Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/524

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L I A – L I B
Grammont, he returned to France. The death of his patron soon afterwards seriously impaired his prospects; but after he had entered himself of the Parisian bar, his marriage, in 1537, to a daughter of the lieutenant-criminel procured for him the post of counsellor to the parliament of Paris. This office he held until 1547, when he was sent by Henry II. on a mission to Bologna, where the council of Trent was at that time sitting; after sixteen months of wearisome inactivity there, he was by his own desire recalled at the close of 1548. L’Hôpital now for some time held the position of “chancellor” in the household of the princess Margaret, duchess of Berri, and in 1554 he was made superintendent of the royal finances. In 1559 he accompanied his mistress, now duchess of Savoy, to Nice, where, on the following year, tidings reached him that he had been chosen to succeed Olivier in the chancellorship of France. One of his first acts after entering on the duties of his office (in July 1560) was to cause the parliament of Paris to register the edict of Romorantin, of which he is sometimes, but erroneously it would seem, said to have been the author. Designed as it was to protect so-called heretics from the secret and summary methods of the Inquisition, it certainly had his sympathy and approval. In accordance with the consistent policy of inclusion and toleration by which the whole of his official life was characterized, he induced the council to call the Assembly of Notables, which met at Fontainebleau in August 1660 and agreed that the States General should be summoned, all proceedings against heretics being meanwhile suppressed, pending the reformation of the church by a general or national council. The States General met in December; the edict of Orleans (July 1561) followed, and finally, after the colloquy of Poissy, that of January 1562, the most liberal (except that of Nantes) ever obtained by the Protestants of France. Its terms, however, were not carried out, and during the war which was the inevitable result of the massacre of Vassy in May, L’Hôpital, whose dismissal had been for some time urged by the papal legate Hippolytus of Este, found it necessary to retire to his estate at Vignay near Étampes, whence he did not return until after the pacification of Amboise (March 19, 1563). It was by his advice that Charles IX. was declared of age (August 17, 1563) at Rouen, a measure which really increased the power of Catherine de’ Medici; and it was under his influence also that the parliament of Paris in 1564 refused to sanction the publication of the acts of the council of Trent, on account of their inconsistency with the Gallican liberties. In 156466 he accompanied the young king on an extended tour through France; and in 1566 he was instrumental in the promulgation of an important edict for reform of abuses in the administration of justice. The renewal of the religious war in September 1567, however, was at once a symptom and a cause of diminished influence to L’Hôpital, and in February 1568 he obtained his letters of discharge, which were registered by the parliament on May 11, his titles, honours, and emoluments being reserved to him during the remainder of his life. Henceforward he lived a life of unbroken literary seclusion at Vignay, his only subsequent public appearance being by means of a “mémoire” which he addressed to the king in 1570 under the title Le but de la guerre et de la paix, ou Discours du chancelier L’Hospital pour exhorter Charles IX. à donner la paix à ses subjects. Though not exempt from considerable danger, he passed in safety through the troubles of the St Bartholomew, but did not long survive them. His death took place either at Vignay or at Bélesbat (Courdimanche, Étampes) on March 13, 1573.

After his death Pibrac, assisted by De Thou and Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, collected a volume of the Poemata of L’Hôpital, and in 1585 his grandson published Epistolarum seu Sermonum libri sex. The complete Œuvres de l’Hôpital were published for the first time by Dufey (5 vols. 8vo, Paris, 182425). They include his “Harangues” and “Remonstrances,” the Epistles, the Mémoire to Charles IX., a Traité de la Reformation de la Justice, and the will of L’Hôpital. Haag (France Prot., vii. p. 83) gives the titles of several MSS. still unpublished. Villemain wrote a Vie de L’Hôpital, which has recently been reprinted (1874), and there are monographs also by Taillandier (1861) and by Dupré-Lasal (1875).


LIAU-YANG, or Leaou-Yang, a city of China, formerly the chief town of the province of Liau-tung or Shing-king (southern Manchuria), and still a place of considerable mark, 35 miles south of Moukden. It is situated in a rich cotton district, and carries on no small trade. The walls include an area about 21/2 miles long by 2 miles broad, and there are pretty extensive suburbs; but a good deal even of the enclosed area is under cultivation. The population is estimated at 80,000.


LIBANIUS, a Sophist, was the most distinguished Greek writer of the 4th century a.d. He was born at Antioch beween 314 and 316. He studied at Athens, and spent most of his earlier manhood in Constantinople and Nicomedia. His private classes at Constantinople were much more popular than those of the public professors; and their jealousy found means of having him expelled from Constantinople in 346 on the charge of studying magic. He was recalled from Nicomedia after five years. Ill health obliged him to retire to Antioch, where he spent the later part of his life. Though a pagan by religion, he enjoyed the favour of the Christian emperors. When Julian restored paganism as the state religion, Libanius showed no intolerance. Among his pupils he numbered St John Chrysostom and St Basil. His works, consisting chiefly of orations, declamations on set topics, and letters, are very voluminous, and have not yet been published in one single edition. He devoted much time to the study of the classical Greek writers, on whom his style is modelled with considerable success.

The best edition of the orations and declamations is Reiske’s, of the letters Wolf’s. See Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Beredtsamkeit; Bernhardy’s and other histories of Greek literature; Förster, Zur Schriftstellerei des Libanios, and articles in Hermes, vols. ix. and x.


LIBAU (Leepaja of the Letts), a port of Russia, on the Baltic Sea, in the government of Courland and district of Grobin, 143 miles by rail south-west of Riga. It is situated at the northern extremity of a narrow sandy peninsula which separates Lake Libau (12 miles long and 2 miles wide) from the Baltic Sea. The town is well built of stone, with good gardens, and has a gymnasium and more than twenty different schools, cigar manufactories, machine works, and a small wharf. The sea throwing up a good deal of amber, many inhabitants are engaged in the fabrication of small articles of that substance. The harbour of Libau was 2 miles south of the town until a canal was dug through the peninsula in 1697; but this canal is liable to be silted up, and the depth at the bar is only 9 feet, or even 6 feet during south-west winds, so that larger ships must lie in the open roadstead. Libau being the most southern Baltic port in Russia has the advantage of freezing only for a few weeks during the winter. Since being brought, in 1872, into railway connexion with Moscow, Orel, and Kharkoff, it has become an important Russian port, and competes with the northern ports of Prussia, the exports already exceeding by 100,000 tons those from Königsberg. In 1879 the port of Libau was visited by 1976 ships, and the export of corn, flax, hempseed, and linseed has reached 28,212,600 roubles (about £2,822,000), against 1,980,000 roubles and 367 ships in 1872. The merchants carry on an active trade in grain and flax, making their purchases directly in southern Russia; their warehouses are numerous, spacious, and well built. The