L is called a side consonant, because the breath passage is blocked by the tongue in the middle, but not at the side; its channel is the side passages. There are many varieties even of the voiced : for example, the English and French sounds are distinctly different, and three pronunciations of Latin / have been distinguished. There is a voiceless in Welsh, which is written (Llangollen). In English the sound has become silent in many words ('palm,' 'would,' 'walk'). In form L closely resembles the early, Semitic sign; the lower curve is an Aramaic addition; the right-hand stroke of A was at first quite short, and that form is a modification of L. The Semitic name lamed, Greek lambda, means 'goad.'

L, as a symbol, is used in numerals for 50, and with a line drawn above it (L) for 50,000; in commerce, when written, for a pound or pounds sterling in English money.

Laager, South African wagon camp; first adopted for defensive purposes by the Dutch pioneers while trekking or travelling through a hostile country. The camp defences consist of OXwagons set close together, generally in circular form, the spaces below the wagon being heaped with baggage.

Laaland, or LOLLAND, Danish island in the Baltic, s. of Sjaelland; area, 444 sq.m. Its greatest length is about 36 m.; its breadth varies from 10 to 17 m. The coast is much indented, the land relatively low, but very fertile. In early times it was largely populated by Wends from the S.E. Baltic coast opposite. Cap. Maribo. Pop. (1901) 70,596.

Laar, or LAER, PIETER VAN (c. 1613-74), Dutch painter, called Bamboccio' and 'Snuffelaer,' was born at Haarlem; studied and painted at Rome until 1639. He painted chiefly rural fairs and hunting scenes, pictures technically known among the Italians as bambocciate, hence his appellation. Examples are to be seen in the Louvre and the galleries of Dresden, Vienna, and Kassel.

Labadie, JEAN DE (1610-74), French mystic, born at Bourg, near Bordeaux; was in turn Jesuit preacher, secular priest, and Huguenot pastor at Montauban and Geneva. Although accused of immorality and sedition, he became famous for his eloquence. Expelled by the Synod of Dort, he founded the sect of Labadists. He wrote some thirty

L

doctrinal works. See the Eucleria of Anna Maria von Schürmann.

La Barca, tn., Jalisco state, Mexico, E. of Lake Chapala, and 60 m. by rail s.E. of Guadalajara.

It was the scene of two battles during the Mexican war of independence. Pop. c. 10,000.

La Barre, ANTOINE JOSEPH LEFEVRE DE LA (c. 1625-88), colonial governor of Canada. After distinguished service in the French navy against the Dutch and the English, he succeeded Rumors Frontenac in Canada.

of a general uprising of the Iroquois caused him to organize an expedition against them (1683), and he had made his way as far as what is now Famine Bay (so named by him), in N. Y., when the weakened condition of his forces, due to disease and famine, made it necessary for him to negotiate with the Indians, and finally to retreat under humiliating conditions. In 1685 he was succeeded by de Denonville, and returned to France.

Labarum, the name given to the imperial standard in the ancient Roman army after the time of Constantine (306-337 A.D.), by whom it was introduced in place of the Roman eagle. It consisted of a long staff, crossed by a transverse beam, from which hung a banner of purple silk, embroidered with the likenesses of the reigning monarch and his children. At the upper end of the staff was a golden crown, encircling the monogram composed of the cross and the initials of the name of Christ. See Gibbon's Decline and Fall.

Labdacus, in ancient Greek Tegend, was a king of Thebes, the son of Polydorus, father of Laius, and grandfather of Edipus. The patronymic Labdacidæ is used to designate his descendants in general. See the works of ÆSCHYLUS, SOPHOCLES, and APOLLODorus.

