Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/189

LEVESON-GOWER. LEVESON-GOWER, liJo'son-gor', Granville Oeorge. See Gbanvt;lle, Second Eabl.

LEVETZOW, lev'et-so, Ulrike, Baroness von (1804-99). A friend of Goethe. She met him at Marienbad and Karlsbad in 1822 and 1823, when she was eighteen and he was seventj-three. The poet was niucli struck with her wit and beauty and addressed to her a Trilogie der Leidenschaft.

LE'VI (Heb. Lewi, probably a Gentilic form for Leah; possibly connected with Idwah, to join ). According to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. xxix. 34), eponymous ancestor of the Levites (q.v.). With his brother Simeon lie is reported to have treach- erously slaughtered the Shechemites for tlieir outrage on his sister Dinah, an act for which Jacob administered a reproof (Gen. x.x.xiv. ), and even on liis death-bed cursed Simeon and Levi, saying they should be scattered in Israel ( Gen. xlix, 5-7 ). This curse is probably a reminiscence of tribal quarrels and refers to events which oc- curred after the entry of the Hebrews into Canaan. That both these tribes were practically wiped out appears to follow from the circum- stance that Simeon occupies territory in Judah (Joshua xix, 1-9), while Levi has no territory at all. Neither of these tribes plays any part in the political history of the northern or southern kingdom. In view of the fact that Levites be- came guardians of sanctuaries (cf. Judges xvii.), the term Levite acquired the sense of a priest — a development assisted by the popular etymology of Levi (cf. xxix. 34), which implied that a Levite was, one who was 'attached' (i.e. to a sanctuary).

LEVI, Leone (1821-88). An English econo- mist, born in Ancona, Italy, of Jewish parentage. In 1844 he removed to Liverpool, where he was naturalized as a British citizen. A few notes to one of the Liverpool papers upon chambers of commerce and commercial tribunals led to the founding of such organizations in several of the leading cities. Levi became honoran' secretary of the Liverpool Chamber of Conmierce and was active in efforts for the improvement of the com- mercial law. His work on Commercial Law (1850-52) led to the creation of a royal com- mission and many important amendments. In 18.52 Levi was appointed professor of commerce at King's College. London. He was an active participant in the work of the Statistical Society, the Law Amendment Society, and kindred organi- zations. His principal work was his Historif of British Commerce and of the Eeonomic Proqrexs of the British yation 1763-1S70 (London, 1872). He died May 7, 1888.

LEVI, la'v.*', Sylvain (1863—). A distin- guished French Orientalist of Jewish descent. His interest in India was developed at an early age. and in 1886 he was appointed instructor in Sanskrit at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. In 1890 Levi received the degree of docteur &s lettres, for which he presented his thesis Q(id de Grwcis Vetenim Jndorum Mouiimentii Tradide- rint. The same year saw the publication of his study on the Sanskrit drama {Le theatre iiidieii) , which still remains the standard work nn this subject. In 1894 he was appointed full professor in Sanskrit at the Coll&ge de France. In 1S98 the second important work of Levi appeared, entitled La doctrine du sacrifice dans les Brahmanas. Vol. I.— 13. LE'VI, SO.V OF ALP1I.EU.S. Sec ilATTIIEW.

LEVI'ATHAN (Heb. Uwyathan). A mon- ster mentioned several times in tlie Old Testa- ment. The word is used both in a specific and a general sense. As a specific term (Ps. Ixxiv. 14; Job xli. 1) it signifies the croc- odile; but it is also used in a wider sense, as a kind of cloud-snake which darkens the heavens ( Is. xxvii. 1 ), a large sea-monster of uncertain kind (Ps. eiv. 26), and a,s 'monster,' or dragon, in an entirely general sense (Job iii. 8, Hebrew text; cf. Revised Version and Author- ized Version, marginal reading). As a mythical monster, tlie leviathan appears also under vari- ous names such as Rahah and Behemoth, and it has been plausibly demonstrated by Gunkel (Hchopfung tind Chaos, Gottingen, 1895) that the conception is allied to that of Tiamat, the drag- on wlio in the Babylonian creation story is over- come by the god Marduk, Gunkel has proposed the theory that the leviathan represented origi- nally a mythological monster, fought with and overcome by Yahweh. The dragon which plays so prominent a part in the Apocalyptic literature of the New Testament and also appears in the Old Testament Apocrypha (e.g. Bel and the Dragon) reverts to the conceptions connected with Leviathan and Tiamat.

LEVIATHAN, The, or The Matter, Form, AND Power of a Com jion wealth, Ecclesias- tical AND Civil. A philosophical treatise by Thomas Hobbes (1651). It embodies Hobbes's views of politics, which he claimed emerged from primitive anarchy to their complete form in monarchy. The idea of absolutism here advo- cated is Hobbes's most celebrated speculation. LEVIATHAN OF LITERATURE, The. A title given to Dr. Samuel .Johnson.

LEVIEN, la'ven', Ilpe (1852—). A German noelist and lyric poet, whose pseudonym is Use Frapan. She was born at Hamburg, and was for many years a teacher. In 1884 she went to Stuttgart to study festhetics, and was an in- timate friend of Vischer for the last four years of his life. She wrote Vischer-Erinnerunqen in 1889. Then she spent two years (1889-90) at JIunich and was a member of Paul Heyse's lite- rary circle. Her other publications include: Hamhurqer XoveUen (1886): Zuischen Elbe und Alster (1890); Bittersiiss (1891); Quer- kopfe (1895); T'om etiip Xeuen (1896): In der Stillc (1897) ; and the volume of poems, Gedichte (1891).

LEVIN, la-ven'. Rahel. See Varnhagen von Exse.

LEVIRATE MARRIAGE (from Laf. lerir. Gk. dai/ij, dacr, Skt. dCiara. AS. taeor. OHG. ;:eih hur, husband's brother). The marriage of a man to the widow of his deceased brother. This was an ancient usage widely prevalent at certain stages of civilization, and rests ultimately upon the circumstance that the wife as the property of a man passed at his death with his estate to his heir, upon whom the obligation rested to provide for the widow and her children, or if there were no children, to secure issue. Gen. xxxviii. is an example of this usage. The ancient custom is carried over into the Deuferonomic Code (Deut. x.xv. 5-10), where provision is made that a man must marry his deceased brother's widow in case no son is born of the first marriasre. However, certain modifications are introduced which indi-