discharges its narrow stream into the sea at a distance of 8 m. from the city; pop. about 40,000. The city presents an antique, venerable, scrupulously clean, but dull and inanimate appearance. It is surrounded by numerous wind mills, in one of which Rembrandt is said to have been born, and by pleasant country seats, where Descartes found an asylum and Boerhaave resided. It is traversed by many canals, the bridges of which number about 150. The Breede Straat, or Broad street, ranks among the finest of Europe. The large open space called the Ruine in the Rapenburg street, now planted with trees, was covered with dwellings until 1807, when 300 of them were destroyed with 150 persons by an explosion of gunpowder. The chief ornament of Leyden is the university, founded in 1575 by the prince of Orange. For some time it contributed so much to the learning of Europe, that Leyden was called the Athens of the West. Associated with it are the names of Grotius, Descartes, Heinsius, Scaliger, Boerhaave, Arminius, and Gomarus. Evelyn, Goldsmith, Fielding, and other English men of letters studied at Leyden. The university is still attended by about 600 students, and there are 33 professors. Most of the lectures are delivered in Latin. The junior students have for a short time after their entrance to act as fags to those of older standing. The students reside in lodgings in the city, and wear no uniform dress. The museum of natural history, one of the most extensive in Europe, is especially rich in productions of the East and West Indies, and has a remarkable collection of birds. The cabinet of comparative anatomy is exceedingly rich. The collections of shells, of minerals and insects, and of agricultural objects, as well as the Egyptian museum, possess great interest, as does the Japanese collection of Siebold, the most comprehensive of the kind in the world. The library contains 60,000 printed volumes and 14,000 MSS., including some of the rarest oriental ones, collected by Golius in the 17th century. Printing was extensively carried on in Leyden in the 17th and 18th centuries, as was the manufacture of fine woollen cloth. In the 17th century the population was estimated as high as 100,000. Nearly 4,000 of the inhabitants were carried off by the plague in 1655. In more recent times industry has declined, but Leyden continues to be the principal market for wool and woollen goods in Holland, and the population has nearly doubled since the beginning of the 19th century.-The siege of Leyden and its heroic defence against the Spaniards in the Dutch war of independence, forms one of the most interesting episodes in the history of the Dutch republic. After a protracted warfare the city was relieved on the morning of Oct. 3, 1574, when the fleet of Boisot entered Leyden. Motley, in his "Rise of the Dutch Republic" (New York, 1856), says: "The quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human being who could stand coming forth to

greet the preservers of the city. . . . On Feb. 5, 1575, the city of Leyden, so lately the victim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers." A grand procession was formed on that day, which marched to the cloister of St. Barbara, the place prepared for the new university, which the prince of Orange established, as well as a 10 days' annual fair without tolls or taxes, as a reward for the sufferings and heroism of the citizens. An interesting medal struck on the occasion of the siege of Leyden being raised was exhibited by Dr. Lee in the London numismatic society in 1858. Leyden is also associated with American history through the pilgrim fathers, who, after their arrival from England in Amsterdam (1608), removed to Leyden (1609), where "they saw poverty coming on them like an armed man."

LEYDEN, JOHN OF. See ANABAPTIST.

LEYDEN, JOHN, a Scottish author, born in Denholm, Roxburghshire, Sept. 8, 1775, died in Batavia, Aug. 21, 1811. He studied at the university of Edinburgh, and was ordained in 1798; but not attaining any success in the clerical profession, he abandoned it, and applied himself to the study of medicine. In 1802 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the East India company's service, and on arriving at Madras turned his attention to the oriental languages. In 1806 he removed to Calcutta, where he was appointed professor of Hindostanee in Fort William college, and shortly afterward judge of the Twenty-Four Pergunnahs. In 1809 he was made a commissioner of the court of requests, and in 1810 was promoted to the office of assay master of the mint. Having accompanied Lord Minto in an expedition against the Dutch colony of Java in 1811, he there contracted a fever which proved fatal. The most important of his works are: a "Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa" (enlarged and completed by Hugh Murray, 2 vols. 8vo., Edinburgh, 1817); and "An Essay on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations," published in vol. x. of "Asiatic Researches." His poetical remains were published in London in 1819 by the Rev. John Morton, and a new edition of his "Poems and Ballads," with a memoir by Sir Walter Scott, in 1858.

