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LAY of humble origin; but his courage and ability attracted the notice of his superiors, and he was ultimately appointed captain of a ship under the parliament. He held republican principles, but was induced to assist Monk in effecting the Restoration, and received the thanks of both houses of parliament for his services. He was raised to the rank of rear-admiral under the duke of York, and was mortally wounded by a musket-ball in the knee in a battle against the Dutch, 3d June, 1665.—J. T.  LAYAMON or LAZAMON, the "English Ennius," as he has been called, is the author of a metrical paraphrase in semi-Saxon of Wace's Roman de Brut, the well-known Anglo-Norman version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Britons. Of Layamon nothing is known but the little he has said of himself in the introductory lines of his poem. He was priest of a church at "Ernley," which his editor, Sir Frederick Madden, supposes to be Lower Arley, otherwise Arley Regis, three and a half miles south-east from Bewdley in Worcestershire. From various little indications the date of the composition of the poem is conjectured to be the beginning of the thirteenth century. In 1847 Sir Frederick Madden edited, and the Society of Antiquaries of London published, the first and only edition of Layamon's poem, from the Cottonian MSS. in the British museum. It was accompanied by a valuable preface, a literal English translation, notes, and a grammatical glossary.—F. E  * LAYARD,, M. P., D.C.L., politician, author, archæologist, and traveller, is the eldest son of Mr. Henry P. J. Layard, of the Cingalese civil service, and grandson of Dr. Layard, dean of Bristol. Like the Romillys and the Martineaus, the Layards are of French origin, and descended from a Huguenot family, which migrated from France to England after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. During a visit of his parents to Paris, Mr. Layard was born in that capital on the 8th of March, 1817. A portion of his youth was spent in Italy, where he cultivated the skill as a draughtsman afterwards turned to good account in the East. Removing to England with the view of studying for the bar, he soon abandoned the intention, and became a traveller in distant lands. In 1839 he visited the East, is said to have acted for some time as the Constantinople correspondent of a London journal, and so familiarized himself with the habits and languages of Turkey and Asia Minor, as to have been able to pass for an oriental. In the winter of 1839-40, when travelling in Asia Minor and Syria, he was seized by a desire to visit the ruins of the capitals of the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Reaching Mosul in the April of 1840, he inspected the ruins on the east bank of the Tigris, supposed to be the ruins of ancient Nineveh, and which included the great mound of Konyunjek. In the summer of 1852, and on his way to Constantinople, passing hurriedly through Mosul, he found that M. Botta, the French consul there, had commenced excavations at Konyunjek, and had discovered the first monument of ancient Assyria. In some letters addressed to the Malta Times, Mr. Layard directed attention to the importance of the discoveries, and was at last enabled to become himself a discoverer. In the autumn of 1845 the English ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Stratford Canning, now Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, liberally offered to Mr. Layard to defray for a limited period of time the expense of excavations in Assyria. The offer was accepted; and in November, with a few tools, Mr. Layard descended the Tigris from Mosul to Nimroud. On the 28th his Arabs working vigorously under his personal influence, excavated two bas-reliefs, the prelude of a long series of interesting and important discoveries. After some interruption, caused by the hostility and jealousy of the pacha of the district and the disturbed state of the country, the excavations were resumed, and the mound of Konyunjek gave up its long-buried treasures. Mr. Layard returned to England, and prepared for the press his first work on these eastern discoveries—his "Nineveh and its Remains, with an account of a visit to the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis or Devil worshippers; and an inquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient Assyrians." Towards the close of 1848 he was appointed attaché to the embassy at Constantinople, and received instructions to proceed thither at once. His work was not yet published, and he left England without any encouragement from the trustees of the British museum to resume excavations. It was at Constantinople that he learned the sensation which the appearance of his book had created in England. The museum authorities now began to move, and authorized him to return to Nineveh and continue his researches. The results of these were given to the reading public in 1853, in a volume entitled "Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon"—his explorations in his second expedition having extended to Babylon, though scarcely, perhaps, with as much success as might have been hoped for. The Assyrian remains discovered by Mr. Layard are now among the chief attractions of the British museum, for the authorities of which he has executed two elaborate volumes of "Monuments of Nineveh, with Drawings." To the handbooks of the Crystal palace Mr. Layard has also contributed a description of the Nineveh court there. In February, 1852, among the changes consequent on the withdrawal of Lord Palmerston from the foreign office, Mr. Layard was for a few weeks under-secretary for foreign affairs, while Lord Granville held the seals of the department; and on the accession of Lord Derby to office, it is understood that he received and declined an offer to be continued in the post. At the general election of 1852, Mr. Layard entered the house of commons on advanced liberal principles, as member for Aylesbury; but it was not until some time after the formation of Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry, that on the 16th of August he delivered his maiden speech, on the Turkish question. Strongly opposed to the policy of Russia in the East, Mr. Layard spoke with some authority, from his personal familiarity with Turkey and the Turks both in Europe and Asia. During the negotiations which preceded the Russian war, Mr. Layard played a very prominent part in the house of commons. With the commencement of the Russian war, he accompanied the British army to the East, and on the maintop of the Agamemnon was a spectator of the battle of the Alma. He remained in the English camp until after the battle of Inkermann, and returning home, supported in the house of commons Mr. Roebuck's demand for inquiry into the state of the army before Sebastopol, which, granted by the house, overthrew Lord Aberdeen's ministry, he then became one of the leaders of the Administrative Reform Association, called into existence by the public indignation at the state of affairs in the Crimea, and was its principal organ in the lower house. On the breaking out of the Indian mutiny he proceeded to India, having ceased to be member for Aylesbury, and studied from personal observation the condition-of-India question. Again returned to parliament, after a keen contest, by the electors of Southwark, he was appointed in August, 1861, under-secretary of state for foreign affairs in Lord Palmerston's ministry. Mr. Layard is chairman of the Ottoman bank, established at the close of the Russian war, partly to develope the resources of Turkey. In 1848 the university of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L., and in the February of 1856 he was elected lord rector of the university of Aberdeen.—F. E.  LAYARD,, D.D., son of an eminent physician, Daniel Peter Layard, and descended from a family of French refugees, was born at Greenwich in 1748, and studied at Westminster and Cambridge. He was fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, prebendary of Worcester, dean of Bristol, and chaplain to George III. In 1770 and 1775 he obtained the Seatonian prize for poetry, and published various sermons. He died in 1803.—B. H. C.  LAYNEZ. See.  LAZIUS,, was born at Vienna in 1514, and died in 1565. He was professor of medicine and belles-lettres at Vienna, and historiographer to Ferdinand. He was laborious and learned, but a wretched critic, as is shown by his edition of the imposture ascribed to Abdias Babylonicus, and other fables. The products of his pen are chiefly historical, and contain much curious matter, but must be read with caution.—B. H. C.  LAZZARINI,, an ecclesiastic, distinguished as a painter and writer on art, was born at Pesaro in 1710; learned painting of F. Mancini, and executed numerous frescoes and oil paintings in the cathedrals of Osimo and Foligno, the churches of Pesaro, and elsewhere; and many Madonnas and other religious subjects, and some landscapes, for private persons. He lectured gratuitously on painting in the academy of Pesaro, and published the substance of his discourses in the form of a treatise on painting, which may still be read with profit. He also wrote some descriptions of paintings, and some poems; and withal he is said to have been most attentive to his clerical duties, which were those of a canon. His writings were republished in two vols. 8vo, Pesaro, 1806. Lanzi is lavish of praise both of his paintings and writings. He died in 1801 at the ripe age of ninety-one.—J. T—e. 