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690 LOW ARCHIPELAGO LOWE of the poet. He now became a contributor to periodicals, and about 1830 published a vol- ume of " Legends and Stories of Ireland," of which a second series appeared in 1834. He had in the mean while adopted the profession of a portrait and miniature painter. In 1839 he published "Songs and Ballads," comprising " The Angel's Whisper," " Molly Bawn," " The Four-Leaved Shamrock," "Rory O'More," &c. Some of his brief sketches of Irish character and even his songs were subsequently expand- ed into elaborate fictions, such as "Handy Andy" (London, 1842), "Rory O'More," and "Treasure Trove" (1844). He also wrote a number of successful plays, operas, and ex- travaganzas. In 1844 he conceived the idea of reciting and singing his own works in public. After a lucrative tour in the chief towns of the United Kingdom, he visited in 1847 the United States and Canada, with equal success. Re- turning to England in 1848, he lectured on his transatlantic experiences, and then retired to private life. In 1859 he published "Metrical Tales and other Poems." During his latter years he received a pension of 100 a year. His " Life and Unpublished Works," t>y Bayle Bernard, was published in 1874. LOW ARCHIPELAGO, Touamoton, or Panmoton Islands, a group of small islands in the Pacific ocean, E. of Tahiti (to which they are nomi- nally subject) and S. of the Marquesas, between lat. 14 and 25 S., and Ion. 124 and 148 30' W.; pop. about 10,000. They number be- tween 80 and 90, and are mostly of coral for- mation. The best known are Chain and Pit- cairn islands (see PITOAIEN ISLAND), and the Gambier islands (which are by some consid- ered a separate group ; pop. about 2,000), near the S. border of the archipelago, the largest of which is Mangareva. They are all surrounded by coral reefs, are more elevated on their E. than their W. sides, and are covered with a luxuriant vegetation. The inhabitants are a well formed race, are peaceable, and of late years have been clothed in European fashion. The group was discovered in 1797, and in 1834 French missionaries settled in Mangareva. LOW COUNTRIES. See NETHERLANDS. LOWE, Sir Hudson, a British soldier, born in Galway, Ireland, July 28, 1769, died in 1844. He was the son of a surgeon general in the British army, and in early childhood went to America with his father's regiment. He was educated at Salisbury school, and received in 1787 an ensign's commission in the 50th foot, stationed at Gibraltar. He took part in the expedition to Corsica, served in Elba and Por- tugal, and becoming a captain was ordered in 1797 to Minorca, and organized the Corsi- can rangers, with which he joined the expedi- tion to Egypt. He was engaged in the battles of Aboukir and Alexandria, led the advance of the army at Cairo, and received the proposals for the surrender of that city. His extreme vigilance, method, and zeal in this campaign drew from Sir John Moore the eulogium: "Lowe, when you're at the outposts I always feel sure of a good night's rest." In 1803, on his return to England, he was made assistant quartermaster general, and was despatched on a secret mission to Portugal to ascertain its military condition and resources. After re- turning a favorable report he was ordered back to the Mediterranean to organize another corps of Corsican rangers, of which he was appoint- ed lieutenant colonel. With this regiment he served throughout the war in Naples and Sici- ly. After the capture of the island of Capri, Lowe was placed in command of it with a gar- rison of 1,300 men, and he retained possession of it till 1808, when Gen. Lamarque with 3,000 French troops compelled him to surrender. After aiding in the conquest of the Ionian isl- ands, he framed their provisional government, and presided over their civil as well as military administration with great success for two years. Early in 1813, together with Gen. Hope, Col. Lowe was intrusted with a mission to Sweden to induce the king to cooperate with the allies, and to Russia and Prussia to concert with the sovereigns of those countries the formation of a Russo-German legion. He was present with the allies at the battle of Bautzen, and there saw for the first time the emperor Na- poleon. Subsequently he was attached as a military commissioner to the allied army under Blucher, with which he entered Paris, where he remained till the suspension of hostilities and the abdication of Napoleon, of which he brought the first intelligence to London. He was immediately knighted, and in June fol- lowing created a major general. During this summer he was appointed quartermaster gen- eral of the army in the Netherlands, with the duty of reporting on the fortresses to be es- tablished on that frontier as barriers against France. He held this post when Napoleon landed from Elba, but the duke of Wellington then appointed in his place Col. Sir William Howe De Lancey, whose sister Sir Hudson Lowe afterward married. In May, 1815, Lowe was appointed to the command of a British force ordered to act in concert with an Austro- Sardinian army and Lord Exmouth's fleet, in an attack upon the southern coasts of France. He felt acutely the course of the duke of Wel- lington toward him ; and it was owing to this fact, and as a means of soothing his feelings, that, upon the surrender of Napoleon and his banishment to St. Helena, he was selected as the governor of that island and intrusted with the charge of the great captive. Cool, firm, utterly incorruptible, and strict in carrying out instructions, possessed of a kind heart, warm feelings, and a very high sense of honor, but with a manner rendered unattractive by reason of a natural reserve and a mien rigidly mili- tary, he fulfilled his duties, which he accepted with reluctance, in a way which drew forth both severe censure and warm praise. On his return from St. Helena after the death of Napoleon in 1821, he was appointed to the