Petits." His death, at the early age of forty-three, is believed to have been hastened by excessive study.—W. J. M. R.
L'HO̊PITAL, Michel de, chancellor of France, born 1505, in Auvergne. His father was physician to Charles de Bourbon, constable of France, and shared his banishment. Michel was then a student of law at Toulouse, and was also put under confinement. On his liberation he joined his father in Italy, and completed his education at Padua. He thence went to Rome, and on the advice of the French ambassador, soon after returned to France. He there married the daughter of l'intendant criminel Morin, whereby he obtained in 1537 the post of counsellor in the parliament of Paris, the grand court of appeal in France—an office which he filled with exemplary assiduity for twelve years. The king, Henry II., then appointed him his ambassador at the council of Trent at Bologna. Finding it little better than a series of interminable altercations, he was on his own request recalled. He was soon after appointed maitre des requêtes, and in 1554 superintendent of the finances. The latter office he held for six years, during which he essayed to the utmost of his power to check the prodigality of the court. On his retirement his only child, a girl, was portioned by the king with the gift of an office for her future husband. In 1560, on the death of Olivier, L'Hôpital was appointed by the regent, Catherine de Medicis, chancellor of France. Upon his advice a convocation of nobility and high clergy was called, who recommended the convocation of the states-general and a national synod, to heal the distractions in church and state. The states-general accordingly assembled, but the religious difficulty was not reducible by deliberation. The opening speech of the chancellor was an eloquent but unavailing appeal to the wisdom and moderation of his hearers. By this assembly some excellent civil and judicial reforms were effected. In the religious troubles of the age the chancellor was of the tolerant party, and opposed the bloody edicts and persecutions of the Guise faction—amongst others, the project for the introduction of the inquisition into France; and as the least of two evils, he procured for the bishops in their dioceses jurisdiction over the offence of heresy by the edict of "Romorantin." The edicts of "Pacification"—that is, of toleration with respect to the protestants—were due to the influence of the chancellor and the few friends who supported him in that age of court corruption and popular fanaticism. Their maxims were, that all citizens who obey the laws and perform their duties to their country and their neighbours, have an equal right to the advantages which civil society confers—those only deserve punishment who break the laws; and that the proper means to bring back heretics to the fold of the church are charity, patience, and prayer, such as its divine Founder used in establishing it. These were his principles as expressed by Thuanus in his History of France. In 1566 the deputies of the parliaments of the kingdom and the chief nobles assembled at Moulin, where an ordonnance was passed for the reform of justice, one of the best examples of early French codification. L'Hôpital wished to abolish the saleable patent offices in the administration of justice. These were a source of revenue to the crown, being originally granted for pecuniary consideration, and accompanied by a deposit in the royal treasury, and no transfer being valid without preliminary license, and fine, and deposit. All candidates for grant or transfer were to possess the required qualifications for the discharge of the duties of the office; and this did, in fact, form a school for law study. He reprehended the practice of gifts to the judges under the name of spices or sweetmeats. These had been reduced to a regular scale of fees, and were almost the only profit the judges received. In many other ways he strove to exalt the profession of the law in public estimation. To this intelligent magistrate France owes the establishment of consular tribunals in the chief sea-ports. He was a friend to popular education, and the religious as well as civil liberties of his country. Hence he opposed the reception of the decrees of the council of Trent, in extenso, as being inimical to the liberties of the Galilean church; also the introduction of the bull for taxing the revenues of the clergy, on the condition of heresy being exterminated, as being the price of blood. These acts of resistance to their views irritated the Guise and Romish factions, who, though they could not bring about the direct displacement of the chancellor, made the office unbearable to him. He resigned in 1568. He had amassed a good store of learning in his youth, and study was his exercise and solace in his retirement. He produced some poetical epistles and short pieces in prose of little pretension, but considerable merit. He narrowly escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572, though it was said he was protected by the king and queen-mother, the authors of that outrage. He died at the country-seat of his son-in-law, near Étampes, 15th March, 1573. In appearance and manners he was formal and austere; his large white beard and pale countenance gave him, it was said, the look of St. Jerome. The lot of this illustrious magistrate fell in an evil place at an evil time. As long as he could serve his country he endured everything. The wonder was that so pure a character could be preserved in such environment, and that he could have held his office so long amidst the violence and artifice of contending factions. His life has been written in French by Bernard, Villemain, and others; and in 1814 Mr. C. Butler published an essay on his life. His whole works were published at Paris, 1824, 1 vol. 8vo.—S. H. G.
LHUYD, Edward, a learned antiquary and philologist, the pioneer of modern researches into the Celtic languages, was born in Wales about 1670. He was carefully educated, and in 1687 was admitted into Jesus college, Oxford, obtaining his degree of M.A. in 1701. Under the influence and direction of Dr. Plot he studied natural history attentively; and being thus qualified, he succeeded the doctor in the office of keeper of the Ashmolean museum in 1690. His predilection, however, was in favour of the study of the primitive languages and customs of the inhabitants of these islands, in the pursuit of which he more than once travelled into Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The observations on natural history which he made in those travels were communicated to the Royal Society, and published in the Philosophical Transactions. But the great monument of his sagacity, learning, and judgment, as exercised in these researches, appeared in his book entitled "Archæologia Britannica," of which the first volume was published at the author's own great cost in 1707, and no more, owing to the want of public encouragement. He died when he had hardly reached middle age, in 1709, a few months after his election to the office of squire beadle to the university.—R. H.
LHUYD, Humphrey, a learned antiquary and doctor of medicine, was born in Denbigh and educated at Oxford. In 1547 he was a commoner of Brazennose college. The degree of master of arts was conferred on him in 1551, at which time he was studying physic. Retiring to his own country, he resided within the walls of Denbigh castle and practiced as a physician. He was a gentleman of many accomplishments, and inspired Camden with a high respect for his antiquarian knowledge. A list of his writings will be found in Lowndes' and in Kippis' Biog. Brit. The work by which he is most generally known is a translation of Caradoc's History of Wales, which he did not live to finish, but which was published in 1584 by Dr. David Powel, under the auspices of Sir Henry Sidney, lord-president of Wales. It was dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney. Dr. Lhuyd died about the year 1570, and was buried in the church of Whitchurch, near Denbigh. His translation of Caradoc, having become scarce, was reprinted in 1811.—R. H.
LIBANIUS, a distinguished Greek sophist and rhetorician, was born at Antioch in 314 or 316. Ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, he went to Athens, where he soon attracted attention by his abilities and industry. There he studied the classical writers of Greece. As he returned through Constantinople, Nicocles prevailed on him to remain there; but on going to Athens and coming back he found his place occupied. Hence he set up a private school, which was thronged with pupils. Owing to envy and jealousy on the part of his opponents, he was expelled from Constantinople in 346, and went to Nicomedia, where he taught with like success, and was equally exposed to persecution. After five years he returned to Constantinople, but was coldly received; went back to Nicomedia, and was thence compelled once more to return to Constantinople by the raging of an epidemic disease. Declining to accept an invitation to the chair of rhetoric at Athens, and wearied of the annoyances to which he was subjected at Constantinople, he visited Antioch. Having returned to Constantinople, he soon after left it from ill health, and went back to his native city, where he remained till his death in 393. He was esteemed by the emperors Julian, Valerius, and Theodosius, whose protection he enjoyed. Yet his life was a troubled one, owing to the hatred of rivals, the interference of prefects, and family misfortunes. His disposition was querulous. He was an inflated, pedantic
