LETTRES DE CACHET 466 LEVER LETTRES DE CACHET (let duh kash-a), the name given to the warrants of imprisonment issued by the kings of France before the Revolution. The use of lettres de cachet became much more frequent after the accession of Louis XIV. than it had been before, and it was very common for persons to be arrested upon such warrant and clapped into the Bastille. It was not always for political reasons that lettres de cachet were ob- tained; sometimes private persons got troublesome members of their families brought to reason in this way. LETTS, a branch of the Lithuanian race, who in manners, customs, and mode of living do not differ much from the Lithuanians proper. They live in South Livonia, Pskov, Courland, and Vitebsk, and in the N. of Kovno in Russia. There are also colonies of them in Prussia, Brazil, and the United States. Early converted _ to Christianity by the Teu- tonic Knights, they are now mostly Lutherans, though some 50,000 have been won over to the Greek Church. In Rus- sia they are principally engaged in agri- culture and have made great progress intellectually and socially. They have a literature comprising now (1920) over 2,500 works and support 10 periodicals. Large numbers fought with the Bolshe- viks in the revolution of 1917, and are represented in the army of the Soviet Republic. After the peace of Versailles in 1919 the Letts established an inde- pendent State of Latvia. LEUCOCYTES, the name given by Robin to the lymph corpuscles, or lymphoid cells in the serous membranes of the body, and occasionally in the Mal- pighian cells. LEUCTRA, a village of Bceotia, in an- cient Greece, famous for the great vic- tory which the Thebans under Epami- nondas here won over the Spartan King Cleombrotus (371 B. C). LEUKAS, LEUCADIA, or SANTA MAURA, one of the Ionian Islands, lies close to the W. coast of Greece; about 660 B. C. the Corinthians cut through the peninsula that joined it to the main- land. It is 20 miles long by 8 wide, with an area of 110 square miles. The backbone of the island is a ridge of white limestone; hence the name (leukos, "white"). Wine, olive oil, and currants are the principal products. The island IS much subject to earthquakes. Pop. between 25,000 and 27,000, chiefly Greeks. The W. coast is bold and pre- cipitous, and terminates S. in the ab- rupt headland (200 feet) knowTi to the ancients as the Leucadian rock, on which stood a temple to Apollo, and from which once a year a criminal was hurled into the sea by way of sacrifice. It was from the same point that Sappho, the poetess, and Artemisia of Halicar- nassus threw themselves into the waves. The capital, Amaxichi or Leukas, on the E. coast, is the seat of an archbishop, and has a population of 3,800. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1825. LEUTHEN (loi'ten), a village of Prussia, in Lower Silesia, 10 miles W. of Breslau, celebrated for the victory won there, 1757, by Frederick the Great, with 34,000 men, over the Aus- trians under Prince Charles of Lorraine at the head of 90,000. The result was the reconquest of the greater part of Silesia by the Prussians. LEUTZE, EMANUEL, an American artist; born in Gmiind, Wiirttemberg, May 24, 1816; was brought to the United States in infancy. In 1840 he began to display a remarkable talent for portrait painting. Subsequently he devoted him- self to the painting of historical sub- jects. His works include "Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca"; "Columbus in Chains"; "Columbus Be- fore the Queen"; "Landing of the Norse- men in America"; "Washington Crossing the Delaware"; "Washington at Prince- ton"; "Lafayette in Prison at Olmiitz Visited by His Relatives"; etc. In 1860 he was employed by the United States Government to make a large mural painting entitled "Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way" on one of the staircases in the National Capitol. He died in Washington, D. C, July 18, 1868. ^ LEVEE (le-ve or lev-a'), the act or time of rising. In the United States this term is applied to any assemblage of guests, whether held in the morning or in the evening. In England the term is confined to a morning reception held by a sovereign, prince, or personage of high rank; especially the state receptions held by the sovereign. In hydraulic engineer- ing an embankment to restrain water, and of a magnitude such as those of the Mississippi, the Ganges, Holland, and the Po. LEVER, CHARLES JAMES, an Irish novelist; born in Dublin, Aug. 31, 1806. He was graduated in arts at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1827, and in medicine in 1831, taking his doctor's degree a lit- tle later at Gottingen. He then returned to Ireland to practice. In March, 1834, he contributed his first paper to the newly-started "Dublin University Maga-