LEYDEN, LUCAS VAN, otherwise called LUCAS JACOBZE, a Dutch painter and engraver, born in Leyden in 1494, died in 1533. At 10 years of age he was placed with Cornelius Engelbrech sten, a painter of Leyden, and two years later he produced a picture of St. Hubert which astonished the artists of Leyden. At 14 he produced a celebrated print of "Mohammed killing Sergius." He subsequently rose to eminence in Holland, was an intimate friend and correspondent of Albert Dürer, and finished a large number of pictures, few of which however are now well authenticated. In all that regards external manner he resembled Dürer, particularly in his tendency to the grotesque and whimsical, but lacked his grandeur of design. He painted

in oil, in distemper, and on glass, and essayed history, landscape, and portraits, but inclined rather to scenes of common life. His most important work is the "Last Judgment" in the town house at Leyden, a picture of immense size. He was equally celebrated as an engraver, working on wood as well as copper.

LHA-SSA. See LASSA. L'HÔPITAL, or L'HOSPITAL, MICHEL DE, chancellor of France, born in Aigueperse about 1504, died in Bellebat, near Etampes, March 13, 1573. He was made president of the court of accounts in 1554, and chancellor of France in 1560. In the former office he proved his integrity and courage by refusing the 20,000 livres which Henry II. demanded for Diana of Poitiers. In the latter office he refused to sign a sentence of death against the prince of Condé. His aim was to moderate all parties, and he opposed violence in politics and intolerance in religion. To him were due the edict of Romorantin (1560), which prevented the establishment of the inquisition in France; the ordinance of Orleans (1561), at once an administrative, judicial, and religious code; the edict of pacification (1562), which authorized the free exercise of Protestant worship, with certain precautions for the preservation of peace; the edict of Roussillon (1565), which fixed the beginning of the year at Jan. 1; and the ordinance of Moulins (1566), to reform the administration of justice. He gave up the seals of office in 1568, and retired to the country. His moderation had drawn upon him the enmity and suspicion of the Catholic party, especially as his wife and family had all become Protestants. A troop sent to protect him at the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre being mistaken for assassins, he commanded the door to be opened to them, saying that his time would come whenever God pleased. His complete works, embracing Latin poems, harangues, memoirs addressed to the king and the parliament, and a political testament, were edited by Dufey l'Yonne (4 vols., Paris, 1824).

LIAS, an English provincial name for a group of strata lying at the base of the jurassic formation, and more or less intermingled with the overlying oolite; but in the Jura the two formations are distinct, the oolite reposing unconformably upon the lias. Over a consider able portion of Europe it is found in alternating beds of clays, sandstones, and limestones, which altogether attain a thickness of 500 to 1,000 feet. The limestones have a peculiar appearance, lying in thin strata of a bluish or grayish color within, and light brown without where exposed to the weather. As noticed in the article GEOLOGY, the nearest representatives of the group in the United States are found in the coal fields of S. E. Virginia and North Carolina, and the middle secondary sandstones of the Connecticut river valley and of New Jersey; though it may be that these correspond more closely to the oolite. The formation is especially interesting in Europe for the variety of fossils it affords, the most extraordinary

among which are the huge reptiles, the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus of several species. The limestones abound also in corallines, and in great variety of shells. The remains of fish are all of extinct genera.

LIBANIUS, a Greek sophist and rhetorician, born in Antioch about A. D. 316, died there toward the close of the same century. He taught rhetoric at Constantinople, where his school drew such vast numbers of students that his rivals caused him to be expelled from the city as a sorcerer. He subsequently returned to Antioch, and there passed his latter days. He was highly esteemed by the emperors Julian, Valens, and Theodosius. He was a pagan, but yet maintained friendly relations with many Christians, including St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, who were his pupils. He was a voluminous author, and several of his works are extant, but there is no complete edition of them.

