Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/89

Lafontaine parts in which he was seen were Benedick, Comus, Faulconbridge, Malvolio, Touchstone, Prospero, Roderigo, Henry VIII, Young Marlow, Sir Brilliant Fashion, Goldfinch, Tony Lumpkin, Bob Acres, Dazzle, Flutter, Dudley Smooth, Megrim in 'Blue Devils,' Ghost in 'Hamlet,' My Lord Duke in 'High Life below Stairs,' Jeremy Diddler, and Puff. After a long absence from the stage, occupied with teaching elocution at the Royal Academy of Music, he reappeared at the Lyceum in April 1879 as Colonel Damas in Sir Henry Irving's revival of the 'Lady of Lyons.' He died on 13 Dec. 1898 at 13 Marine Square, Brighton, and was buried at Brompton cemetery on the 17th. Lacy was a respectable light comedian, but failed as an exponent of old men and was a wretched Sir Anthony Absolute. He was a familiar figure at the Garrick Club, which owns a portrait of him in oils, and was almost to the last a man of much vivacity, and of quaint, clever, unbridled, and characteristic speech. He married Miss Taylor, an actress [see Lacy, Harriette Deborah (DNB00)].

 LAFONTAINE, LOUIS HYPOLITE, first baronet (1807–1864), Canadian statesman, born at Boucherville, in the county of Chambly, Lower Canada, in October 1807, was the third son of Antoine Médard Lafontaine, a farmer of that neighbourhood, by his wife Marie J. Fontaine Bienvenu, and the grandson of Antoine Médard Lafontaine, member of the legislative assembly of Lower Canada. He was educated at Montreal, and after a course of five years proceeded to study law, entering the office of Denis Benjamin Viger [q. v.] His political reputation was considerable while he was yet a clerk, and after his call to the bar he quickly acquired a large practice among the French Canadians. He joined Viger in organising the national movement in the district of Montreal, and was returned to the legislative assembly of Lower Canada at the general election of 1830 for the county of Terrebonne, for which he continued to sit until 1837. He was at first a follower of Louis Joseph Papineau [q. v.], whom he vigorously urged on in his resistance to the home government. In a year or two, however, he developed from the follower to the rival of Papineau, from whom eventually he became completely estranged. While Papineau was associated with the parti prêtre, Lafontaine led that of la jeune France, and was regarded by the orthodox as little better than an infidel. Although he indulged in unmeasured opposition to government, he saw the outbreak of the rebellion of 1837 with feelings of consternation, being convinced that the resources of the insurgents were quite inadequate. The government, however, mindful of his incendiary language on former occasions, issued a warrant against him for high treason. Lafontaine escaped to England and thence to France. He was able to establish his innocence, and returned to Canada in May 1838. He was imprisoned on 7 Nov. 1838, during the hostile expeditions of Robert Nelson [see Nelson, Wolfred (DNB00)] from the United States, but was released from lack of evidence.

After the suppression of the rebellion Lafontaine found the leadership of the parti prêtre vacant owing to Papineau's exile. He conciliated the priests and assumed the position. On Papineau's return in 1847 he found his place filled and was compelled to become the head of the more extreme party which Lafontaine had formerly directed. Lafontaine opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840. On 21 Sept, 1841, after contesting Terrebonne unsuccessfully, he was returned to the parliament of the united provinces for the fourth riding of York, a county in Upper Canada, chiefly thro ugh the instrumentality of Robert Baldwin [q. v. Suppl.] He was at once recognised as the leader of the French Canadians in the new assembly, and early in 1842 declined an offer of the solicitor-generalship of Lower Canada from the governor-general, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, Baron Sydenham [q. v.], made to him on the condition that he should support the governor's policy. In September 1842, at the instance of Sydenham's successor, Sir Charles Bagot [q. v. Suppl.], he joined Baldwin in forming the first Baldwin-Lafontaine administration, in which he held the portfolio of attorney-general for the lower province. During his term of office he obtained a cessation of proceedings against the political offenders of 1837, including Papineau. The ministry resigned on 28 Nov. 1843 in consequence of a difference with Bagot's successor, Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe (afterwards Baron Metcalfe) [q. v.], with regard to the control of the nomination of government officials. In November 1844 Lafontaine was returned for Terrebonne, which he represented during the whole period of his 