Chapter V: Part 5

The castle occupies the site of a Roman _castrum_. The Saxon foundations of a yet older structure remain, and the tower at the south-west corner is supposed to have been erected during the reign of Hadrian. The Dungeon Tower, also supposed to be of Roman origin, was taken down in 1818. The greater part of the old portion of the present structure was built by Roger de Poictou, who utilized some of the Roman towers and the old walls. In 1322 much damage was done to the castle by Robert Bruce, whose attack it successfully resisted, but it was restored and strengthened by John of Gaunt, who added the greater part of the Gateway Tower as well as a turret on the keep or Lungess Tower, which on that account has been named "John o' Gaunt's Chair." During the Civil War the castle was captured by Cromwell. Shortly after this it was put to public use, and now, largely modernized, contains the assize courts and gaol. Its appearance, with massive buildings surrounding a quadrangle, is picturesque and dignified. Without the walls is a pleasant terrace walk. Other buildings include several handsome modern churches and chapels (notably the Roman Catholic church); the Storey Institute with art gallery, technical and art schools, museum and library, presented to the borough by Sir Thomas Storey in 1887; Palatine Hall, Ripley hospital (an endowed school for the children of residents in Lancaster and the neighbourhood), the asylum, the Royal Lancaster infirmary and an observatory in the Williamson Park. A new town hall, presented by Lord Ashton in 1909, is a handsome classical building from designs of E. W. Mountford. The Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park, commemorating members of the Ashton family, is a lofty domed structure. The grammar school occupies modern buildings, but its foundation dates from the close of the 15th century, and in its former Jacobean house near the church William Whewell and Sir Richard Owen were educated. A horseshoe inserted in the pavement at Horseshoe Corner in the town, and renewed from time to time, is said to mark the place where a shoe was cast by John of Gaunt's horse.

The chief industries are cotton-spinning, cabinet-making, oil cloth-making, railway wagon-building and engineering. Glasson Dock, 5 m. down the Lune, with a graving dock, is accessible to vessels of 600 tons. The Kendal and Lancaster canal reaches the town by an aqueduct over the Lune, which is also crossed by a handsome bridge dated 1788. The town has further connexion by canal with Preston. The corporation consists of a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area, 3506 acres.

_History._--Lancaster (Lone-caster or Lunecastrum) was an important Roman station, and traces of the Roman fortification wall remain. The Danes left few memorials of their occupation, and the Runic Cross found here, once supposed to be Danish, is now conclusively proved to be Anglo-Saxon. At the Conquest, the place, reduced in size and with its Roman castrum almost in ruins, became a possession of Roger de Poictou, who founded or enlarged the present castle on the old site. The town and castle had a somewhat chequered ownership till in 1266 they were granted by Henry III. to his son Edmund, first earl of Lancaster, and continued to be a part of the duchy of Lancaster till the present time. A town gathered around the castle, and in 1193 John, earl of Mertoun, afterwards king, granted it a charter, and another in 1199 after his accession. Under these charters the burgesses claimed the right of electing a mayor, of holding a yearly fair at Michaelmas and a weekly market on Saturday. Henry III. in 1226 confirmed the charter of 1199; in 1291 the style of the corporation is first mentioned as _Ballivus et communitas burgi_, and Edward III.'s confirmation and extension (1362) is issued to the mayor, bailiffs and commonalty. Edward III.'s charter was confirmed by Richard II. (1389), Henry IV. (1400), Henry V. (1421), Henry VII. (1488) and Elizabeth (1563). James I. (1604) and Charles II. (1665 and 1685) ratified, with certain additions, all previous charters, and again in 1819 a similar confirmation was issued. John of Gaunt in 1362 obtained a charter for the exclusive right of holding the sessions of pleas for the county in Lancaster itself, and up to 1873 the duchy appointed a chief justice and a puisne justice for the court of common pleas at Lancaster. In 1322 the Scots burnt the town, the castle alone escaping; the town was rebuilt but removed from its original position on the hill to the slope and foot. Again in 1389, after the battle of Otterburn, it was destroyed by the same enemy. At the outbreak of the Great Rebellion the burgesses sided with the king, and the town and castle were captured in February 1643 by the Parliamentarians. In March 1643 Lord Derby assaulted and took the town with great slaughter, but the castle remained in the hands of the Parliamentarians. In May and June of the same year the castle was again besieged in vain, and in 1648 the Royalists under Sir Thomas Tyldesley once more fruitlessly besieged it. During the rebellion of 1715 the northern rebels occupied Lancaster for two days and several of them were later executed here. During the 1745 rebellion Prince Charles Edward's army passed through the town in its southward march and again in its retreat, but the inhabitants stood firm for the Hanoverians.

Two chartered markets are held weekly on Wednesday and Saturday and
three annual fairs in April, July and October. A merchant gild existed
here, which was ratified by Edward III.'s charter (1362), and in 1688
six trade companies were incorporated. The chief manufactures used to
be sailcloth, cabinet furniture, candles and cordage. The borough
returned two members to parliament from 1295 to 1331 and again from
some time in Henry VIII.'s reign before 1529 till 1867, when it was
merged in the Lancaster division of north Lancashire. A church existed
here, probably on the site of the parish church of St Mary's, in
Anglo-Saxon times, but the present church dates from the early 15th
century. An act of parliament was passed in 1792 to make the canal
from Kendal through Lancaster and Preston, which is carried over the
Lune about a mile above Lancaster by a splendid aqueduct.

See Fleury, _Time-Honoured Lancaster_ (1891); E. Baines, _History of
Lancashire_ (1888).