Labé, LOUISE, née CHARLIN (1526-66), styled 'la Belle Cordière,' French poetess, was born at Lyons, and married Ennemond Perrin, a ropemaker-whence her sobriquet. She was famous alike for her beauty and her impassioned poetry, and composed sonnets, elegies, and dialogues, entitled Le Débat de Folie et d'Amour, translated into English (1608) by Robert Green the poet. She was a remarkable linguist, writing idiomatically in Latin, Italian, and Spanish. Her works were first published at Lyons in 1555. See De Ruolz's Discours sur la Personne et les Ouvrages de Louise Labé, Nicéron's Mé

moires (1727-40), and Boy's Recherches sur la Vie et les Euvres de Louise Labé (1887);

Label, or LAMBEL, in heraldry, is the mark of cadency of the eldest son. It consists of a fillet, from which hang_three short teeth or squares. Formerly, the number of these pendants was greater-five, or even more-and the label was placed at the very top of the shield. In modern times it is borne somewhat lower, and unconnected with the edges of the shield, though always in chief. The label is sometimes called a file, and then the pendants are designated labels.

Labels, PLANT, add to the interest and value of most gardens. Where the labels are required only for a short season, soft deal labels are the most serviceable. These should be thickly coated with white paint, and the lettering written on them before the paint is quite dry. For permanent use, labels of zinc or lead with raised or depressed lettering, made more conspicuous by means of paint, are the most suitable. A very satisfactory substitute is provided by pieces of sheet zinc written upon with a special ink Imade for the purpose.

Labeo, M. ANTISTIUS, a famous jurist in ancient Rome. His father, also eminent as a jurist, was one of the conspirators against Julius Cæsar in 44 B.C., and committed suicide after the battle of Philippi. Like his father, the younger Labeo was a republican, and as such was regarded with disfavor by Augustus. He is said to have written four hundred books, quotations from which are to be found in Justinian's Digest. See Lenel's Palingenesia Juris Civilis (1889), and Roby's Introduction to the Study of Justinian's Digest (1884).

Laberius, DECIMUS (c. 107-43 B.C.), a Roman knight, famous as a writer of mimes or burlesque dramas, who had the courage to point his satire against Cæsar. His writings are highly spoken of for their wit and force. Only fragments remain, which are to be found in Bothe's Poeta Scenici Latinorum, vol. v., and in Bæhren's Poeta Latini Minores. See Suetonius's Life of Julius Cæsar, Mommsen's Hist. of Rome, and Teuffel-Schwabe's Latin Liter

ature.

Labiatæ, a natural order of dicotyledonous plants, a large number of which are remarkable for their fragrance of flower and leaf. The plants belonging to

Labiche

the order, of which there are over 120 genera and 2,500 species, are distinguished by having flowers with irregular two-lipped corollas, the lower lip being three-lobed, four-celled ovaries, single styles, square stems with opposite leaves, and the stamens are two or four in number. Among the genera are Prunella, Melittis, Calomintha, Nepeta, Stachys, Lamium, Betonica, Ajuga, Tencrium, Origanum, Thymus, Mentia, and Salvia. Such well-known sweet and pot herbs as lavender, sage, mint, marjoram, thyme, savory, and balm belong to this order.

Labiche, EUGÈNE MARIN (1815-88), French dramatist, was author or part author cf more than a hundred vaudevilles, and for many years one of the most popular dramatists in France. He was born and died in Paris, where his first play was produced in 1838. Much of his best work was done in collaboration with such men as Delacour, Dumanoir, Clairville, Duru, Legouvé, Barrière, and Augier. A plete collection of his plays-cf which perhaps the best known are Le Chapeau de Paille d'Italie (1851), Le Voyage de M. Perrichon (1860), La Poudre aux Yeux (1861), La Cagnotte (1864), Le Choix d'un Gendre (1869), Le Plus Heureux des Trois (1870)-was published in 10 vols., in 1878-9. See Jules Claretie's Eugène Labiche and Matthews's French Dramatists (1901).

com

Labienus, TITUS ATIUS, was tribune of the plebs at Rome in 63 B.C., when, in pursuance of the programme of the democratic party led by Julius Cæsar, he prosecuted Rabirius for the murder of his uncle. When Cæsar went to his provinces in Gaul in 58 B.C., Labienus accompanied him as one of his lieutenants, in which capacity he earned great distinction. After 52 B.C. his rank in the army was next to that of Cæsar. When the civil war against Pompey broke out, Labienus deserted Cæsar and took Pompey's side, but proved of little assistance to his new associates. He was killed at the battle of Munda in 45 B.C. See Holmes's Cæsar's Conquest of Gaul.

