in Nazareth, and contains the Church of the Annunciation. This church is built, according to tradition, over the grottos which formed the lower part of the house of Joseph and Mary. The church is plain but handsome, and the music is very fine. The monks show the granite pillars which stand where the angel Gabriel and Mary stood at the annunciation, the workshop of Joseph, the house where "Jesus gave a supper to his friends before and after his resurrection, and the table 'Mensa Christi,' which they seem to value most of all."

Latin Quarter. See QUARTIER LATIN.

Latin School [of Boston].

An

ancient school foundation in Boston, Mass., the oldest institution of the kind in America. It originated in 1634. Benjamin Frankfin, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Cotton Mather, Sir William Pepperell, and other celebrities of early days, as well as many eminent men of later times, have been pupils of this school. The school building was originally on School Street, to which it gave its name. Latour. A farmhouse, or small château, in the wine district of Médoc, on the Garonne, below Bordeaux, France. Here is produced the celebrated wine known as the Château Latour.

Laurel Hill. A large and beautiful cemetery adjoining Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It has fine views of the Schuylkill, and noted collections of trees, including some cedars of Lebanon. Laval University. An institution of learning, with fine buildings, a library, museum, etc., in Quebec, Can.

Lawrence, The. The flag-ship of Commodore Perry's squadron on Lake Erie in 1813.

Laxenburg. A palace near Vienna, which has been a favorite residence of the royal house of Aus

at Constantinople, so called after the Leander of classic story, a youth of Abydos, who swam nightly across the Hellespont to visit his love, Hero, a priestess of Sestos. The Turks call this tower the "Maiden's Tower," and connect with it a story of a Greek princess, who was kept imprisoned here by her father, but was liberated by the Arabian hero Heschan. It is now used as a light-house.

We swept round the Golden Horn, past Leander's tower, and now lay in the harbor which extends into the sweet waters. Hans Christian Andersen.

Leaning Tower [of Pisa]. The name by which the Campanile, or Bell-tower, of the Cathedral of Pisa, Italy, is popularly designated. The deviation of about 13 feet from the perpendicular is doubtless owing to an imperfect foundation. The same peculiarity is observed in many other Italian towers, but nowhere to the same extent as here. That the inclination of the tower was not intentional, but the result of a defective foundation, is said by competent judges to be very evi.dent. It was begun in 1174, is built of white marble, and is 178 feet in height, and 50 feet in diameter. See CAMPANILE.

"Sismondi compares the Tower to the usual pictorial representations in children's books of the Tower of Babel. It is a happy simile, and conveys a better idea of the building than chapters of labored description. Nothing can exceed the grace and lightness of the structure; nothing can be more remarkable than its general appear. ance. In the course of the ascent to the top (which is by an easy staircase), the inclination is not very apparent; but at the summit it becomes so, and gives one the sensation of being in a ship that has heeled over, through the action of an ebb-tide. The effect upon the low side, so to speak, looking over from the gallery, and seeing the shaft recede to its base, -is very startling; and I saw a nervous traveller hold on to the Tower involuntarily, after glancing down, as if he had some idea of propping it up. The view within, from the ground, looking up, as through a slanted tube, is also very curious. It certainly inclines as much as

the most sanguine tourist could desire. The natural impulse of ninety-nine people out of a hundred, who were about to recline upon the grass below it, to rest, and contemplate the adjacent buildings, would probably be, not to take up their position under the leaning side; it is so very much aslant." Dickens.

...

"This piece of architectural eccentricity was, and I suppose is, one of the commonplaces of geography, and is put in the same educational stateroom with the Wall of China, the Great Tun of Heidelberg, and the Natural Bridge of Virginia. . . This singular structure is simply a campanile, or bell-tower, appurtenant to the cathedral, as is the general custom in Italy. It is not merely quaint, but beautiful; that is, take away the quaintness, and the beauty will remain. It is built of white marble, wonderfully fresh and pure when we remember that near. ly seven centuries have swept over it." Hillard.

"In any event, there are other leaning towers in Italy, at Bologna for example: voluntarily, or involuntarily, this feeling for oddness, this love of paradox, this yielding to fancy, is one of the characteristics of the Middle Ages." Taine, Trans.

4" The Tower of Pisa may claim to be the noblest tower of Southern Romanesque. The round form doubtless comes from Ravenna; but the Pi. san tower is a Ravenna tower glorified." Freeman.

The well-curb had a Chinese roof:
And even the long sweep, high aloof,
In its slant splendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle. Whittier.

Lear. A picture by Benjamin
West (1738-1820). Now in the
Boston Athenæum.

Leda. 1. A mythological picture by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), sometimes called a Carità, or Charity. It is in the possession of Prince Frederic of Holland, at the Hague. A picture by Michael Angelo (1475-1564) upon this subject, executed for the Duke of Ferrara, is lost; but an early copy -a cartoon-is in the Royal Academy, London.

2. A picture by Antonio Allegri, surnamed Correggio (14941534). In the Museum at Berlin, Prussia.

Leeds Castle. An ancient ruined fortress near Maidstone, Kent, England.

Lehigh University. A collegiate establishment in Bethlehem, Penn., founded in 1865 by Asa Packer.

Leicester House. A mansion built about 1650 in Leicester Square, London, for the Earl of Leicester. It was occupied at various times by royal personages, among others by Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, who lived there, and died there in 1662. George II. resided in Leicester House from 1717 to 1720.