LANCASTER, a city and the county-seat of Fairfield county, Ohio, U.S.A., on the Hocking river (non-navigable), about 32 m. S.E. of Columbus. Pop. (1900) 8991, of whom 442 were foreign-born and 212 were negroes; (1910 census) 13,093. Lancaster is served by the Hocking Valley, the Columbus & Southern and the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley (Pennsylvania Lines) railways, and by the electric line of the Scioto Valley Traction Company, which connects it with Columbus. Near the centre of the city is Mt. Pleasant, which rises nearly 200 ft. above the surrounding plain and about which cluster many Indian legends; with 70 acres of woodland and fields surrounding it, this has been given to the city for a park. On another hill is the county court house. Lancaster has a public library and a children's home; and 6 m. distant is the State Industrial School for Boys. The manufactures include boots and shoes, glass and agricultural implements. The total value of the city's factory product in 1905 was $4,159,410, being an increase of 118.3% over that of 1900. Lancaster is the trade centre of a fertile agricultural region, has good transportation facilities, and is near the Hocking Valley and Sunday Creek Valley coal-fields; its commercial and industrial importance increased greatly, after 1900, through the development of the neighbouring natural gas fields and, after 1907-1908, through the discovery of petroleum near the city. Good sandstone is quarried in the vicinity. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks and natural gas plant. Lancaster was founded in 1800 by Ebenezer Zane (1747-1811), who received a section of land here as part compensation for opening a road, known as "Zane's Trace," from Wheeling, West Virginia, to Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky. Some of the early settlers were from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whence the name. Lancaster was incorporated as a village in 1831 and twenty years later became a city of the third class.

LANCASTER, a city and the county-seat of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Conestoga river, 68 m. W. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1900) 41,459, of whom 3492 were foreign-born and 777 were negroes; (1910 census) 47,227. It is served by the Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia & Reading and the Lancaster, Oxford & Southern railways, and by tramways of the Conestoga Traction Company, which had in 1909 a mileage of 152 m. Lancaster has a fine county court house, a soldiers' monument about 43 ft. in height, two fine hospitals, the Thaddeus Stevens Industrial School (for orphans), a children's home, the Mechanics' Library, and the Library of the Lancaster Historical Society. It is the seat of Franklin and Marshall College (Reformed Church), of the affiliated Franklin and Marshall Academy, and of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church, conducted in connexion with the college. The college was founded in 1852 by the consolidation of Franklin College, founded at Lancaster in 1787, and Marshall College, founded at Mercersburg in 1836, both of which had earned a high standing among the educational institutions of Pennsylvania. Franklin College was named in honour of Benjamin Franklin, an early patron; Marshall College was founded by the Reformed Church and was named in honour of John Marshall. The Theological Seminary was opened in 1825 at Carlisle, Pa., and was removed to York, Pa., in 1829, to Mercersburg, Pa., in 1837 and to Lancaster in 1871; in 1831 it was chartered by the Pennsylvania legislature. Among its teachers have been John W. Nevin and Philip Schaff, whose names, and that of the seminary, are associated with the so-called "Mercersburg Theology." At Millersville, 4 m. S.W. of Lancaster, is the Second Pennsylvania State Normal School. At Lancaster are the graves of General John F. Reynolds, who was born here; Thaddeus Stevens, who lived here after 1842; and President James Buchanan, who lived for many years on an estate, "Wheatland," near the city and is buried in the Woodward Hill Cemetery. The city is in a productive tobacco and grain region, and has a large tobacco trade and important manufactures. The value of the city's factory products increased from $12,750,429 in 1900 to $14,647,681 in 1905, or 14.9%. In 1905 the principal products were umbrellas and canes (valued at $2,782,879), cigars and cigarettes ($1,951,971), and foundry and machine-shop products ($1,036,526). Lancaster county has long been one of the richest agricultural counties in the United States, its annual products being valued at about $10,000,000; in 1906 the value of the tobacco crop was about $3,225,000, and there were 824 manufactories of cigars in the county.

Lancaster was settled about 1717 by English Quakers and Germans, was laid out as a town in 1730, incorporated as a borough in 1742, and chartered as a city in 1818. An important treaty with the Iroquois Indians was negotiated here by the governor of Pennsylvania and by commissioners from Maryland and Virginia in June 1744. Some of General Burgoyne's troops, surrendered at Saratoga, were confined here after the autumn of 1780. The Continental Congress sat here on the 27th of September 1777 after being driven from Philadelphia by the British; and subsequently, after the organization of the Federal government, Lancaster was one of the places seriously considered when a national capital was to be chosen. From 1799 to 1812 Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania.

LANCE, a form of spear used by cavalry (see SPEAR). The use of the lance, dying away on the decay of chivalry and the introduction of pistol-armed cavalry, was revived by the Polish and Cossack cavalry who fought against Charles XII. and Frederick the Great. It was not until Napoleon's time, however, that lancer regiments appeared in any great numbers on European battlefields. The effective use of the weapon--long before called by Montecucculi the "queen of weapons"--by Napoleon's lancers at Waterloo led to its introduction into the British service, and except for a short period after the South African War, in which it was condemned as an anachronism, it has shared, or rather contested, with the sword the premier place amongst cavalry arms. In Great Britain and other countries lances are carried by the front rank of cavalry, except light cavalry, regiments, as well as by lancer regiments. In Germany, since 1889, the _whole_ of the cavalry has been armed with the lance. In Russia, on the other hand, line cavalry being, until recently, considered as a sort of mounted infantry or dragoons, the lance was restricted to the Cossacks, and in Austria it enjoys less favour than in Germany. Altogether there are few questions of armament or military detail more freely disputed, in the present day as in the past, than this of sword _versus_ lance.

The lances used in the British service are of two kinds, those with
ash and those with bamboo staves. The latter are much preferred and
are generally used, the "male" bamboo being peculiarly tough and
elastic. The lance is provided with a sling, through which the trooper
passes his right arm when the lance is carried slung, the point of the
steel shoe fitting into a bucket attached to the right stirrup. A
small "dee" loop is also provided, by which the lance can be attached
to the saddle when the trooper dismounts. The small flag is removed on
service. The head is of the best steel. The Germans, doubtless owing
to difficulty in obtaining bamboos, or ash in large quantity straight
enough in the grain over a considerable length, for lance staves,
have adopted a stave of steel tubing as well as one of pine (figs. 2,
3 and 4).