LIBANUS, MOUNT. See LEBANON.

LIBEL, in law, has one meaning in criminal law, or as a ground for civil action, and quite another as one of the processes of legal remedy. In both senses the word is derived from the Latin libellus, which means literally a little book, but was used for any brief writing. In the Roman criminal law the phrase was libellus famosus. The qualifying adjective is dropped in our common use of the word, but is often used in accurate legal documents, as in the latest English statute about libels, where the expression generally used is "defamatory libel." Generally, however, the word libel is supposed to imply defamation. Its exact definition is difficult; Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst has said that he never met with one entirely satisfactory to him. The shortest and simplest, and at the same time the best in our judgment, is this: a libel is any published defamation. In "The People vs. Croswell," 3 Johnson's Cases, 354, occurs the following definition of a libel: "A censorious or ridiculous writing, picture, or sign, made with a mischievous and malicious intent toward government, magistrates, or individuals." This definition is approved and adopted in 9 Johnson's Reports, 214, and more recently in Denio's Reports, 347.-We propose to consider: 1, what this defamation must be; 2, what the publication; 3, what the punishment or remedies; 4, what may be the defence. Before proceeding to these topics, it may be well to remark, however, that libel is distinguished, in law, from slander, by the fact of publication; for while libel is published defamation, slander is only spoken defamation. The offences are entirely different in law, and very different systems of rules apply to them. (See SLANDER.) As to the requisite defamation, it need not charge any crime, nor any thing which must affect a man's business or pecuniary interest, or indeed accuse him of any moral obliquity. It is quite enough if it holds him up to ridicule. One reason for this is, that a man has a right to a respectable position in society, and is injured by any thing which tends to degrade

him in the opinion of his neighbors. But the reason most commonly given by courts and text writers is, that the essence of the offence of libel lies in its being dangerous to the public peace; and defamation which only makes its object ridiculous, is quite as likely to make him angry and stir him to break the peace, as if it affected his pecuniary interests or exposed him to legal measures. On the same foundation rests the distinction between libel and slander; because the law considers that words, which while spoken only are fleeting and transitory, become fixed and vested by publication, and capable of indefinite diffusion, and therefore their capacity of mischief is vastly increased; hence, while libel is indictable, slander is not. The defamation may be of the dead, provided it have a tendency to stir up to revenge or violence any living friends of the deceased. So it has been held, that a publication is a libel which consists only of defamation of the Christian religion, of morality, or of decency. The publication may consist of any act or acts which put the defamation into distinct and apprehensible form; thus, not only printing it in any form is sufficient, but painting it, as on a sign, or drawing it, as in a caricature. Nor need the name of any person be mentioned if it be sufficiently obvious who is thus held up to public ridicule; nor need it be given to the public. If it is written in a letter sent to but one person, that is publication; and it has been held, on what seem to us good grounds, that if one write what is defamatory of a person, in a letter addressed to the person defamed, and send it to him only, this also may be publication. It has been held that if one take down a volume from book shelves and read from it a defamatory passage to one or more persons, this is publication of a libel. Again, if the defamation be published in a work of general circulation, as a newspaper, the writer, the editor, and the publisher are all and severally liable; and the editor and publisher are liable although they give the name of the writer, or even if the writer's name be appended to the article; for if the law were otherwise, it would be easy to give any publicity to any libel with impunity, merely by putting to it the name of some person who was not responsible in fact, because he had nothing to lose.