Lablache, LUIGI (1794-1858), operatic basso, great alike as an actor and a vocalist. He studied at the Conservatorium in Naples, where he made his first appearance in opera (1812) in Fioravanti's La Molinara. He visited Paris and London (1830), and for many years made an annual appearance in these cities. Lablache had a voice of extraordinary volume and quality, with a compass of two octaves, from Ebelow the bass stave to E- above.

163

Mercadante wrote for him Elisa e Claudio; Bellini, I Puritani; and Donizetti, Don Pasquale. His greatest creation was Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere.

Labor. The term labor as used by economists has all the ambiguities to which in popular usage the word is subject. Much of the ambiguity is due to the fact that labor may mean different things in production and in consumption, and to the further important distinction between the laborer's and the employer's point of view. Not only as a factor in production, but also in distribution, labor plays a very important part, and it is here that the labor d'fficulties arise. The share which labor receives of the product is called 'wages.' The distinction between the employer's and the laborer's points of view is just as important in distribution as in production, and the so-called conflicts of capital and labor generally arise from this. The socialist pleads for the disappearance of the 'capitalist'; but it seems from the first tentative efforts of the State employés at combination that the history of the labor question of the future may have to be entitled 'conflicts of the State and its employés.' See TRADE UNIONS, WAGES, SOCIALISM, ECONOMICS, and SLAVERY and SLAVE TRADE.

FEDERA

Labor, AMERICAN TION OF, a confederation of labor organizations of the United States and Canada. It was organized in Pittsburg in November, 1881, under the name of 'The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions,' assuming its present name in 1886. Ŏwing largely to the antagonism of the Knights of Labor, its early years were marked by very little progress or activity. In 1886 its total membership did not exceed 350,000, comprised in 13 national and international trade unions, 6 local unions, and 6 city federated unions. With the rapid decline of the power and influence of the Knights of Labor between 1885 and 1890, the position of the Federation of Labor in the American labor movement became paramount. At the close of 1905 it numbered within its ranks 118 national and international trade unions, representing approximately 27,000 local unions, with an aggregate membership estimated at about 2,000,000. In addition there were 1,046 other local unions having no national trade union affiliation. Directly connected with the Federation were 33 state branches and 599 city federated organizations. Each affiliated body is permitted to manage its own affairs and to determine its trade policy without

Labor Colonies

interference. The activities of the Federation are limited primarily to matters of general interest to organized labor such as favorable labor legislation and the promotion of harmony and mutual assistance between the different unions. A general convention of delegates of the affiliated organization meets annually in November to elect officers and enact laws and regulations concerning the government and policy of the Federation. Mr. Samuel Gompers, vice-president of the Cigar Makers International Union, with the exception of one year, has been regularly elected president since 1885. He, together with the secretary and the treasurer, receive a salary for their services. The Federation, in addition, employs a corps of organizers,' whose duty it is to travel about the country unionizing' unorganized wage-earners. A general executive council, composed of officers elected from the principal affiliated unions, meets at intervals between the annual conventions to pass upon matters pertaining to the Federation. The permanent headquarters are at Washington, D. C. An official organ, The American Federationist, has been published monthly by the Federation since 1894. See TRADE UNIONS.