FIG. 1 is the British bamboo lance; figs. 2 and 3 the German steel
tubular lance, and fig. 4 the German pine-wood lance. The full
length of the German lance is 11 ft. 9 in., that of the Cossacks 9
ft. 10 in., that of the Austrian lancers 8 ft. 8 in., and the French
lance 11 ft. The British lance is 9 ft. long. The weight of a lance
varies but slightly. The steel-staved lance weighs 4 lb, the bamboo
4½.]

As to the question of the relative efficiency of the lance and the
sword as the principal arm for cavalry, it is alleged that the former
is heavy and fatiguing to carry, conspicuous, and much in the way when
reconnoitring in close country, working through woods and the like;
that, when unslung ready for the charge, it is awkward to handle, and
may be positively dangerous if a horse becomes restive and the rider
has to use both hands on the reins; that unless the thrust be
delivered at full speed, it is easily parried; and, lastly, that in
the _mêlée_, when the trooper has not room to use his lance, he will
be helpless until he either throws it away or slings it, and can draw
his sword. While admitting the last-mentioned objection, those who
favour the lance contend that success in the first shock of contact is
all-important, and that this success the lancer will certainly obtain,
owing to his long reach enabling him to deliver a blow before the
swordsman can retaliate, while, when the _mêlée_ commences, the rear
rank will come to the assistance of the front rank. Further, it is
claimed that the power of delivering the first blow gives confidence
to the young soldier; that the appearance of a lancer regiment,
preceded as it were by a hedge of steel, has an immense moral effect;
that in single combat a lancer, with room to turn, can always defeat
an opponent armed with a sword; and, lastly, that in pursuit a lancer
is terrible to an enemy, whether the latter be mounted or on foot. As
in the case of the perennial argument whether a sword should be
designed mainly for cutting or thrusting, it is unlikely that the
dispute as to the merits of the lance over the sword will ever be
definitely settled, since so many other factors--horsemanship, the
training of the horse, the skill and courage of the
adversary--determine the trooper's success quite as much as the weapon
he happens to wield. The following passage from _Cavalry: its History
and Tactics_ (London, 1853), by Captain Nolan, explains how the lance
gained popularity in Austria:--"In the last Hungarian war (1848-49)
the Hungarian Hussars were ... generally successful against the
Austrian heavy cavalry--cuirassiers and dragoons; but when they met
the Polish Lancers, the finest regiments of light horse in the
Austrian service, distinguished for their discipline, good riding,
and, above all, for their _esprit de corps_ and gallantry in action,
against those the Hungarians were not successful, and at once
attributed this to the lances of their opponents. The Austrians then
extolled the lance above the sword, and armed all their light cavalry
regiments with it."

The lancer regiments in the British service are the 5th, the 9th, the
12th, the 16th, the 17th and the 21st. All these were converted at
different dates from hussars and light dragoons, the last-named in
1896. The typical lancer uniform is a light-fitting short-skirted
tunic with a double-breasted front, called the plastron, of a
different colour, a girdle, and a flat-topped lancer "cap," adapted
from the Polish czapka (see UNIFORMS: _Naval and Military_). The
British lancers, with the exception of the 16th, who wear scarlet with
blue facings, are clad in blue, the 5th, 9th and 12th having scarlet
facings and green, black and red plumes respectively, the 17th (famous
as the "death or glory boys" and wearing a skull and crossbones badge)
white facings and white plume, and the 21st light-blue facings and
plume.

LANCELOT (Lancelot du Lac, or Lancelot of the Lake), a famous figure in the Arthurian cycle of romances. To the great majority of English readers the name of no knight of King Arthur's court is so familiar as is that of Sir Lancelot. The mention of Arthur and the Round Table at once brings him to mind as the most valiant member of that brotherhood and the secret lover of the Queen. Lancelot, however, is not an original member of the cycle, and the development of his story is still a source of considerable perplexity to the critic.

Briefly summarized, the outline of his career, as given in the German _Lanzelet_ and the French prose _Lancelot_, is as follows: Lancelot was the only child of King Ban of Benoic and his queen Helaine. While yet an infant, his father was driven from his kingdom, either by a revolt of his subjects, caused by his own harshness (_Lanzelet_), or by the action of his enemy Claudas de la Deserte (_Lancelot_). King and queen fly, carrying the child with them, and while the wife is tending her husband, who dies of a broken heart on his flight, the infant is carried off by a friendly water-fairy, the Lady of the Lake, who brings the boy up in her mysterious kingdom. In the German poem this is a veritable "Isle of Maidens," where no man ever enters, and where it is perpetual spring. In the prose _Lancelot_, on the other hand, the Lake is but a mirage, and the Lady's court does not lack its complement of gallant knights; moreover the boy has the companionship of his cousins, Lionel and Bohort, who, like himself, have been driven from their kingdom by Claudas. When he reaches the customary age (which appears to be fifteen), the young Lancelot, suitably equipped, is sent out into the world. In both versions his name and parentage are concealed, in the _Lanzelet_ he is genuinely ignorant of both; here too his lack of all knightly accomplishments (not unnatural when we remember he has here been brought up entirely by women) and his inability to handle a steed are insisted upon. Here he rides forth in search of what adventure may bring. In the prose _Lancelot_ his education is complete, he knows his name and parentage, though for some unexplained reason he keeps both secret, and he goes with a fitting escort and equipment to Arthur's court to demand knighthood. The subsequent adventures differ widely: in the _Lanzelet_ he ultimately reconquers his kingdom, and, with his wife Iblis, reigns over it in peace, both living to see their children's children, and dying on the same day, in good old fairy-tale fashion. In fact, the whole of the _Lanzelet_ has much more the character of a fairy or folk-tale than that of a knightly romance.

