released him from this place, and he ultimately reached England in 1593, after an absence of above two years. In 1594 Lancaster made a voyage to Brazil. In 1601 the East India Company, then newly established, employed him in command of a fleet of four ships—the first which they fitted out. John Davis, celebrated for his nautical skill, was chief pilot. Lancaster reached the Indies after a favourable voyage, entered into a commercial treaty with the king of Acheen (Sumatra), and thence visited Bantam, in the island of Java, hitherto frequented almost exclusively by the Portuguese. He returned to England in 1603, bringing back two of his ships, both laden with valuable cargoes, composed in part of plunder taken from a Portuguese vessel which he had captured; and was subsequently knighted in reward for his services. The conviction entertained by Lancaster of the feasibility of a north-west passage to the Indies prompted in part the voyages by Hudson and Baffin in that direction, and the name of Sir James Lancaster's Sound was given by Baffin to the opening (well known in the records of modern enterprise within the Arctic seas) found on the western side of the great bay which he was the first to navigate.—(See Baffin.) Lancaster died in 1620.—W. H.
LANCASTER, John, Duke of, "Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster," was the fourth son of Edward III., and was born in 1340. His surname of Gant or Ghent was derived from the place of his birth. He was created Earl of Richmond, and obtained the title and estates of Lancaster with the hand of the heiress. Lady Blanche. In 1367 the duke was sent to France with a powerful army to reinforce his brother, the Black Prince, and accompanied him in the expedition to Spain to assist Peter the Cruel against his revolted subjects and his natural brother, Henry. He displayed signal bravery at the battle of Najarra, in which Henry and his French allies were defeated, and Peter was restored to his throne. The ungrateful and dishonourable conduct of this cruel tyrant, however, soon disgusted his English allies, and on their departure he was again dethroned, and taken prisoner and murdered by his brother. The duke of Lancaster, who had meanwhile been appointed governor of Acquitaine and was now a widower, shortly after the death of Peter married Constance, his eldest daughter, and laid claim to the succession, but was unable to make good his title. In 1370 he undertook another expedition into France at the head of twenty-five thousand men, and marched through the whole length of the kingdom, from Calais to Bourdeaux. Great numbers of his soldiers were cut off by the flying parties of the enemy, and he was unable to accomplish anything of importance. On the accession of his nephew, Richard, to the throne, the duke exercised the authority of regent, though without the name. He conducted an army into Brittany in 1378, but returned without performing anything memorable. On the death of Henry of Castile, he led into Spain the flower of the English military force in prosecution of his claim to the crown. He performed several brilliant exploits and captured a number of towns, but was in the end obliged to abandon the enterprise. His rival, however, paid him a large sum of money to relinquish his pretensions, and his daughter Philippa married the king of Portugal. After the death of the Castilian princess, the duke married Catherine Swynford, daughter of a knight of Hainault. The three sons whom she bore to him before marriage were legitimated by the king. The eldest was created Marquis of Somerset, and is the ancestor of the duke of Beaufort, the second became the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, and the third was made Duke of Exeter. John of Gaunt died in 1399. His eldest son, Henry, dethroned Richard II. and became Henry IV. of England.—J. T.
LANCASTER, Joseph, was a native of London, where he was born in 1778. According to one account his parents were members of the Society of Friends, but according to another his father was at one time in the foot guards, which appears to be correct. Of his early years not much is recorded; but it appears that when he was about nineteen years of age, he began to feel the importance of educating the children of the poor. His father resided in the Borough Road, Southwark, and from him he obtained a room, which he undertook the cost of fitting up, and in a short time he gathered about himself as many as ninety children. Although there was originality in his method, it seems likely that he derived his leading principles from the publication which Dr. Bell had issued in 1797. The success of his efforts was considerable, and soon attracted attention from the friends of education, who about that time began to feel an anxious desire to do something effective for the neglected children of the poor. Among others the duke of Bedford was led to inquire into the merits of Lancaster's plan; and the result was that in 1805 he was permitted to have an audience with the king, George III., who then uttered the wish for which he has been so much celebrated, "that every poor child in his dominions might be able to read the Bible." About the same time the British and Foreign School Society was established, and the names of Bell and Lancaster soon acquired a European reputation. Foreign governments made diligent inquiry into the character of the system, and either with or without modification, it was widely adopted. Lancaster was a Quaker, and as such laboured under many disadvantages; but he nevertheless became the apostle of his method, and for several years travelled up and down the country to expound it in public lectures, and to promote its application. He even endeavoured to apply his method to the education of the higher classes; but the attempt failed, and he became insolvent in 1812. In 1818 he removed to America, where he continued his useful labours. In 1829 he went to Canada, and laboured with approbation and success, though more than ever hampered by pecuniary difficulties. He died in poverty at New York in 1838.—B. H. C.
LANCE, George, the eminent fruit painter, was born at Little Easton, near Dunmow, Essex, March 24, 1802. He was a student in the Royal Academy, and a pupil of Haydon, who of course did his best to direct the youth's ambition towards "high art." For a long while young Lance pursued steadily the track marked out by his master, making drawings from the Elgin marbles and from life; dissecting and copying from the old masters. But his success was small, and it was not till he almost accidentally painted some "still life" as a study in colour that he found out his true vocation. Mr. Lance for many years stood without a rival in England as a painter of fruit, dead game, and the like; and to him is due the credit of having raised that branch of art from the vulgar conventionalism into which it had in this country fallen. His works in this line are extremely numerous, distinguished by breadth of handling, and truth and splendour of colour, combined with the most accurate characterization of surface, and almost deceptive imitation. He also painted a few genre pieces. He died 18th June, 1864.—J. T—e.
LANCELOT, Claude, a French grammarian, born at Paris about 1615; died 10th April, 1695. He attached himself to the convent of Port Royal, and with his colleagues established a school in the Rue d'Enfer, where Nicole taught philosophy, and Lancelot taught Greek and mathematics. He wrote elementary treatises of a superior kind, and was appointed tutor to the young princes De Conti; but in the persecution of the jansenists w as sent to Quimperlé and died there.—P. E. D.
LANCISI, Giovanni Maria, a distinguished Italian physician, was born at Rome on the 26th of October, 1654, and died January 21st, 1720. Having relinquished the study of theology for that of medicine, for which he felt a greater inclination, he obtained the degree of doctor in 1672, and was considered at an early age one of the most skilful physicians of Rome. He became professor of anatomy and medicine at the college of La Sapienza, and held high offices under the papal government. Notwithstanding his extensive practice, he found time to correspond with many of the learned societies of Europe, of which he was a member; and also to compose several works on various branches of his profession, the most important of which are the following—"De subitaneis mortibus;" "De motu cordis et aneurismatibus;" "De noxiis paludum effluviis;" "De nativis deque adventitiis Romani cæli qualitatibus." A few years before his death, Lancisi presented a library of about twenty thousand volumes to the hospital of Santo Spirito, for the use of the students and public.—E. A. R.
LANCRET, Nicolas, the imitator and rival of Watteau, was born in Paris in 1690, and studied painting under Pierre d'Ulin He was elected a member of the French Academy of Painting in 1719, as a painter of fêtes galantes, garden fêtes and such scenes being the characteristic works of Lancret as of Watteau; his backgrounds being often painted by Lajoué. The figures of Lancret, however, though more finished than those of Watteau, are theatrical, and want his facility and spirit; yet his pictures are sufficiently like those of his model to be mistaken for them, even by good judges. He died in Paris in 1745. In the national gallery are the "Four Ages," by Lancret, which were long attributed to Watteau.—R. N. W.