Labor Colonies. With the object of reducing vagrancy and of assisting unemployed workmen, labor colonies have been instituted, in various countries, by the state or by private philanthropy. Many German cities conduct systematic schemes of colonization of the unemployed. A typical labor colony is that at Wilhelmsdorf, the earliest one founded. It is open to all able-bodied men willing to work, if there is room, and a colonist can leave at any time. The work is chiefly agricultural, and after the first fortnight the colonist is credited with a small sum weekly, in addition to free board and lodging. These sums accumulate, and are handed over to the colonist when he leaves. In another class of labor colonies there is the power of compulsory detention." The great bulk of the material, however, with which these institutions deal consists not of efficient workmen out of work, but of tramps, exprisoners, and other social wreckage. In the United States labor colonies have been founded by the Salvation Army in Colorado, Ohio, and California. In England labor colonies haye been founded, although only on a small scale, by the Salvation Army, the Church Army, and a few other charitable bodies. In January, 1905, the Colonial Office commissioned Mr. Rider Haggard to go to the United States to inspect and re

Labor Day

es

port upon the settlements tablished there by the Salvation Army, with the view to the possibility of making similar colonies for the urban population of the United Kingdom in Canada and other parts of the empire. Mr. Haggard reported strongly in favor of such settlements, and also suggested that the selection of suitable settlers from among the poor of Great Britain should be left to the Salvation Army officials. In 1905 the London County Council established a labor colony at Hollesley Bay, Suffolk, which is proving successful.

Labor Day, a legal holiday in many states of the U. S. occurring on the first Monday in September, and celebrated by labor processions, sports, and meetings in the chief cities. Since the Labor Congress at Berlin (1890) the 1st of May has been dedicated to labor demonstrations in some European countries.

Laborers, STATUTES OF. The Black Death caused such an increase in the price of labor that the acts called Statutes of Laborers were passed in 1349 and 1530, and extended to London and the Cinque Ports in 1357. They fixed wages at the rates which prevailed in 1347, and forbade the movement of laborers in search of higher wages. The statutes were always ineffectual, and were repealed in 1863.

Labori, FERNAND GUSTAVE GASTON (1860), French advocate, was born at Rheims. He defended the assassin Duval, Pini the anarchist, and the dynamiter Vaillant, and has taken part in several important literary causes. Labori won celebrity by his brilliant defense of Zola, charged with libelling the French executive and army (Feb. 1898), and by his conduct of the Dreyfus appeal at Rennes. During this trial an attempt was made to assassinate him (Aug. 14, 1899). Since that time he has dissociated himself from the party of Dreyfus. He was counsel for the defence in the notorious Humbert trial in 1903. Maître Labori is editor-inchief of the Grande Revue, and he has published the Répertoire Encyclopédique du Droit Français.

Labor Legislation. See FACTORY ACTS; CHILD LABOR LAWS; SWEATING SYSTEM; UNEMPLOYED; OLD AGE PENSIONS; TRADE UNIONS; STRIKES AND LockOUTS; EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY; EIGHT HOUR MOVEMENT; PROFIT SHARING.

Labouchere, HENRY, BARON TAUNTON (1798-1869), British politician, descended paternally from a French Huguenot family, and maternally from a member of the banking house of Baring. He entered Parliament as a Whig

164

in 1826; was M.P. for Taunton (1830-59); Chief Secretary for Ireland (1846-7); President of the Board of Trade (1839-41 and 1847-52), carrying the Navigation Laws Abolishment Act through the Commons against the efforts of the shipping interests; and Colonial Secretary (1855-8). Labouchere was created Baron Taunton in 1859.

Labouchere, HENRY DUPRÉ (1831), English journalist and editor and proprietor of Truth, a society paper which he started in 1876. Educated at Eton, he entered the diplomatic service in 1854, but retired from it in 1864. He represented Middlesex (18678), and from 1880 to 1906 was one of the members for Northampton. In 1889 he placed himself at the head of the advanced Radicals, and was for a time spoken of as one of the most influential private members in the House. He was a member of the Jameson Raid Commission (1896). As 'A Besieged Resident' he contributed a series of extremely interesting letters to the Daily News during the investment of Paris in the Franco-German War. Subsequently he became city editor of the World, under Edmund Yates's management. His own journal, Truth, has been very successful in the exposure of a number of social, financial, and administrative scandals. For Labouchere's adventures as an attaché see Joseph Hatton's Journalistic London.