In the prose version, Lancelot, from his first appearance at court, conceives a passion for the queen, who is very considerably his senior, his birth taking place some time after her marriage to Arthur. This infatuation colours all his later career. He frees her from imprisonment in the castle of Meleagant, who has carried her off against her will--(a similar adventure is related in _Lanzelet_, where the abductor is Valerîn, and Lanzelet is not the rescuer)--and, although he recovers his kingdom from Claudas, he prefers to remain a simple knight of Arthur's court, bestowing the lands on his cousins and half-brother Hector. Tricked into a liaison with the Fisher King's daughter Elaine, he becomes the father of Galahad, the Grail winner, and, as a result of the queen's jealous anger at his relations with the lady, goes mad, and remains an exile from the court for some years. He takes part, fruitlessly, in the Grail quest, only being vouchsafed a fleeting glimpse of the sacred Vessel, which, however, is sufficient to cast him into unconsciousness, in which he remains for as many days as he has spent years in sin. Finally, his relations with Guenevere are revealed to Arthur by the sons of King Lot, Gawain, however, taking no part in the disclosure. Surprised together, Lancelot escapes, and the queen is condemned to be burnt alive. As the sentence is about to be carried into execution Lancelot and his kinsmen come to her rescue, but in the fight that ensues many of Arthur's knights, including three of Gawain's brothers, are slain. Thus converted into an enemy, Gawain urges his uncle to make war on Lancelot, and there follows a desperate struggle between Arthur and the race of Ban. This is interrupted by the tidings of Mordred's treachery, and Lancelot, taking no part in the last fatal conflict, outlives both king and queen, and the downfall of the Round Table. Finally, retiring to a hermitage, he ends his days in the odour of sanctity.

The process whereby the independent hero of the _Lanzelet_ (who, though his mother is Arthur's sister, has but the slightest connexion with the British king), the faithful husband of Iblis, became converted into the principal ornament of Arthur's court, and the devoted lover of the queen, is by no means easy to follow, nor do other works of the cycle explain the transformation. In the pseudo-chronicles, the _Historia_ of Geoffrey and the translations by Wace and Layamon, Lancelot does not appear at all; the queen's lover, whose guilty passion is fully returned, is Mordred. Chrétien de Troyes' treatment of him is contradictory; in the _Erec_, his earliest extant poem, Lancelot's name appears as third on the list of the knights of Arthur's court. (It is well, however, to bear in mind the possibility of later addition or alteration in such lists.) In _Cligés_ he again ranks as third, being overthrown by the hero of the poem. In _Le Chevalier de la Charrette_, however, which followed _Cligés_, we find Lancelot alike as leading knight of the court and lover of the queen, in fact, precisely in the position he occupies in the prose romance, where, indeed, the section dealing with this adventure is, as Gaston Paris clearly proved, an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem. The subject of the poem is the rescue of the queen from her abductor Meleagant; and what makes the matter more perplexing is that Chrétien handles the situation as one with which his hearers are already familiar; it is Lancelot, and not Arthur or another, to whom the office of rescuer naturally belongs. After this it is surprising to find that in his next poem, _Le Chevalier au Lion_, Lancelot is once, and only once, casually referred to, and that in a passing reference to his rescue of the queen. In the _Perceval_, Chrétien's last work, he does not appear at all, and yet much of the action passes at Arthur's court.

In the continuations added at various times to Chrétien's unfinished work the rôle assigned to Lancelot is equally modest. Among the fifteen knights selected by Arthur to accompany him to Chastel Orguellous he only ranks ninth. In the version of the _Luite Tristran_ inserted by Gerbert in his _Perceval_, he is publicly overthrown and shamed by Tristan. Nowhere is he treated with anything approaching the importance assigned to him in the prose versions. Welsh tradition does not know him; early Italian records, which have preserved the names of Arthur and Gawain, have no reference to Lancelot; among the group of Arthurian knights figured on the architrave of the north doorway of Modena cathedral (a work of the 12th century) he finds no place; the real cause for his apparently sudden and triumphant rise to popularity is extremely difficult to determine. What appears the most probable solution is that which regards Lancelot as the hero of an independent and widely diffused folk-tale, which, owing to certain special circumstances, was brought into contact with, and incorporated in, the Arthurian tradition. This much has been proved certain of the adventures recounted in the _Lanzelet_; the theft of an infant by a water-fairy; the appearance of the hero three consecutive days, in three different disguises, at a tournament; the rescue of a queen, or princess, from an Other-World prison, all belong to one well-known and widely-spread folk-tale, variants of which are found in almost every land, and of which numerous examples have been collected alike by M. Cosquin in his _Contes Lorrains_, and by Mr J. F. Campbell in his _Tales of the West Highlands_.

The story of the loves of Lancelot and Guenevere, as related by Chrétien, has about it nothing spontaneous and genuine; in no way can it be compared with the story of Tristan and Iseult. It is the exposition of a relation governed by artificial and arbitrary rules, to which the principal actors in the drama must perforce conform. Chrétien states that he composed the poem (which he left to be completed by Godefroi de Leigni) at the request of the countess Marie of Champagne, who provided him with _matière et san_. Marie was the daughter of Louis VII. of France and of Eleanor of Aquitaine, subsequently wife of Henry II. of Anjou and England. It is a matter of history that both mother and daughter were active agents in fostering that view of the social relations of the sexes which found its most famous expression in the "Courts of Love," and which was responsible for the dictum that love between husband and wife was impossible. The logical conclusion appears to be that the _Charrette_ poem is a "_Tendenz-Schrift_," composed under certain special conditions, in response to a special demand. The story of _Tristan and Iseult_, immensely popular as it was, was too genuine--(shall we say too crude?)--to satisfy the taste of the court for which Chrétien was writing. Moreover, the Arthurian story was the popular story of the day, and Tristan did not belong to the magic circle, though he was ultimately introduced, somewhat clumsily, it must be admitted, within its bounds. The Arthurian cycle must have its own love-tale; Guenevere, the leading lady of that cycle, could not be behind the courtly ladies of the day and lack a lover; one had to be found for her. Lancelot, already popular hero of a tale in which an adventure parallel to that of the _Charrette_ figured prominently, was pressed into the service, Modred, Guenevere's earlier lover, being too unsympathetic a character; moreover, Modred was required for the final rôle of traitor.