But if a servant of the publisher sell the book, this is not, of itself, publication on his part, but it is some evidence of publication on the part of his master; and perhaps the same rule would be applied to any mere agent. Nor is it held to be a defence to the editor or publisher, that he did not know the libellous character or nature of the matter published. It is as much publication if the book or paper be given away as if it be sold; and with every copy given or sold there is a repetition and renewal of the offence. It is doubtless of the essence of libel that malice enter into the act or motive; but this may be either express malice or constructive malice; that is, there may be direct proof of an actual malicious purpose in

the words or act, or they may be such that the law will imply malice in the absence of proof, on the ground partly that no person could do such a thing if he were not malicious, and partly that the thing itself is so wrongful and mischievous, that the safety of society requires that the doer should be punished as if he were malicious, and that no one should be able to defend himself for doing so great a wrong by showing that it was done only through negligence or stupidity. As to the punishment, any person guilty of libel may be indicted for the offence, as a crime against the public, and if convicted punished accordingly. But the person defamed may also bring his action for damages and recover full compensation. The reason for treating libel as a public offence as well as a private one consists in the injury done to the public by endangering its peace. But this is entirely independent of the injury to the person defamed, for which he has therefore his own remedy. The punishment for libel is fine and imprisonment. This is regulated by statutes in some states, and in others rests on the common law, according to which libel is a misdemeanor.-The defence against libel has presented questions which were once of great public interest; and if they are less so now, it is only because they are now quite well settled, and the law in respect to them stands on a basis which no one is disposed to disturb. By the Roman civil law, the crime of libel was punished very severely. The 12 tables made it a capital offence. By the time of Augustus usage had so modified the law, that the punishment was only corporal; but Valentinian made it once more capital, and extended the punishment of death to him who wrote or published the libel, or omitted the destroying or suppressing of it if he could do so. By a law of Alfred, the inventor of a public falsehood (publicum mendacium) was punished by the loss of his tongue, nor could he redeem his tongue for less than the price of his head. The laws of Greece as well as those of Rome made many distinctions in relation to the law of libel, some of which were very nice; but they do not seem to have recognized that which has been for a long time the fundamental distinction, by the law of England and of this country, between published defamation or libel and merely spoken defamation, which, as we have seen, is only slander.-The earliest question in point of time, and one of the most important in its character, which has arisen in the history of the law of libel, is in relation to the function of the jury as distinct from that of the court. A familiar and perfectly well established principle gives all questions of fact to the jury, and leaves all questions of law to the court. In the last century there was an endeavor in the English courts to confine the question before the jury to the mere publication of the words charged, leaving it for the court to say whether the words or thing published constituted a libel. This was so held by the court of king's bench, in "The King rs.

Owen" (10 St. Tr. App. 169); in "The King vs. Mott" (3 T. R. 430, in notes); and in "The King vs. Shebbeare" (ibid.). Then Lord Mansfield and his colleagues asserted the same law in "The King vs. Woodfall," as the publisher of Junius (5 Burrows, 2666); and finally in the case of "The King vs. the Dean of St. Asaph" (3 T. R. 428, in notes). The powerful and very eloquent speech of Erskine in this last case attracted general attention to the subject; and soon afterward, the statute 32 George III. ch. 60 (1792), provided that in every trial of an indictment or information for libel the court should give their opinion and direction to the jury on the whole matter at issue, as in other criminal cases. This placed the whole question before the jury, who might, if they saw fit, bring in a general verdict of not guilty, although they were satisfied that the accused published the words alleged, and the court instructed them that these words constituted a libel. Still, it was thought that this question remained properly a question of law only. But in 1803 the case of "The People of New York vs. Croswell," for an alleged libel against Thomas Jefferson, was tried before the supreme court; and the court being equally divided upon this question, an act was passed in 1805, going further than the English statute, and providing that on every trial of an indictment for libel, the jury "shall have a right to determine the law and the fact, under the direction of the court, as in other criminal cases." This may now be regarded as the settled law in every part of the United States. -Another question, next in time and not inferior in importance, is: How far and under what limitations the truth of the words published is a defence against a criminal charge of libel. In an action for slander, or for words spoken, the truth is always a good defence; and it is settled that the truth is a defence, perhaps an equally good and unqualified defence, against a civil action for libel. But the law is certainly not so upon the trial of an indictment for libel. It must be remembered that a libel was regarded as a crime, or a public offence, because it endangered the public peace; and as an inference from this principle, the common law did undoubtedly refuse to permit the truth of the words spoken to be any defence against an indictment for libel. Lord Coke (5 Co. 125) said: "The greater appearance there is of truth in any malicious invective, so much the more provoking it is;" and Lord Mansfield only simplified and condensed the ancient rule in his famous saying: "The greater the truth, the greater the libel." This continued to be the law in England until the statute 6 and 7 Victoria, ch. 96, provided, in substance, that the truth should be a defence if it was published for the public benefit. In the case of "The people of New York vs. Croswell," to which we have before referred, this question also arose, whether the truth could be given in evidence as a defence, as well as whether the jury could pass upon the whole case, including the law as well as the fact. Alexander Hamil