Laboulaye, EDOUARD RENÉ LEFEBVRE DE (1811-83), French jurist and author; born in Paris, and after a successful legal career became professor of comparative jurisprudence in the Collège de France (1849). Besides numerous works on French law, and several stories (Contes Bleus, Pablo, and others), he published the paradoxically-named Histoire Politique des États-Unis, 1620-1789 (1855-66). Laboulaye edited the Revue Historique de Droit (185569), Revue de Législation (1870-6), and Nouvelle Revue Historique (1877-83). See Wallon's Notice sur la Vie de M. Ed. Laboulaye (1889), and the Nouvelle Revue Historique for 1883.

BERTRAND

Labourdonnais, FRANÇOIS MAHÉ DE (1699-1755), French admiral, born at St. Malo; served gallantly in the French East India Company's navy, and successfully governed Bourbon and the Ile de France (1733-40). In 1740 he began the conflict with the British for the naval sovereignty of the Indies, and in September, 1746, captured Madras, but was bribed with £40,000 to restore it to the English. Dupleix, the governor-general, refused to recognize this ransom, and secured the recall of Labourdonnais, who was accused of

Labrador

treachery and imprisoned in the Bastille (1748-52). See Vie de Mahé de Labourdonnais, by his grandson (1827); and Labourdonnais Mémoires (1750).

Labrador, an extensive peninsula on the E. of British N. America, lying between Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its length is 1,100 m., breadth 470 m., and area 530,000 sq. m. It is shared between Canada and Newfoundland. The interior is very imperfectly explored, but it is believed to be sterile. It consists of a high plateau, rising in places to 2,000 ft. The climate, even on the coast, is much too severe to ripen ordinary cereals, although it lies in the same latitudes as the N. parts of the United Kingdom. Its shores are washed by an icy Arctic current, which is responsible for its low mean annual temperature of 24° F. The Atlantic coast is bold and rugged, and there are a number of fine harbors and deep inlets, the most important of which are Hamilton Inlet, into which flows Hamilton R., and Ungava Bay. The interior is uninhabited, but along the E. coasts there is a fringe of settlements. The Hudson's Bay Company maintains a few scattered factories and the Moravian missionaries to the Eskimos have supported a number of stations since 1770. The extent of the Indian population is unknown; they are of the Algonquin tribe. The permanent coast population, which is largely half-breed, is about 5,000, but there is a migratory summer population of 30,000 engaged in the shore fisheries, which are remarkably productive. Labrador was probably first discovered by the Norsemen about 1000. Until recently it was generally supposed that John Cabot came to its shores in 1497, but it is now considered more probable that he reached the coast of America farther to the s. About 1500 Cortereal landed on the coast of Labrador and gave the region its name (meaning the land of laborers'), thinking that it would afford a supply of slaves. was early frequented by Basque fishermen, and later by Bretons, who founded (1520) a town called Brest in Bradore Bay, the ruins of which may still be seen. The peninsula was transferred by the treaty of Paris (1763) to Great Britain, and the S. and E. shores were handed over to Newfoundland. Part of the peninsula belongs to the province of Quebec, the boundary on the E. being at Blanc Sablon, near the Strait of Belle Isle; most of the remaining area, draining into Hudson Bay, now forms the territory of Ungava, and a narrow strip on the E. coast, with an area of

It

Labradorite

119,000 sq. m. and a population (1901) of 3,947, is now officially known as Labrador. See Hind's Exploration of the Labrador Peninsula (1863), Holmes' Proceedings Royal Geog. Soc. (1888), and Grenfell's Vikings of To-Day (1895).