Leicester Square. A well-known square in London, built between 1630 and 1731, noted as a resort and place of residence for foreigners.

"Come through this narrow lane into Leicester Square. You cross here the first limit of the fashionable quar. ter. This is the home of that most miserable fish out of water-a Frenchman in London." N. P. Willis.

They dined at a miserable cheap French restaurateur in the neighborhood of Leicester Square, where they were served with a caricature of French cookery. Irving. Lemon Hill. An eminence in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, surmounted by an old mansion, once the residence of Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolution.

a

Lenox Library. A marble building in New York City, fronting on Central Park, built at a cost of $500,000, to contain a museum, art-gallery, library, and lecturehall. It derives its name from its founder, James Lenox, wealthy citizen of New York. Leo X. A celebrated portrait of this Pope by Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), representing him as seated at a table, with the Cardinals de' Medici and de' Rossi behind him on each side. This is regarded as one of Raphael's best portraits. It is now in the Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy. There is a repetition of this picture by

Andrea del Sarto (1488-1530), who was employed by Ottaviano de' Medici, the possessor of it, to copy it for the Duke of Mantua. This repetition is so well executed that it deceived even Giulio Romano, who had taken part in the execution of the original. This copy is in the Gallery of Naples, and there has been much discussion as to which was the original picture.

Leonardo da Vinci. A portrait of himself by the painter (1452-1520). In the collection of autograph portraits of the painters, in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

Leonard's Crags. See ST. LEONARD'S CRAGS.

Leonine City. [Ital. Città Leonina.] The northern district or quarter of modern Rome, founded in the ninth century by Leo IV., who enclosed it in walls to protect it from the devastation of the Moorish pirates. It is the most interesting quarter of the modern city, as it includes the Castle of St. Angelo, the Vatican, and St. Peter's. At the Italian invasion of September, 1870, it was promised to the Pope, as the sanctuary of the Holy See, the last relic of its temporal sovereignty. This quarter of the city is known as the Borgo. Dyer says, that, when it was enclosed by Leo IV., it obtained the name of Borgo from the Saxon settlement called "Burgus Saxonum."

Leopard, The. A British ship of war which attacked and captured the American vessel Chesapeake, in a naval duel in 1813.

Lepanto, Battle of. See BATTLE OF LEPANTO.

Lethe Lake. A well-known sub

terranean lake in the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. It is crossed in boats.

Levant, The. A vessel of the United States navy. See PORTSMOUTH, THE.

for a great distance along the Mississippi River at and near New Orleans, La. It is 15 feet wide and four feet high, and is used in the fall and winter as a promenade. Crevasses have frequently occurred to damage it, but it has been much strengthened of late. The scene of bustle and activity which the levee presents at times is unequalled in America.

Levite, Feast of the. See FEAST OF THE LEVITE.

Lia Fail. A singular pillar-stone on the summit of the Hill of Tara, in the county of Meath, Ireland.

"This is the celebrated 'coronation stone' of the ancient Irish kings. It is composed of granular limestone, and is at present about six feet above ground, but its real height is said to be 12 feet. At its base it is, perhaps, four feet in circumference; but it tapers somewhat towards the top, not unlike the Round Towers."

Mr. and Mrs. Hall.

See HILL OF TARA and also STONE OF SCONE.

Libby Prison. In Richmond, Va.

A noted and notorious place of confinement for military prisoners during the war of the Rebellion. Here the Federal soldiers were subjected to the greatest cruelty and hardships. The building was simply a warehouse converted to the purposes of a jail.

Liber Studiorum. [Book of Studies.] A famous series of prints or drawings by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), the English landscape-painter. Liber Veritatis. [Book of Truth.]

A book of original drawings by Claude Lorraine (1600-1682), the French landscape-painter, kept to identify his pictures which were being constantly imitated by other artists. There are six copies of this work, one of which is at Chatsworth, England.

Liberian Basilica. See SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE.

lin, Ireland, in the most elevated and airy part of the city, so called from certain privileges and immunities possessed by the inhabitants, having manor courts of their own with seneschals to preside over them. Some 40 streets and lanes, containing a population estimated at 40,000 souls, are embraced within its precincts.

"The present state of this once flourishing region forms a strong contrast to its former, but it still retains many evidences of what it has been. In passing along its desolate streets, large houses of costly structure everywhere present themselves. Lofty fa çades adorned with architraves, and mouldings to windows, and door-cases of sculptured stone or marble; grand staircases with carved and gilded balustrades; panelled doors opening into spacious suits of corniced and stuccoed apartments-all attest the opulence of its former inhabitants. They are now the abode only of the most miserable." Mr. and Mrs. Hall.

Liberty. A colossal statue designed by Thomas Crawford (181457), surmounting the dome of the Capitol at Washington. It is undoubtedly the best known of his works. The statue is executed in bronze, and is 19 feet in height. It was cast at Bladensburg, Md., by Clark Mills. Liberty Bell. A famous bell now preserved in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Penn. It was originally cast in London in 1752, and bore the motto, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." It was subsequently re-cast in Philadelphia, retaining the same inscription, and was rung on the occasion of the adoption by Congress of the Declaration of Independence.

"The bell which rang out the Declaration of Independence has found at last a voice articulate, to proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto It has all the inhabitants thereof.' been heard across oceans, and has modified the sentiments of cabinets and kings. The people of the Old World have heard it, and their hearts stop to catch the last whisper of its echoes. The poor slave has heard it,

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