ton exerted his utmost power of argument on the affirmative side of both questions. Justices Kent and Thompson were with him, and Justices Lewis and Livingston contra. The verdict having been against the defendant, and the court being equally divided, judgment would have been pronounced had not the legislature interposed the statute of 1805, already referred to. By this it was enacted, that the truth should be a defence, provided it were published with good motives and for justifiable ends; and this is now, either by constitutional provisions, by statute, or by adjudication, the law of every one of the United States. It is also settled that the publication of proceedings of courts of justice, or of petitions to the legislature, is not libellous on the part of the publisher. But the publication of injurious rumors is not justified merely by their existence.-There is still another rule, which is universally admitted, although it is one which is not easy to define; it is, that a much larger freedom of speech or writing is allowable where it concerns a candidate for public office, and relates to his fitness for that office. The absolute necessity that the people, in a country as democratic as this is, should know all that can be known of those for whom they are called upon to vote, makes this rule inevitable. But it would be a great misfortune if this rule, which is intended to protect the public from the danger of choosing unworthy persons, should in fact deprive them of the services of the best men, who are unwilling to be made the targets for that unrestricted calumny which will always be the favorite weapon of partisan or personal malignity, when it knows that it can wield it with impunity. Upon the subject of defence, it may be proper to add, that many things which would not be sufficient for a full and technical defence (as for example, that the defendant, as printer, knew nothing of the character of the article, and had given the name of the writer), would operate strongly to mitigate the punishment if the defendant were found guilty under an indictment, or to lessen the damages in a civil suit.-LIBEL is also the name of the first process in a suit in admiralty. The whole procedure of this court follows, with much exactness, that of the Roman civil law, and the terms used are derived from that law. The libellus was the initiatory step in an action, corresponding to the writ and declaration at common law. In England the word is retained, for some purposes at least, in the canonical courts; and its influence remains in courts of chancery, where the plaintiff is often called the libellant, but the instrument itself is not called a libel, but a bill. In the United States, it is in practice confined to courts of admiralty. There are no especial forms which must be adhered to; and, although in each of our district courts certain forms and methods are customary and usually followed, we apprehend that any narrative of the libellant's case, which was distinct, intelligible, and sufficiently full, would be received by the court, and if necessary amended into conformity with any