Labradorite, one of the commonest of the soda-lime felspars or plagioclases, found in many crystalline rocks, such as basalt, gabbro, andesite, and diorite. It is usually colorless or gray, brown or green; and is often characterized by a remarkable play of color as the light is reflected from a cleavage surface sp. gr. 2.7, h. 5 to 6. It is sometimes found in well-formed crystals embedded in the matrix

165

took his license in law at Orléans in 1665, and was called to the Paris bar. In 1673 he purchased the office of treasurer of finances for Caen, a post which provided a comfortable income, but did not make him give up residence in Paris. In 1684, on the recommendation of Bossuet, he became tutor to the Duc de Bourbon, grandson of the great Condé, and he continued to reside in the household of Condé till his death. A man of retiring and studious disposition, he preferred to be a spectator of the endcavors of others for worldly success rather than to strive for his own advancement. What he saw he has reflected in Les Caractères de

Labyrinth

and Asselineau (1871); also Fournier's La Comédie de la Bruyère (1886); Sainte-Beuve's Portraits Littéraires, and Nouveaux Lundis; and Pellisson's La Bruyère (1892).

Labuan, isl., 6 m. off the N.W. coast of Borneo; area, 30 sq. m. It is flat, well wooded and watered, and is noted for its extensive coal measures. Sago is the principal product. Victoria (pop. 1,500), on the S.E. coast, affords an excellent anchorage. The island was transferred to the British N. Borneo Company in 1890, having previously been a crown colony from 1844. when it was ceded by the sultan of Borneo to Britain. It

Labyrinthodonts

that an exit was difficult to find. We are told by Herodotus that the earliest known labyrinth was in Egypt, and that the more famous Cretan one was a copy of it. The latter is said to have been constructed for King Minos by Dædalus to secure the Minotaur. The discovery by A. J. Evans of a huge, many-chambered building in Cnossus, on the traditional site of Minos's palace, has led him to the conclusion that this palace was the original labyrinth. Its huge size and complexity caused its name to be used in the familiar sense; but originally it meant 'house of the labrys' or double-axe, a sign frequently found in the ruins. A labyrinth of hedges is frequently found in gardens in the United States and England. See Herodotus, bk. ii.; Kingsley's Heroes (for the labyrinth in legend), also Apollodorus and Hyginus; and the Journal of Hellenic Studies (1900, 1901).

Labyrinthodonts. This name was originally given by Professor Owen to certain extinct tailed amphibians on account of the structure shown by a cross section of their teeth. The labyrinthodonts are now regarded as a sub-order of the Stegocephala, and include large amphibia which in general habit resembled a newt or salamander. In some cases their skulls were nearly two feet in length, and covered by large sculptured bony plates. Their limbs were comparatively small, and are not well known. On the

Section of Tooth of Typical
Labyrinthodont.

under surface of the body they were provided with a breastplate of bony scales. Remains of large labyrinthodonts are found in the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic strata. They are known from Europe, Africa and N. America. Among the best known genera are Archegosaurus, Loxomma, and Mastodonsaurus.

Lac. See LAKH, and SHELLAC.

La Caille, NICOLAS LOUIS (1713-62), French astronomer, born at Rumigny; he was the first to determine accurately the length of an arc of the meridian. He became mathematical pro

166

fessor at the Collège Mazarin (1740) and a member of the Académie des Sciences (1741). While on a visit to S. Africa he made astronomical observations, and determined the position of upwards of 10,000 stars, resulting in his Cælum Australe Stelliferum, posthumously published by Maraldi (1763). He also wrote Observations sur 515 Etoiles du Zodiaque (1762-3).

Lacaita, SIR JAMES PHILIP (1813-95), Italian scholar and politician, who, as a Neapolitan advocate, aided Gladstone in his exposure of Bourbon misrule. He came to London (1852), and was appointed professor of Italian at Queen's College. After the fall of the Bourbons Lacaita returned to Italy, and entered the Italian Parliament as deputy for Naples.

