Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/717

L I S L I S 693 any means to be recommended as a winter resort, on account of the frequent and rapid changes of temperature to which it is subject. These changes, and the great difference between the temperature of sun and shade during the winter and spring, are dangerous to the delicate. In summer the heat is great, and all who have the means betake themselves during that season to Cintra or to the seaside. The following data, deduced from twenty years observations (1856 to 1875) taken at the Meteorological Observatory, a well-managed institution which stands 335 feet above the level of the sea, will afford the means of judging the climate in its principal features. Mean annual temperature of shade, 60 37 Fahr. ; mean annual range, 61 2 ; mean daily range, 12 6 ; highest and lowest registered during the whole period, 98 8 and 30 - 3. Mean annual quantity of rain, 28 8-i inches ; greatest and least annual quantity during the period, 38 8 inches (1865) and 17 22 inches (1874). The rainfall of 1876, however, amounted to 45 inches, more than one- third of which fell in the month of December. The mean annual number of days on which rain fell was one hundred and twelve, whilst snow fell only three times during the twenty years. The mean atmospheric moisture (100 = saturation) was 70 89. The mean annual height of the barometer was 29 8 inches, and its mean annual range 1*3 inches. The prevailing winds of the winter and autumn are from the north, of the spring and summer from the north-north-west. History. The name Lisbon (Portuguese, Lisbon) is a modification of the ancient name Olisipo, also written Ulyssippo under the in fluence of a mythical story of a city founded by Ulysses in Iberia, which, however, according to Strabo, was placed by ancient tradition rather in the mountains of Turdetania. Under the Romans Olisipo became a municipium with the epithet of Felicitas Julia, but was inferior in importance to the less ancient Emerita Augusta (Merida). After the Romans the Goths and the Moslems successively became masters of the town and district. Under the latter the town bore in Arabic the name of Lashbuna or Oshbuna. It was the first point of Moslem Spain attacked by the Normans in the invasion of 844. "When Alphonso I. of Portugal took advantage of the decline and fall of the Almoravid dynasty to incorporate the provinces of Estremadura and Alemtejo in his new kingdom, Lisbon was the last city of Portugal to fall into his hands, and yielded only after a siege of several months (21st October 1147), with the aid of English and Flemish crusaders who were on their way to Syria. In 1184 the city was again attacked by the Moslems under the power ful caliph Abu Ya kub, but the enterprise failed. In the reign of Ferdinand L, the greater part of the town was burned by the Cas- tilian army under Henry II. (1373), and in 1384 the Castilians again beseiged Lisbon, but without success. Lisbon became the seat of an archbishop in 1390, the seat of government in 1422. It gained much in wealth and splendour from the maritime enter prises that began with the voyage of Vasco da Gama (1497). The patriarchate dates from 1716. From 1586 to 1640 Lisbon was a provincial town under Spain, and it was from this port that the Spanish Armada sailed in 1588. In 1640 the town was captured by the duke of Braganza, and the independence of the kingdom restored. For many centuries the city had suffered from earthquakes, of more or less violence, but these had been almost forgotten when, on the 1st of November 1755, it was reduced almost in an instant to a heap of ruins. A fire broke out to complete the work of destruction, and between 30,000 and 40,000 persons lost their lives. Pombal, an unscrupulous minister, but a man of great talent, applied himself with unremitting energy both to the protection of the rights of property (for the place was infested by bands of robbers) and to the reconstruction of the buildings. The handsomest part of the present city was erected under his direction, but even to this day there are edifices which speak forcibly of the great earthquake. In 1807 Napoleon proclaimed that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign in Europe, whereupon the regent Don John (his mother the reigning queen Maria I. having become insane) thought it prudent to quit the country for Brazil, and next day a French army under Junot entered the city, possession of which he retained for ten months. He then qnietly embarked his army under the protection of the inexplicable convention of Cintra so disgraceful to the English generals. In 1859 Lisbon was stricken by yellow fever, and many thousands were carried off before the plague was stayed. Lisbon boasts of having been the birthplace of St Anthony, surnamed of Padua, of Cainoens, the national epic poet (to whose honour a bronze statue has been