But to whom is the story to be assigned? Here we must distinguish between the _Lancelot_ proper and the _Lancelot-Guenevere_ versions; so far as the latter are concerned, we cannot get behind the version of Chrétien,--nowhere, prior to the composition of the _Chevalier de la Charrette_ is there any evidence of the existence of such a story. Yet Chrétien does not claim to have invented the situation. Did it spring from the fertile brain of some court lady, Marie, or another? The authorship of the _Lancelot_ proper, on the other hand, is invariably ascribed to Walter Map (see MAP), the chancellor of Henry II., but so also are the majority of the Arthurian prose Romances. The trend of modern critical opinion is towards accepting Map as the author of a _Lancelot_ romance, which formed the basis for later developments, and there is a growing tendency to identify this hypothetical original _Lancelot_ with the source of the German _Lanzelet_. The author, Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, tells us that he translated his poem from a French (_welsches_) book in the possession of Hugo de Morville, one of the English hostages, who, in 1194, replaced Richard Coeur de Lion in the prison of Leopold of Austria. Further evidence on the point is, unfortunately, not at present forthcoming. To the student of the original texts Lancelot is an infinitely less interesting hero than Gawain, Perceval or Tristan, each of whom possesses a well-marked personality, and is the centre of what we may call individual adventures. Saving and excepting the incident of his being stolen and brought up by a water-fairy (from a _Lai_ relating which adventure the whole story probably started), there is absolutely nothing in Lancelot's character or career to distinguish him from any other romantic hero of the period. The language of the prose _Lancelot_ is good, easy and graceful, but the adventures lack originality and interest, and the situations repeat themselves in a most wearisome manner. English readers, who know the story only through the medium of Malory's noble prose and Tennyson's melodious verse, carry away an impression entirely foreign to that produced by a study of the original literature. The _Lancelot_ story, in its rise and development, belongs exclusively to the later stage of Arthurian romance; it was a story for the court, not for the folk, and it lacks alike the dramatic force and human appeal of the genuine "popular" tale.

The prose _Lancelot_ was frequently printed; J. C. Brunet chronicles
editions of 1488, 1494, 1513, 1520 and 1533--of this last date there
are two, one published by Jehan Petit, the other by Philippe Lenoire,
this last by far the better, being printed from a much fuller
manuscript. There is no critical edition, and the only version
available for the general reader is the modernized and abridged text
published by Paulin Paris in vols. iii. to v. of _Romans de la Table
Ronde_. A Dutch verse translation of the 13th century was published by
M. W. J. A. Jonckbloet in 1850, under the title of _Roman van
Lanceloet_. This only begins with what Paulin Paris terms the
_Agravain_ section, all the part previous to Guenevere's rescue from
Meleagant having been lost; but the text is an excellent one, agreeing
closely with the Lenoire edition of 1533. The Books devoted by Malory
to Lancelot are also drawn from this latter section of the romance;
there is no sign that the English translator had any of the earlier
part before him. Malory's version of the _Charrette_ adventure differs
in many respects from any other extant form, and the source of this
special section of his work is still a question of debate among
scholars. The text at his disposal, especially in the _Queste_
section, must have been closely akin to that used by the Dutch
translator and the compiler of Lenoire, 1533. Unfortunately, Dr
Sommer, in his study on the _Sources of Malory_, omitted to consult
these texts, with the result that the sections dealing with _Lancelot_
and _Queste_ urgently require revision.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Lanzelet_ (ed. Hahn, 1845, out of print and extremely
difficult to obtain). Chrétien's poem has been published by Professor
Wendelin Foerster, in his edition of the works of that poet, _Der
Karrenritter_ (1899). A Dutch version of a short episodic poem,
_Lancelot et le cerf au pied blanc_ will be found in M. Jonckbloet's
volume, and a discussion of this and other _Lancelot_ poems, by Gaston
Paris, is contained in vol. xxx. of _Histoire littéraire de la
France_. For critical studies on the subject cf. Gaston Paris's
articles in _Romania_, vols. x. and xii.; Wechssler, _Die
verschiedenen Redaktionen des Graal-Lancelot Cyklus_; J. L. Weston,
_The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac_ (Grimm Library, vol. xii.); and
_The Three Days' Tournament_ (Grimm Library, vol. xv.) an appendix to
the previous vol. (J. L. W.)

LANCET (from Fr. _lancette_, dim. of _lance_, lance), the name given to a surgical instrument, with a narrow two-edged blade and a lance-shaped point, used for opening abscesses, &c. The term is applied, in architecture, to a form of the pointed arch, and to a window of which the head is a lancet-arch.

LANCEWOOD, a straight-grained, tough, light elastic wood obtained from the West Indies and Guiana. It is brought into commerce in the form of taper poles of about 20 ft. in length and from 6 to 8 in. in diameter at the thickest end. Lancewood is used by carriage-builders for shafts; but since the practice of employing curved shafts has come largely into use it is not in so great demand as formerly. The smaller wood is used for whip-handles, for the tops of fishing-rods, and for various minor purposes where even-grained elastic wood is a desideratum. The wood is obtained from two members of the natural order Anonaceae. The black lancewood or carisiri of Guiana (_Guatteria virgata_) grows to a height of 50 ft., is of remarkably slender form, and seldom yields wood more than 8 in. diameter. The yellow lancewood tree (_Duguetia quitarensis_, yari-yari, of Guiana) is of similar dimensions, found in tolerable abundance throughout Guiana, and used by the Indians for arrow-points, as well as for spars, beams, &c.