La Calprenède, GAUTIER DE COSTES, SEIGNEUR DE (1610-63), French novelist and playwright; won a high contemporary reputation by his novels, Cassandre (10 vols. 1642-50), Cléopatre (12 vols. 1647-58), Faramond (7 vols. 166171), and Les Nouvelles, ou les Divertissements de la Princesse Alcidiane (1661). The classic names were merely grafted on to descriptions of his own time. See Körting's Geschichte des franzosischen Romans im XVII. Jahrhundert (1891).

Lacandon, tribe of MayaQuiché stock, inhabiting the region around Lacandon and Usumacinta rivers of Chiapas (Mexico) and Guatemala, about the borderland between Yucatan and Guatemala; but they are now chiefly confined to the wooded district between Lake Peten and the Rio de la Pasion tributary of the Usumacinta. Their language is a dialect of the Maya of Yucatan. See Brinton, The American Race. (1901.)

La Carlota, or SIMANCAS, pueb., Negros Occidental, prov., Philippines, 18 m. s. of Bacolod. It is an important centre of communication between the interior and the coast. Pop. (1903) 13,097. Laccadive Islands, a group of coral islands in the Indian Ocean, only nine of which are inhabited. They belong to Great Britain, and lie about 200 m. west of the Malabar coast. Their surface is flat, low, and barren. Cocoanut is the chief plant, and coir (cocoanut fibre) is extensively manufactured. Other products are jaggery, cocoanuts, betel nuts, and rice. Commerce is carried on by native vessels. The group was discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499. Area is estimated at 80 sq. m., of which 60 are banks and reefs. Pop. (1901) 10,274, consisting mainly of Moplahs, or Mohammedans of mixed Arab and Hindu descent.

Lace

Lace. There is little doubt that the worn edges of woven material first suggested an ornamental treatment which developed into lace. A hem is often somewhat clumsy; and if not hemmed, the edge will soon fringe itself. It is only a step further to plait or knot the fringe so formed with that geometrical precision which was one of the earliest forms of ornamentation.

The next step was to arrange a network of threads upon a small square frame, crossing and interlacing them into various complicated patterns. Beneath this was gummed a piece of quintian or French lawn, so named from the town in Brittany where it was made. Then, with a needle, the network was sewn to the quintian by edging round those parts of the pattern that were to remain thick. The last operation was to cut away the superfluous cloth. This was callen 'cut work,' and was the fashionable employment of ladies in the 16th century. It is also an industrial employment of to-day. Sewing or stitching machines, making various fancy stitches, are employed on a form of cut work in which any opaque fabric is superimposed upon whatever description of net the treatment of the design may require. The design is then transferred in outline to the fabric, the machinist stitches all around the outlines, and the superfluous material is cut away where the net is to be exposed.

Lace, in the more exact sense, is a textile fabric of which both ground and pattern are entirely produced by the lacemaker either by the needle, in which case it is called 'needle point,' or on the pillow by means of a number of bobbins, each containing a supply of thread, and each at liberty to be manipulated independently. When produced by the latter method it is called 'pillow lace.' Both kinds are produced on a parchment pattern, but each has its own distinctive features.

Certain pillow-made laces claim the prefix 'point'-thus 'Point de Malines,' 'Point de Valenciennes.' Point also means a particular stitch, as Point de Paris,' or 'Point de Neige.'

Most of the best-known laces derive their names from the place of origin, or district most renowned for their production, as Brussels or Brabant (sometimes called 'Point d'Angleterre'), Venice point and rose or raised Venice point, Valenciennes, Mechlin or Malines, Languedoc, and many others. The principal exception to this rule is 'guipure,' characterized by a raised thick thread prominently and effectively disposed in the pattern. This thread is composed of a core of inferior