placed in one of the squares), and of Pope John XXI. (J. Y. J. ) LISBURX, a market-town, cathedral city, and municipal and parliamentary borougli of Ulster, Ireland, partly in Antrim and partly in Down, is situated in a beautiful and fertile district on the Lagan, and on the Ulster Railway, 8 miles south-south-west of Belfast. It is substantially built, and consists principally of one long and irregular street, in the centre of which there is a large open space for the market. The parish church, which possesses a fine octagonal tower, is the cathedral church of the united dioceses of Down, Connor, and Dromore, and contains a monument to Jeremy Taylor, who was bishop of the see. Among other buildings are the court-house, the market- house, the linen-hall, and the county infirmary. There are a number of charitable foundations. The staple manu facture of the town is linen, specially damasks and muslins. There are also bleaching and dyeing works. The popula tion in 1871 was 9326, and in 1881 it was 10,834. In the reign of James I. Lisburn, which was then known as Lisnegarvy, was only an inconsiderable village, but in 1627 it was granted by Charles I. to Viscount Conway, who erected the castle for his residence, and laid the foundation of the prosperity of the town by the introduction of English and Welsh settlers. In November 1641 the town was taken by the insurgents, who on the approach of superior numbers set fire to it. The troops of Cromwell gained a victory near the town in 1648, and the castle surrendered to them in 1650. The church was constituted a cathedral by Charles II., from whom the town received the privilege of returning two members to parliament, but since the Union it has returned only one. LISIEUX, capital of an arrondissement in the depart ment of Calvados, France, 113 miles by rail west-north west from Paris, and 24 miles as the crow flies east from Caen, is prettily situated on the Touqnes, at the point where it is joined by the Orbiquet, 24 miles above Trouville. The Paris and Caen Railway has a branch from Lisieux to Honfleur and Trouville, and another to Orbec. The cathedral church, dedicated to St Peter, founded about 1045, and finished in 1233, which has recently been restored, is the most interesting specimen to be found in Normandy of the transition from the Roman to the Ogival style. It is 3GO feet in length, 90 in breadth, and 65 in height ; the south tower rises to 230 feet. The nave is remarkable for harmony of proportion, purity of design, and unity of style. The church of St Jacques, built at the end of the 15th century, contains some beautiful glass of the Renaissance, some remarkable woodwork and old frescos, and a curious picture on wood, restored in 1681. The old episcopal palace (Lisieux ceased to be a bishopric in 1801) near the cathedral is now used as a court-house and prison. In the court-house is a beautiful hall called the Salle Dorde. The town still retains quaint examples of the wooden houses of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries; and there are some elegant modern villas. It also possesses a charming public garden and a small museum. The confluence of the two rivers renders it subject to disastrous inundations ; but its commerce and industry cause it, notwithstanding, to rank among the richest towns of Normandy. There is a large cattle trade, and the arron dissement has nearly three hundred factories, employing about ten thousand workmen in the manufacture of cloth and cretonnes. Connected with this industry are numerous spinning-mills, bleach-fields, and dye-works ; and there are besides wool-mills, chemical works, tanneries, saw-mills, and the like, which bring up the trade of Lisieux to an annual aggregate of upwards of 50 million francs. The population in 1876 was 18,400. In the time of Cresar, Lisieux, by the name of Noviomagus, was the capital of the Lexovii. Though destroyed by the bar barians, by the 6th century it had become one of the most import ant towns of Neustria. Its bishopric is said to date from the 3d or 4th century. In 877 it was pillaged by the Normans ; and in 911 we find it included in the duchy by the treaty of St Clair-sur-Epte. Civil authority was exercised by the bishop as count of the town. In 1136 Geoffrey Plantagenet laid siege, to Lisieux, which had taken the side of Stephen of Blois. The war lasted five years, and reduced Lisieux and its neighbourhood to the direst extremities of famine, la 1152 the marriage of Henry II. of England to Eleanor of Guienne, which added so largely to his dominions, was celebrated in the cathedral. Thomas a Becket took refuge here, and some vestments used by him are still shown in the hospital chapel. Taken by Philip Augustus and reunited to France in 1203, the town was a frequent subject of dispute between the contending parties during the Hundred Years Var, the religious wars, and those of the League.