LAN-CHOW-FU, the chief town of the Chinese province of Kan-suh, and one of the most important cities of the interior part of the empire, on the right bank of the Hwang-ho. The population is estimated at 175,000. The houses, with very few exceptions, are built of wood, but the streets are paved with blocks of granite and marble. Silks, wood-carvings, silver and jade ornaments, tin and copper wares, fruits and tobacco are the chief articles of the local trade. Tobacco is very extensively cultivated in the vicinity.

LANCIANO (anc. _Anxanum_), a town and episcopal see of the Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Chieti, situated on three hills, 984 ft. above sea-level, about 8 m. from the Adriatic coast and 12 m. S.E. of Chieti. Pop. (1901) 7642 (town), 18,316 (commune). It has a railway station on the coast railway, 19 m. S.E. of Castellammare Adriatico. It has broad, regular streets, and several fine buildings. The cathedral, an imposing structure with a fine clock-tower of 1619, is built upon bridges of brickwork, dating perhaps from the Roman period (though the inscription attributing the work to Diocletian is a forgery), that span the gorge of the Feltrino, and is dedicated to S. Maria del Ponte, Our Lady of the Bridge. The Gothic church of S. Maria Maggiore dates from 1227 and has a fine façade, with a portal of 1317 by a local sculptor. The processional cross by the silversmith Nicola di Guardiagrele (1422) is very beautiful. In S. Nicola is a fine reliquary of 1445 by Nicola di Francavilla. The church of the Annunziata has a good rose window of 1362. The industries of the town, famous in the middle ages, have declined. Anxanum belonged originally to the tribe of the Frentani and later became a _municipium_. It lay on the ancient highroad, which abandoned the coast at Ortona 10 m. to the N. and returned to it at Histonium (Vasto). Remains of a Roman theatre exist under the bishop's palace.

See V. Bindi, _Monumenti degli Abruzzi_ (Naples, 1889, 690 sqq.), and
for discoveries in the neighbourhood see A. de Nino in _Notizie degli
scavi_ (1884), 431. (T. As.)

LANCRET, NICOLAS (1660-1743), French painter, was born in Paris on the 22nd of January 1660, and became a brilliant depicter of light comedy which reflected the tastes and manners of French society under the regent Orleans. His first master was Pierre d'Ulin, but his acquaintance with and admiration for Watteau induced him to leave d'Ulin for Gillot, whose pupil Watteau had been. Two pictures painted by Lancret and exhibited on the Place Dauphine had a great success, which laid the foundation of his fortune, and, it is said, estranged Watteau, who had been complimented as their author. Lancret's work cannot now, however, be taken for that of Watteau, for both in drawing and in painting his touch, although intelligent, is dry, hard and wanting in that quality which distinguished his great model; these characteristics are due possibly in part to the fact that he had been for some time in training under an engraver. The number of his paintings (of which over eighty have been engraved) is immense; he executed a few portraits and attempted historical composition, but his favourite subjects were balls, fairs, village weddings, &c. The British Museum possesses an admirable series of studies by Lancret in red chalk, and the National Gallery, London, shows four paintings--the "Four Ages of Man" (engraved by Desplaces and l'Armessin), cited by d'Argenville amongst the principal works of Lancret. In 1719 he was received as Academician, and became councillor in 1735; in 1741 he married a grandchild of Boursault, author of _Aesop at Court_. He died on the 14th of September 1743.

See d'Argenville, _Vies des peintres_; and Ballot de Sovot, _Éloge de
M. Lancret_ (1743, new ed. 1874).

LAND, the general term for that part of the earth's surface which is solid and dry as opposed to sea or water. The word is common to Teutonic languages, mainly in the same form and with essentially the same meaning. The Celtic cognate forms are Irish _lann_, Welsh _llan_, an enclosure, also in the sense of "church," and so of constant occurrence in Welsh place-names, Cornish _lan_ and Breton _lann_, health, which has given the French _lande_, an expanse or tract of sandy waste ground. The ultimate root is unknown. From its primary meaning have developed naturally the various uses of the word, for a tract of ground or country viewed either as a political, geographical or ethnographical division of the earth, as property owned by the public or state or by a private individual, or as the rural as opposed to the urban or the cultivated as opposed to the built on part of the country; of particular meanings may be mentioned that of a building divided into tenements or flats, the divisions being known as "houses," a Scottish usage, and also that of a division of a ploughed field marked by the irrigating channels, hence transferred to the smooth parts of the bore of a rifle between the grooves of the rifling.

For the physical geography of the land, as the solid portion of the
earth's surface, see GEOGRAPHY. For land as the subject of cultivation
see AGRICULTURE and SOIL, also RECLAMATION OF LAND. For the history of
the holding or tenure of land see VILLAGE COMMUNITIES and FEUDALISM; a
particular form of land tenure is dealt with under MÉTAYAGE. The
article AGRARIAN LAWS deals with the disposal of the public land
(_Ager publicus_) in Ancient Rome, and further information with regard
to the part played by the land question in Roman history will be found
under ROME: § _History_. The legal side of the private ownership of
land is treated under REAL PROPERTY and CONVEYANCING (see also
LANDLORD AND TENANT, and LAND REGISTRATION).