established precedents. There are, however, some essentials to a libel in admiralty, none of which should be omitted, and all of which should be present, either originally or by subsequent amendment, in order to sustain a judgment. These are: 1, it should be properly addressed to the right judge; 2, it should state and designate with clearness and accuracy the parties to the action; 3, it should narrate the facts and circumstances, directly and affirmatively, upon which the libellant rests his case; 4, these should be sufficient, as stated, to give the court jurisdiction; 5, it should pray for the proper relief, specifically, and the proper process, and for relief generally. A libel is sometimes "simple," that is, it tells a plain story, continuously, from beginning to end. More often it is, and perhaps it should always be, articulate,' or divided into articles, which are successively numbered, and each one of which includes some one allegation of a specific, material fact. The purpose of this is, to enable the respondent to answer definitively and specifically each part of the libellant's case; some parts he would wish to admit, others to deny, and yet others to qualify. LIBERIA, a republic of American negroes on the W. coast of Africa, extending S. E. along the coast from the British colony of Sierra Leone about 500 m. to the San Pedro river, with an average breadth of 50 m., between lat. 4° 20' and 7° 20′ N., long. 6° 50′ and 12° 40′ W.; area, about 30,000 sq. m. It is divided into 4 counties: Mesurado, Bassa, Sinou, and Cape PalThe capital and largest town is Monrovia, a seaport on Cape Mesurado, with about 2,000 inhabitants. The other towns are Marshall, Edina, Grand Bassa, and Greenville on the coast, and Caldwell, Louisiana, Millsburg, Bexley, and Cresson in the interior. The general line of the coast is from N. W. to S. E. There are several inlets and harbors at Cape Mount, Cape Mesurado, Cape Palmas, and Bassa Cove. There are many rivers, of which the principal is the St. Paul, which enters the ocean at Cape Mesurado. It is about half a mile wide, and at low tide has 7 feet of water on the bar at its mouth. It is navigable only about 18 miles from the sea. The other largest rivers are the St. John, which empties at Bassa Cove; the Junk river, which runs between the St. Paul and the St. John; Cape Mount river, which flows into the sea at Cape Mount; and the Grand Sesters, E. of the St. John, which has 14 feet of water over the bar at its mouth. The land on the coast is generally low and sandy, except near the capes, which are elevated, and in the S. E., where the shore is bold and rocky. From the coast the land gradually rises, until at the distance of 30 miles inland it swells into forest-covered hills, and in the remoter interior into mountain ridges divided by fertile valleys. The soil is generally good, though there is some poor land. It is of a yellowish color, and tinges the rivers which flow through it. There is little swamp land, the country being almost universally broken and rocky or gravelly. The climate

mas.

is that common to regions near the equator. There are two seasons, the wet and the dry. The former begins with June and ends with October. Rain falls during the greater part of this season, though not without intervals of clear skies and successive days of fine weather, especially in July and August. In the dry season rain is rare, though there are occasional showers. The average heat of the year in Monrovia is 80° F., that of the rainy season being 76° and of the dry 84°. The mercury seldom rises above 90° in the shade, and never falls below 60°; the daily variation seldom exceeds 10°. June is the coolest month, and January the hottest. During the hottest months, January, February, and March, the heat is mitigated by the constant winds, the land breeze blowing from midnight until near midday, and the sea breeze from midday until near midnight. The climate both on the coast and in the interior is deadly to the white man, and though less fatal is still formidable to the black man born and reared in temperate regions. Strangers soon after their arrival are attacked with a fever called acclimating, which seems to be caused not by the heat, but by miasmata of the origin and character of which little is known. This sickness indicates its approach by headache, pains in the back, loss of appetite, and more or less gastric derangement, and rapidly develops into bilious remittent fever. This sometimes yields to mild medical treatment, and the patient is then prepared to endure ordinary exposure to the climate. Generally, however, the disease assumes the tertiary or other form of intermittent fever, accompanied by bilious vomiting, a dull expression of the eye, and in the febrile paroxysms intense headache and delirium. This is the African fever, and is frequently fatal. To the white man there is no acclimation in Liberia; the first attack of the fever does not secure him from subsequent attacks. To the natives the climate is not unfavorable; they are robust and have few diseases, and many of them live to a great age.-Iron ore abounds in Liberia, and it is said that copper and other metals exist in the interior of the country. The vegetables are almost endless in their variety. The most important of the native trees are rosewood, teak, mahogany, hickory, poplar, brimstone wood (so called from its yellow color), sassa wood, and many others valuable in ship building and cabinet work. Camwood and other dyewoods, ebony, the acacia which yields gum Arabic, and the copal tree are found. There are several varieties of palm, all highly useful, especially the nut-bearing palm from which palm oil is made. Medicinal plants abound; among them are the copaiba tree, the croton tiglium, which yields the croton oil, the castor oil plant, and the ricinus major, whose seeds produce a highly purgative oil, and whose wood is much used for hedges and fences. Several varieties of maize and rice of excellent quality are cultivated, and on the highlands of the interior good crops of wheat, barley, and oats have been