hanks (1783-1818), who was, like him, a native of Virginia, but had much more strength of character and native ability, and seemed to have been, in intellect and character, distinctly above the social class in which she was born. The Lincolns had removed from Elizabethtown, Hardin county, their first home, to the Rock Spring farm, only a short time before Abraham’s birth; about 1813 they removed to a farm of 238 acres on Knob Creek, about 6 m. from Hodgenville; and in 1816 they crossed the Ohio river and settled on a quarter-section, 1½ m. E. of the present village of Gentryville, in Spencer county, Indiana. There Abraham’s mother died on the 5th of October 1818. In December 1819 his father married, at his old home, Elizabethtown, Mrs Sarah (Bush) Johnston (d. 1869), whom he had courted years before, whose thrift greatly improved conditions in the home, and who exerted a great influence over her stepson. Spencer county was still a wilderness, and the boy grew up in pioneer surroundings, living in a rude log-cabin, enduring many hardships and knowing only the primitive manners, conversation and ambitions of sparsely settled backwoods communities. Schools were rare, and teachers qualified only to impart the merest rudiments. “Of course when I came of age I did not know much,” wrote he years afterward, “still somehow I could read, write and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.” His entire schooling, in five different schools, amounted to less than a twelvemonth; but he became a good speller and an excellent penman. His own mother taught him to read, and his stepmother urged him to study. He read and re-read in early boyhood the Bible, Aesop, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim’s Progress, Weems’s Life of Washington and a history of the United States; and later read every book he could borrow from the neighbours, Burns and Shakespeare becoming favourites. He wrote rude, coarse satires, crude verse, and compositions on the American government, temperance, &c. At the age of seventeen he had attained his full height, and began to be known as a wrestler, runner and lifter of great weights. When nineteen he made a journey as a hired hand on a flatboat to New Orleans.