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68 LABADIE water is bad, and the climate unhealthy ; but the soil is fertile, and yields good crops of corn, beans, hops, and hemp. There is a lake called Maribo near the centre of the island, which is almost 5 m. in length. There are five towns: Maribo, the capital, Nakskov, Nysted, Rodby, and Saxkiobing. LABADIE, Jean de, a French mystic, born at Bourg-en-Guienne in February, 1610, died in Altona, Holstein, Feb. 13, 1674. He was edu- cated at the Jesuits' college of Bordeaux, and was for some time a member of that society ; but in 1650 he became a Protestant, settled at Montauban, was elected pastor of the church, and remained there eight years, during which he founded a mystical sect, resembling the quietists of his old communion, and called La- badists. Being at length banished from Mon- tauban for sedition, he went first to Orange, and afterward to Geneva, whence in 1666 he was invited to Middelburg, Holland. Here his followers increased in number, and included many persons of rank and education, among whom were Anna Maria von Schurmann and the princess palatine Elizabeth. The hetero- doxy and contumacy of Labadie, however, led to his deposition by the synod of Naarden, and to his banishment from the province. He formed a church in a small village near Am- sterdam, and established a press for the publi- cation of his works, but was ultimately com- pelled to remove to Altona. The Labadists do not now exist. LABANOFF DE ROSTOV, Alexander, prince, a Russian author, born in 1788. He was aide-de- camp to Alexander I. and Nicholas from 1813 to 1828, when he retired with the rank of major general. He published numerous works based on official documents relating to Mary Stuart, the principal being Lettres, instructions et me- moirea de Marie Stuart, reine cPEcosse (7 vols., Paris, 1844, and a supplementary volume), which are regarded as the most authentic au- thority on the subject. He presented his valu- able library to the government. ^ LABARUM, the military standard of Constan- tine the Great, adopted by him in commemo- ration of the appearance of the cross in the sky when he was on the march against Maxentius. It consisted of a pole or pike with a horizontal bar forming a cross, from which depended a square purple ^ banderole, ornamented with fringes and precious stones. The staff was surmounted by a golden crown set with jewels, in the midst of which was the mon- ogram of Christ, with the occa- sional addition in later times of the Greek letters alpha and ome- ga. On medals of Valentinian I. it is represented without the crown and with the monogram on the banderole; and some- times the figure of Christ was displayed on the latter. Prudentius says that " Christ, woven -Ix. Labarum, from a Medal of Valentinian I. LABEDOYftRE in jewelled gold, marked the purple labarum." Julian the Apostate removed the sacred sym- bols and substituted for them the ancient S. P. Q. R., but Jovian restored them. The ori- gin of the word is involved in obscurity, and scholars are undecided when it was first ap- plied to the Roman standard ; but it is found on coins and medals of the first emperors, espe- cially on those connected with the Germanic and Armenian wars. Under the pagan empe- rors the ensign usually bore the image of the emperor or that of Jupiter, Mars, or Mercury. LABAT, Jean Baptiste, a French missionary and historian, born in Paris in 1663, died there, Jan. 6, 1738. He entered the order of the Dominicans, taught philosophy at Nancy, afterward devoted himself to preaching, and became a missionary to the Antilles. After remaining two years at Martinique, he passed in 1696 to Guadeloupe, where he established a station of his order, and also distinguished him- self as an engineer and agriculturist. On his return to Martinique he was appointed procu- reur general of the mission, and for his diplo- matic and scientific services was held in esteem by successive governors. He explored the archipelago of the Antilles, founded in 1703 the city of Basse-Terre, and in that year took an active part in the defence of the island against the English. He organized a company of 60 negroes, who, as he said, destroyed more of the enemy than all the French troops. By the decease of his associates, he gradually uni- ted in his own person nearly all the higher offices of his order in the Antilles, and in 1705 returned to Europe to obtain recruits. He was detained by his superiors at Rome till 1709, and at Civita Vecchia till 1716, after which he went to Paris, where he passed the rest of his life. His principal works are : Nouveau voyage aux iles de VAmerique (6 vols. 12mo, 1722) ; Nouvelle relation de VAfrique occiden- tale (5 vols., 1728) ; and Voyage en Espagne et en Italic (8 vols., 1730). LABDANUM. See LADANUM. LA BEDOLL1ERE, Kinilc Giganlt de, a French author, born in Paris, May 24, 1814. He has been extensively connected with journalism, was one of the founders of the Univers illustre, and from 1850 one of the editors of the Siecle, and in 1869 assisted in founding the new Na- tional. He has written histories of the French campaigns from 1792 to 1815, the Crimean war, the British war in India, the Italian war of 1859, the Mexican war, and the German and Italian war of 1866. His miscellaneous wri- tings comprise almost every variety of litera- ture, including Histoire des mceurs et de la me privee des Francais (3 vols., 1847-'9), La France et la Prusse (1867), and translations of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," Hildreth's " White Slave," and various novels of Scott, Cooper, Dickens, Mar- ryat, and Mayne Reid, and other works. LABED01 ERE, Charles Angeliqne Francois Hnchet de, count, a French soldier, born in Paris, April 17, 1786, shot at Grenelle, Aug. 19, 1815.