Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/23

* LAUKA. 11 LAUREATE. ,, liAU'KA (Gk. aupa, alley, cloister; possibly connected with Lat. luni, mouth of a bag, or with I.ith. Itricas, narrow stream between high banks). A name given to a collection of cells in a desert, dirtering from a monastery, in which the monks all lived together, ilach monk in the laura had his own cell, and for five days of the week lived alone, his only food being bread and water. On the other two days the monks assembled to re- ceive communion, after which they joined in a light repast. They were subject to severe rules. A meagre diet, silence, and solitude were required. The most celebrated lauras mentioned in ecclesi- astical history were in Palestine, as the Laura of Saint Enthymus, four or five leagues from Jeru- salem ; the Laura of Saint Saba, near the brook Kidron; and the Laura of the Towers, near the Jordan. The first seem to have been founded by Saint Charito, of which the oldest is that after- wards knowTi as the Laura of Pharan by the Dead Sea. LAURA (?-1348). The lady celebrated in Petrarch's poems. She is continually mentioned with such definiteness as to make impossible the suggestion of Boccaccio that she was a mere idealized abstraction. D'Ovidio ("Madonna Laura" in 'yuova Antologia, 3d ser., 16, 1888, pp. 200-33, 377-400) showed further that Laura was no poetic pseudonym to hide some other name, because of Petrarch's frequent play on the word. In his ilcmoires pour la vie de Petrarque (Amsterdam. 1764-67) the Abbe de Sade set forth the claim of his ancestor. Laura de Sade, nee de Xoves. to be identified with her. Like Petrarch's Laura, she died April 0. 1348, and was, it seems, buried on the same day (as she died of the plague), and in the Franciscan Church. Besides, both were married and had many children — Petrarch says eleven. The identification is fairly well established. Much has been written in the attempt to prove it by cipher references to "de Sade,' "di Sado,' or "dp Xoves.' Consult: Cesareo, "Gli Amori di Pe- trarca." Oiornnle Dantesco. 8, 1900, pp. 1-21, and Sicardi. "Attorno al Petrarca e a Laura." Kil-ista d'Halia. 3. pt. 3, 1000. LAURA'CE.ffi ( Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. laurtis, laurel), The Laurel F.mii-Y. A natural order of dicotyledonous plants, consisting of trees or shrubs, many of which are evergreen. The leaves are without stipules; flowers in panicles or umbels ; perianth is 4 to 6 cleft ; stamens twice as many as the perianth segments and opposite them; fruit a one-seeded berry or drupe: fruit- stalk often enlarged and fleshy. This order con- tains about 40 genera and 1000 species, mostly tropical, the greatest number occurring in South- eastern Asia and in Brazil. The laurel (q.v.) is the only European genus. An aromatic and fragrant character pervades the order, which in- cludes cinnamon, ca.ssia. and other aromatic plants. Some species are valuable for their tim- ber, as greenheart : some for their medicinal barks, as greenheart (beheeri) and sassafras; some for their secretions, of which camphor is the most important; some for their fruit, as the avo- cado pear (q.v.). A few very remarkable species, tropical climbing parasites like dodder, forming the genus Cassytha. have been united with this order by many botanists, although others sepa- rate them as a distinct order. The classification and principal genera, according to Pax. is: Persoideae, represented by Cinnamomum, Persea, Vol. XII— 2. Sassafras, and Litsea; and Lauroideie, with Crj'ptocarpa, Lindera, Laurus, and Cassytha as the chief genera. Of these Persea, Sassafras, Litsea, and Lindera are indigenous to the United States. See Colored Plate of C'alifob:«ia Sukubs for illustration of California Laurel (Urabellu- laria Californica). LAURANA, lou-ra'na, Luciano da. An Ital- ian architect of the Early Renaissance. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, but there is record of his activity as a builder be- tween 1468 and 1482. His name is derived from his birthplace in Dalmatia, and he was, perhaps, a pupil of Bruneleschi. His most important works, the ducal palaces at Urbino and (jubbio, were executed for Federigo of Irbino. He ex- celled his immediate contemporaries in the sim- plicity and nobility of his proportions, his work being hard to distinguish from that of his pupil Bramante (q.v.). LAUREATE (Lat. laureatus, from laurea, laurel-tree, from laurus, laurel), Poet. A title received from the English Crown by letters pat- ent. There is no installation ceremony, but the newly appointed laureate is expected to attend a levee in Court dress. It was formerly bis duty to compose an ode on the sovereign's birthday, on the birth of a royal infant, on a national victory, and by request on many other occasions. The origin of the title has given rise to much specu- lation. It was customary among the Greeks to crown with the laurel a popular poet, and the practice was revived in the iliddle Ages. Pe- trarch, for example, was crowned with great solemnity at Rome (1341). At Paris. Oxford, and Cambridge, the laurel wreath was some- times placed on the heads of scholars distin- guished for learning or poetry. -John Skelton (died 1529) received the honor from both the English universities, and accordingly styled himself Poeta Laureatus. Attached to the house- holds of the mediaeval English kings were min- strels and poets. They were not, however, crowned ; instead of this honor, they received jiensions. Chaucer received from Edward III. a pension of twenty marks (1360). and after- wards (1374) a pitcher of wine daily — one of the subsequent perquisites of the laurcateship. But Chaucer never received an official appointment to the post, and his pensions were for di])lomatic and other services. There was no English poet laureate till the accession of the House of Stuart. By virtue of his pensions in 1610 and 1630. Ben Jonson came to be regarded as laureate: but the title, so far as is known, was never officially con- ferred on him. On December 11. 1038. William D'Avenant received from Charles I. a pension of £100 a year, but no title accompanied the grant. He was. however, assumed to be laureate, espe- cially after the Restoration. So far as is known, the first English poet to receive the title of poet laureate by. royal letters patent was John Dry- den. The honor was conferred on him August 18, 1670. Drvden's successors, with their terms of office, are:" Thomas Shadwell (1089-92), Na- hum Tate (1002171.5), Nicholas Rowe (1715- 18). Laurence Eusden (1718.30), CoUey Cibber (1730.57), William Whitehe.id (1758-85). Thomas Warton (1785-00). Henry .lames Pre (17001S13), Robert Southey (1813-43). William Wordsworth (1843.50). Alfred Tennyson (1850- 92), Alfred Austin ( 1806— ). Con-ult : Malone's essay prefixed to Works of Drydcn (London,