should be carried out that same afternoon, but a few days’ respite was subsequently granted, and James II. allowed beheading to be substituted for burning. Lady Lisle was executed in Winchester market-place on the 2nd of September 1685. By many writers her death has been termed a judicial murder, and one of the first acts of parliament of William and Mary reversed the attainder on the ground that the prosecution was irregular and the verdict injuriously extorted by “the menaces and violences and other illegal practices” of Jeffreys. It is, however, extremely doubtful whether Jeffreys, for all his gross brutality, exceeded the strict letter of the existing law.
See Howell, State Trials; H. B. Irving, Life of Judge Jeffreys; Stephen, History of the Criminal Law of England.
LISMORE, an island in the entrance to Loch Linnhe, Argyllshire, Scotland, 5 m. N.W. of Oban. Pop. (1901) 500. It lies S.W. and N.E., is 912 m. long and 134 m. broad, and has an area of 9600 acres. It divides the lower end of the loch into two channels, the Lynn of Morvern on the W. and the Lynn of Lorne on the E. The name is derived from the Gaelic lios mòr, “great garden.” Several ruined castles stand on the coast, and the highest point of the island is 500 ft. above the sea. The inhabitants raise potatoes, oats, cattle and horses, and these, with dairy produce, form the bulk of the trade. Steamers call at Auchnacrosan. A Columban monastery was founded in Lismore by St Moluag about 592. About 1200 the see of Argyll was separated from Dunkeld by Bishop John, “the Englishman,” and Lismore soon afterwards became the seat of the bishop of Argyll, sometimes called “Episcopus Lismoriensis,” quite distinct from the bishop of the Isles (Sudreys and Isle of Man), called “Episcopus Sodoriensis” or “Insularum,” whose see was divided in the 14th century into the English bishopric of Sodor and Man and the Scottish bishopric of the Isles. The Rev. John Macaulay (d. 1789), grandfather of Lord Macaulay, the historian, and the Rev. Donald M‘Nicol (1735–1802), who took up the defence of the Highlands against Dr Johnson, were ministers of Lismore.
For the Book of the Dean of Lismore see Celt: Scottish Gaelic Literature.
LISMORE, a town of Rous county, New South Wales, Australia, 320 m. direct N. by E. of Sydney. Pop. (1901) 4378. It is the principal town of the north coast district, and the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. The surrounding country is partly pastoral, and partly agricultural, the soil being very fertile. The town has a cathedral, school of art, and other public buildings, while its industrial establishments include saw-mills, sugar-mills, butter factories and an iron foundry. Standing at the head of navigation of the Richmond river, Lismore has a large export trade in dairy produce, poultry, pigs, and pine and cedar timber.
LISMORE, a market town and seat of a diocese in Co.
Waterford, Ireland, 43 m. W.S.W. of Waterford by the Waterford
and Mallow branch of the Great Southern & Western Railway.
Pop. (1901) 1583. It is beautifully situated on a steep eminence
rising abruptly from the Blackwater. At the verge of the rock
on the western side is the old baronial castle, erected by King
John in 1185, which was the residence of the bishops till the
14th century. It was besieged in 1641 and 1643, and in 1645
it was partly destroyed by fire. The present fabric is largely
modern; while the portico was designed by Inigo Jones. To the
east, on the summit of the height, is the cathedral of St Carthagh,
of various dates. There are portions probably of the 12th and
13th centuries, but the bulk of the building is of the 17th century,
and considerable additions, including the tower and spire, were
made in the 19th. There are a grammar school, a free school
and a number of charities. Some trade is carried on by means of
the river, and the town is the centre of a salmon fishery district.
The original name of Lismore was Maghsciath. A monastery founded here by St Carthagh in 633 became so celebrated as a seat of learning that it is said no fewer than twenty churches were erected in its vicinity. The bishopric, which is said to have originated with this foundation, was united to that of Waterford in 1363. In the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries the town was repeatedly plundered by the Danes, and in 978 the town and abbey were burned by the men of Ossory. Henry II., after landing at Waterford, received in Lismore castle the allegiance of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland. In 1518 the manor was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh, from whom it passed to Sir Richard Boyle, afterwards earl of Cork. From the earls of Cork it descended by marriage to the dukes of Devonshire. It was incorporated as a municipal borough in the time of Charles I., when it also received the privilege of returning members to parliament, but at the Union in 1800 it was disfranchised and also ceased to exercise its municipal functions.
LISSA (Serbo-Croatian Vis; Lat. Issa), an island in the
Adriatic sea, forming part of Dalmatia, Austria. Lissa lies
31 m. S. by W. of Spalato, and is the outermost island of the
Dalmatian Archipelago. Its greatest length is 1012 m.; its
greatest breadth 412 m. In shape it is a long, roughly drawn
parallelogram, surrounded by a wall of rock, which incloses the
fertile central plain, and is broken, on the north, west and
east by natural harbours. Its culminating point is Mount Hum
(1942 ft.), on the south-west. The island, which belongs to the
administrative district of Lesina, is divided between two communes,
named after the chief towns, Lissa (Vis), on the north,
and Comisa (Komiža), on the west. Lissa, the capital, has a
strongly fortified harbour. It contains the palace of the old
Venetian counts Gariboldi, the former residence of the English
governor, the monastery of the Minorites and at a little distance
to the west the ruins of the ancient city of Issa. The islanders
gain their livelihood by viticulture, for which Issa was once
famous, by sardine fishing and by the distillation of rosemary
oil. Pop. (1900) 9918, of whom 5261 belonged to the town
and commune of Lissa, and 4657 to Comisa.
Issa is said to have been settled by people from Lesbos, the Issa of the Aegean. The Parians, assisted by Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, introduced a colony in the 4th century B.C. During the First Punic War (265–241 B.C.) the Issaeans with their beaked ships helped the Roman Duilius; and the great republic, having defended their island against the attacks of Agron of Illyria and his queen Teuta, again found them serviceable allies in the war with Philip of Macedon (c. 215–211). As early as 996 the Venetians ruled the island, and, though they retired for a time before the Ragusans, their power was effectually established in 1278. Velo Selo, then the chief settlement, was destroyed by Ferdinand of Naples in 1483 and by the Turks in 1571. The present city arose shortly afterwards. During the Napoleonic wars, the French held Lissa until 1811, and during this period the island prospered greatly, its population increasing from 4000 to 12,000 between 1808 and 1811. In the latter year the French squadron was defeated by the British (see below); though in the same year a French fleet, flying British colours, entered Lissa, and only retired after burning 64 merchantmen. Thenceforward the island gained a valuable trade in British goods, which, being excluded from every port under French control, were smuggled into Dalmatia. In 1812 the British established an administrative system, under native officials, in Lissa and the adjoining islands of Curzola and Lagosta. All three were ceded to Austria in 1815.
Battles of Lissa.—Two naval actions have been fought in modern times near this island. The first took place on the 13th of March 1811, and was fought between a Franco-Venetian squadron, under the command of an officer named Dubourdieu (of whom little or nothing else is known), and Captain (afterwards Sir) William Hoste with a small British force. The Franco-Venetian squadron (Venice was then part of the dominions of the emperor Napoleon) consisted of six frigates, of which four were of forty guns, and of five corvettes or small craft. The British squadron was composed of three frigates, the “Amphion,” 32 (Captain William Hoste), the “Cerberus” (Captain Henry Whitby) and the “Active,” 38 (Captain James A. Gordon). With them was the “Volage,” 22 (Captain Phipps Hornby). The action has a peculiar interest because the French captain imitated the method of attack employed by Nelson at Trafalgar. He came down from windward in two lines parallel to one another,