LANDAU, a town in the Bavarian Palatinate, on the Queich, lying under the eastern slope of the Hardt Mountains, 32 m. by rail S.W. from Mannheim, at the junction of lines to Neustadt an der Hardt, Weissenburg and Saarbrücken. Pop. (1905) 17,165. Among its buildings are the Gothic Evangelical church, dating from 1285; the chapel of St Catherine built in 1344; the church of the former Augustinian monastery, dating from 1405; and the Augustinian monastery itself, founded in 1276 and now converted into a brewery. There are manufactures of cigars, beer, hats, watches, furniture and machines, and a trade in wine, fruit and cereals. Large cattle-markets are held here. Landau was founded in 1224, becoming an imperial city fifty years later. This dignity was soon lost, as in 1317 it passed to the bishopric of Spires and in 1331 to the Palatinate, recovering its former position in 1511. Captured eight times during the Thirty Years' War the town was ceded to France by the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, although with certain ill-defined reservations. In 1679 Louis XIV. definitely took possession of Landau. Its fortifications were greatly strengthened; nevertheless it was twice taken by the Imperialists and twice recovered by the French during the Spanish Succession War. In 1815 it was given to Austria and in the following year to Bavaria. The fortifications were finally dismantled in 1871.

The town is commonly supposed to have given its name to the four-wheeled carriage, with an adjustable divided top for use either open or closed, known as a "landau" (Ger. _Landauer_). But this derivation is doubtful, the origin of the name being also ascribed to that of an English carriage-builder, Landow, who introduced this form of equipage.

See E. Heuser, _Die Belagerungen von Landau in den Jahren 1702 und
1703_ (Landau, 1894); Lehmann, _Geschichte der ehemaligen freien
Reichsstadt Landau_ (1851); and Jost, _Interessante Daten aus der 600
jährigen Geschichte der Stadt Landau_ (Landau, 1879).

LANDECK, a town and spa in the Prussian province of Silesia, on the Biele, 73 m. by rail S. of Breslau and close to the Austrian frontier. Pop. (1905) 3,481. It is situated at an altitude of 1400 ft. It has manufactures of gloves. Landeck is visited by nearly 10,000 people annually on account of its warm sulphur baths, which have been known since the 13th century. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the castle of Karpenstein.

See Langner, _Bad Landeck_ (Glatz, 1872); Schütze, _Die Thermen von
Landeck_ (Berlin, 1895); Wehse, _Bad Landeck_ (Breslau, 1886); Joseph,
_Die Thermen von Landeck_ (Berlin, 1887), and Patschovsky, _Führer
durch Bad Landeck und Umgebung_ (Schweidnitz, 1902).

LANDEN, JOHN (1719-1790), English mathematician, was born at Peakirk near Peterborough in Northamptonshire on the 23rd of January 1719, and died on the 15th of January 1790 at Milton in the same county. He lived a very retired life, and saw little or nothing of society; when he did mingle in it, his dogmatism and pugnacity caused him to be generally shunned. In 1762 he was appointed agent to the Earl Fitzwilliam, and held that office to within two years of his death. He was first known as a mathematician by his essays in the _Ladies' Diary_ for 1744. In 1766 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was well acquainted with the works of the mathematicians of his own time, and has been called the "English d'Alembert." In his _Discourse_ on the "Residual Analysis," he proposes to avoid the metaphysical difficulties of the method of fluxions by a purely algebraical method. The idea may be compared with that of Joseph Louis Lagrange's _Calcul des Fonctions_. His memoir (1775) on the rotatory motion of a body contains (as the author was aware) conclusions at variance with those arrived at by Jean le Rond, d'Alembert and Leonhard Euler in their researches on the same subject. He reproduces and further develops and defends his own views in his _Mathematical Memoirs_, and in his paper in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1785. But Landen's capital discovery is that of the theorem known by his name (obtained in its complete form in the memoir of 1775, and reproduced in the first volume of the _Mathematical Memoirs_) for the expression of the arc of an hyperbola in terms of two elliptic arcs. His researches on elliptic functions are of considerable elegance, but their great merit lies in the stimulating effect which they had on later mathematicians. He also showed that the roots of a cubic equation can be derived by means of the infinitesimal calculus.

The list of his writings is as follows:--_Ladies' Diary_, various
communications (1744-1760); papers in the _Phil. Trans._ (1754, 1760,
1768, 1771, 1775, 1777, 1785); _Mathematical Lucubrations_ (1755); _A
Discourse concerning the Residual Analysis_ (1758); _The Residual
Analysis_, book i. (1764); _Animadversions on Dr Stewart's Method of
computing the Sun's Distance from the Earth_ (1771); _Mathematical
Memoirs_ (1780, 1789).

LANDEN, a town in the province of Liége, Belgium, an important junction for lines of railway from Limburg, Liége and Louvain. Pop. (1904) 2874. It is the birthplace of the first Pippin, distinguished as Pippin of Landen from his grandson Pippin of Herstal. In 1693 the French under Marshal Luxemburg defeated here the Anglo-Dutch army under William III. This battle is also called Neerwinden from a village 3 m. W. of Landen. Here in 1793 the Austrians under Frederick of Saxe-Coburg and Clerfayt defeated the French under Dumouriez.

