Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0025.jpg



LATIMER

1035

LAUREL

Newport; A Masque of Poets; Dreams and Days. His wife was Rose Hawthorne, a daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He died at New York city. April 19. 1898.

Lat'imer, Hugh, Protestant martyr, was born near Leicester, England, in 1490 or 1491, and was sent to Cambridge to school. In 1510 he was elected a fellow of Clare College, and in 1523 was appointed a university preacher. Soon after, he became a Protestant and was brought into prominent notice by being one of the committee to examine into the validity of Henry VIIPs marriage, reporting in favor of the king. Thereupon he became chaplain to Anne Boleyn and rector of West Kingston. In 1535 he was created bishop of Worcester. In 1536 he began the work of advocating the Reformation, but the tide of opinion turned, and during Henry's reign he was imprisoned in the Tower in 1539 and 1546. During the reign of Edward VI he devoted himself to preaching and to works of benevolence; but in 1554 he was tried at Oxford, lay in a common jail for a year, and in 1555 was taken before a commission and found guilty of heresy, for which he was burned at the stake on Oct. 16. See Tulloch's Leaders of the Reformation.

Lat'in Empire. See ROMAN EMPIRE.

Latin Literature. See LITERATURE.

Latitude in geography and astronomy may be defined in several different ways, each of which for practical purposes is equivalent to the other. Astronomical or ordinary latitude is simply the altitude of the celestial pole. Hence the German name for latitude, polhohe. To say that the latitude of a place is the declination of the zenith of that place is strictly equivalent to the foregoing; or, again, latitude is the angle between the plane of the earth's equator and the plumb-line at the point under consideration. Geocentric latitude, as the name indicates, is the angle between a line drawn from the observer to the center of the earth and the plane of the equator. Geodetic latitude is denned in terms of the figure of the earth as computed by the geodesist. This figure is called the standard spheroid. The geodetic latitude of any place is the angle made by a line drawn normal to the standard spheroid at that place and the plane of the equator. For the various methods of determining ordinary or astronomical latitude see any good treatise on astronomy. At sea a sextant is used to measure the angular distance of the sun from the horizon at noon. Then, knowing the declination of the sun, from tables, the navigatorjeasily computes the declination of his zenith, which is his latitude.

Lat'ter Day Saints. See MORMONS.

Laud, William, archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Reading, England, Oct. 7, 1573. Prom the free school of Reading he went at 16 to Oxford, was ordained in 1601, and immediately became obnoxious on ac-

count of his enmity toward Puritanism, but earned friends by his learning, industry and churchmanship. Two of these friends were the Earls of Devonshire and Buckingham. Laud rose steadily from the holder of a simple living to become president of his college (1611), chancellor 01 Oxford (1630) and archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. After the assassination of Buckingham he became one of the first ministers of state, and sought the abolition of Calvinism and Protestantism. In Scotland his efforts to uproot Presbyterianism gave rise to the riot in St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, that led to the covenant and to the Bishops' War. This was followed by the session of the Long Parliament, which impeached Laud for treason on Dec. 18, 1640, and ten weeks later sent him to the Tower. He would not escape; and, after a long trial before a few peers, he was found guilty of an attempt to overthrow the Protestant religion and of acting as an enemy of Parliament. He was beheaded on Jan. 10, 1645.

Launfal (lan'fdl), Sir, was the steward of King Arthur in the legends of the Round Table. To American readers the name is best known through The Vision of Sir Launfal of James Russell Lowell. This poem is remarkable for its noble praise of the month of June and for a lofty conception of democracy as founded on the common divine element in humanity. The fable suggests Tennyson's Sir Galahad. It appeared on Dec. 17, 1848.

Lau'reate, a poet attached to the household of English rulers. The early history is unknown, but Roger, king's minstrel, is said to have founded the monastery of St. Bartholomew during the reign of Henry I. Richard I carried William the Foreigner to Palestine to sing his songs, and Edward I and Edward II carried Robert Baston into Scotland, where he was captured and made to sing the praises of Scotch soldiers. The term was first applied to one who had carried off the laurel wreath at the university for studies or to any poet of great merit. The first laureate, as now understood, was Spenser, in the time of Elizabeth, but the first to receive official appointment by letters patent was Ben Jonson. The poets laureate and their eras are Edmund Spenser (1591— 99); Samuel Daniel (1599-1619); Ben Jon* son (1619-37); William Davenant (1638-68); John Dryden (1670-89); Thomas Shad-well (1689-92); Nahum Tate (1692-1715); Nicholas Rowe (1715-18); Laurence Eusden (1718-30); Colley Cibber (1730-57); William Whitehead (1757-85); Thomas Warton (1785-90); Henry James Pye (1790-1813); Robert Southey (1813-43); William Wordsworth (1843-50); Alfred Tennyson (1850-92); and Alfred Austin (1896-). See W. Hamilton's Poets Laureate of England.

Lau'rel, a class of hardy trees containing several species, growing from a shrub of