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C86 LOUVAIN LOUVIERS versity. It has the largest number of profes- sors and students among the Belgian universi- ties. Pope Adrian VI., Baius, Jansenius, and Bellarmin were among the most celebrated professors there. St. Gertrude's church and St. Michael's are noteworthy, the former on account of its celebrated oaken stalls with de- tached groups, statues, and bass-reliefs, and the latter for containing many of the best paint- ings of modern Belgian artists. Besides the many pictures of the Flemish masters in the cathedral, Louvain possesses a private gallery containing a very valuable collection of paint- Town Hall, Louvain. ings by native masters. The town transacts a considerable business in the agricultural pro- duce and manufactures of the country. The principal trade is in beer. Vessels of 150 tons can reach the town through the canal of Lou- vain. Although its activity is increasing, it presents a desolate aspect, compared with its appearance early in the 14th century, when it was the capital of Brabant, the residence of the dukes, and possessed a population of near- ly 200,000 and nearly 4,000 manufactories of cloth. The weavers revolted against the duke of Brabant in 1382, and many of them, being banished, transplanted their industry to Eng- land. The foundation of Louvain is attributed by some authorities to Julius Caesar, and the old castle is still called chateau de Cesar, although it is known to have been built at the end of the 9th century as a defence against the North- men. The walls of the town, built in the mid- dle of the 12th century, now partly turned into boulevards, measure 7 m. in circumference. During the war of the Netherlands against Spain, the town submitted to Don John of Austria, and subsequently withstood a siege by "William of Orange. In the 17th century it was also unsuccessfully besieged by Frederick Henry of Nassau. Taken by the French in 1746 and 1792, it fell in 1793 into the hands of the Austrians, and was retaken by Gen. Kleber in 1794 and annexed to France, as the capital of an arrondissement of the depart- ment of Dyle. An engagement between the Dutch and Belgians took place outside of its walls in August, 1831, when King Leopold nar- rowly escaped being captured. LOt TEL. See BEEEY, CHARLES FERDINAND. LOPVET DE COUVRAY, Jean Baptiste, a French revolutionist, born in Paris, June 11, 1760, died Aug. 25, 1797. During his youth he was em- ployed in a bookseller's shop, and acquired a knowledge of literature which he employed in the service of the incipient revolution by wri- ting stories, of which the licentious Amours du chevalier de Faublas (1787-' 9) is best known, and attained an incredible success. Louvet subsequently distinguished himself by advoca- ting a decree against the emigrant Bourbon princes and nobility, and was employed to edit La Sentinelle, " a sort of pillory to which roy- alty was attached every morning and insulted." In 1792 he was chosen to the convention from Loiret, and assumed a more moderate position. He joined the Girondists, attacked Robespierre, was proscribed, but escaped and remained con- cealed until the" 9th Thermidor. He was then recalled to the convention, and was elected to the council of 500. He finally became a book- seller in the Palais Royal, after marrying a beauty, the noted Lodoiska. A storm of ridi- cule now burst on Louvet, who had himself ridiculed others so cruelly. Overwhelmed by pamphlets and insults, the man who had pla- carded Paris with abuse appealed to the law. He finally died neglected and obscure. His wife, who was warmly devoted to him, wished not to survive his death, but was thwarted in her attempt to poison herself. In addition to Faublas, he wrote Emilie de Valmont, ou le Divorce necessaire (1790) ; Paris justifte; Recit de mes perils (1795) ; and two or three comedies. LOUVIERS, a town of Normandy, France, in the department of Eure, on the river of that name, 17 m. S. by E. of Rouen and 60 m. N. W. of Paris; pop. in 1866, 11,707. One of the first improved cloth manufactories in France was established here in 1681, and cotton spin- ning was introduced in 1789. It now contains about 40 cloth manufactories, employing in and about the town some 6,000 operatives. Among