LANDER, RICHARD LEMON (1804-1834) and JOHN (1807-1839), English explorers of the Niger, were natives of Cornwall, sons of an innkeeper at Truro. At the age of eleven Richard went to the West Indies in the service of a merchant. Returning to England after an absence of three years he took service with various wealthy families, with whom he travelled on the continent. In 1823-1824 he accompanied Major (afterwards General Sir) W. M. Colebrooke, on a tour through Cape Colony. In 1825 Richard offered his services to Hugh Clapperton, then preparing for his second expedition to West Africa. He was Clapperton's devoted servant and companion in this expedition, and on Clapperton's death near Sokoto in April 1827 Richard Lander, after visiting Kano and other parts of the Hausa states, returned to the Guinea coast through Yoruba bringing with him Clapperton's journal. To this on its publication (1829) was added _The Journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the Coast_, and in the next year Lander published another account of the expedition entitled _Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa ... with the subsequent Adventures of the Author_. To this narrative he prefixed an autobiographical note. Richard Lander, though without any scientific attainments, had exhibited such capacity for exploration that the British government decided to send him out to determine the course of the lower Niger. In the expedition he was accompanied by his brother John, by trade a printer, and better educated than Richard, who went as an unsalaried volunteer. Leaving England in January 1830, the brothers landed at Badagry on the Guinea coast on the 22nd of March. They then travelled by the route previously taken by Clapperton to Bussa on the right bank of the Niger, reached on the 17th of June. Thence they ascended the river for about 100 m. Going back to Bussa the travellers began, on the 20th of September, the descent of the river, not knowing whither it would lead them. They journeyed in canoes accompanied by a few negroes, their only scientific instrument a common compass. They discovered the Benue river, ascertaining when passing its confluence, by paddling against its stream, that their course was not in that direction. At the beginning of the delta they were captured by the Ibos, from whom they were ransomed by "King Boy" of Brass Town; by him they were taken to the Nun mouth of the river, whence a passage was obtained to Fernando Po, reached on the 1st of December. The Landers were thus able to lay down with approximate correctness the lower course of the Niger--a matter till then as much in dispute as was the question of the Nile sources. In the attack by the Ibos the Landers lost many of their records, but they published a narrative of their discoveries in 1832, in three small volumes--_Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger_. In recognition of his services the Royal Geographical Society--formed two years previously--granted Richard Lander in 1832 the royal medal, he being the first recipient of such an award. In the same year Richard went to Africa again as leader of an expedition organized by Macgregor Laird and other Liverpool merchants to open up trade on the Niger and to found a commercial settlement at the junction of the Benue with the main stream. The expedition encountered many difficulties, suffered great mortality from fever, and was not able to reach Bussa. Lander made several journeys up and down stream, and while going up the river in a canoe was attacked by the natives on the 20th of January 1834 at a spot about 84 m. above the Nun mouth, and wounded by a musket ball in the thigh. He was removed to Fernando Po, where he died on the 6th of February. John Lander, who on his return to England in 1831 obtained a situation at the London customs house, died on the 16th of November 1839 of a disease contracted in Africa.

See, besides the books mentioned, the _Narrative_ of the Niger
expedition of 1832-1834, published in 1837 by Macgregor Laird and R.
A. K. Oldfield.

LANDES, a department in the south-west of France, formed in 1790 of portions of the ancient provinces of Guyenne (Landes, Condomios Chalosse), Gascony and Béarn, and bounded N. by Gironde, E. by Lot-et-Garonne and Gers, S. by Basses Pyrenées, and W. (for 68 m.) by the Bay of Biscay. Pop. (1906) 293,397. Its area, 3615 sq. m., is second only to that of the department of Gironde. The department takes its name from the _Landes_, which occupy three-quarters of its surface, or practically the whole region north of the Adour, the chief river of the department. They are separated from the sea by a belt of dunes fringed on the east by a chain of lakes. South of the Adour lies the Chalosse--a hilly region, intersected by the Gabas, Luy and Gave de Pau, left-hand tributaries of the Adour, which descend from the Pyrenees. On the right the Adour is joined by the Midouze, formed by the junction of the Douze and the Midou. The climate of Landes is the Girondine, which prevails from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Snow is almost unknown, the spring is rainy, the summer warm and stormy. The prevailing wind is the south-west, and the mean temperature of the year is 53° F., the thermometer hardly ever rising above 82° or falling below 14°. The annual rainfall in the south of the department in the neighbourhood of the sea reaches 55 in., but diminishes by more than half towards the north-east.

The fertility of La Chalosse is counterbalanced by the comparative poorness of the soil of the Landes, and small though the population is, the department does not produce wheat enough for its own consumption. The chief cereal is maize; next in importance are rye, wheat and millet. Of vegetables, the bean is most cultivated. The vine is grown in the Chalosse, sheep are numerous, and the "Landes" breed of horses is well known. Forests, chiefly composed of pines, occupy more than half the department, and their exploitation forms the chief industry. The resin of the maritime pine furnishes by distillation essence of turpentine, and from the residue are obtained various qualities of resin, which serve to make varnish, tapers, sealing-wax and lubricants. Tar, and an excellent charcoal for smelting purposes, are also obtained from the pine-wood. The department has several mineral springs, the most important being those of Dax, which were frequented in the time of the Romans, and of Eugénie-les-Bains and Préchacq. The cultivation of the cork tree is also important. There are salt-workings and stone quarries. There are several iron-works in the department; those at Le Boucau, at the mouth of the Adour, are the most important. There are also saw-mills, distilleries, flour-mills, brick and tile works and potteries. Exports include resinous products, pine-timber, metal, brandy; leading imports are grain, coal, iron, millinery and furniture. In its long extent of coast the department has no considerable port. Opposite Cape Breton, however, where the Adour formerly entered the sea, there is, close to land, a deep channel where there is safe anchorage. It was from this once important harbour of Capbreton that the discoverers of the Canadian island of that name set out. Landes includes three arrondissements (Mont-de-Marsan, Dax and St Sever), 28 cantons and 334 communes.

Mont-de-Marsan is the capital of the department, which comes within the circumscription of the appeal court of Pau, the académie (educational division) of Bordeaux and the archbishopric of Auch, and forms part of the region of the 18th army corps. It is served by the Southern railway; there is some navigation on the Adour, but that upon the other rivers is of little importance. Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, St Sever and Aire-sur-l'Adour, the most noteworthy towns, receive separate notice. Hagetmau has a church built over a Romanesque crypt, the roof of which is supported on columns with elaborately-carved capitals. Sorde has an interesting abbey-church of the 13th and 14th centuries.