Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/49

* LAY. 37 convinced of the i,'reat iniiiuity of slavery. His agitation against the system rendered him so unpopular that he left the island and removed to Philadelphia. Here lie continued to oppose slavery, and lost no opportunity to give e.vpre.s- sion to his abliorrence of it. He wrote a number of tracts against it, one of which. All Slave- Keepers, that Keep the liiiiorent in lioiiditfie, A pout at es, was publislied by Benjamin Franklin. He lived to sec a great change in the attitude of the Friends toward the question of slavery, and it was partly owing to his efl'orts that the society ultimately resolved to disown all members who persisted in holding slaves. Lay was also a reformer along other lines. In 1737 he proposed humane improvements in the cruel criminal code of the time, and he opposed also the use of tobacco, tea, and animal food. His appearance was very extraordinary, for he was, according to Benjamin Rush, not much over four feet in height, was liunchbacked, and W'ore odd clothes. He died at Abington, Pa., and was buried in the Friends' burial-ground. Memoirs of him were published by Vau.x and Francis. LAY, Henry Cii.^mplin ( 1823-85). An Ameri- can Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was born at Richmond. Va., graduated at the Uni- versity of Virginia in 1842, and subsequently at the Theological Seminarj' at Alexandria. Or- dained deacon in 1840, he was minister at the Church of the Nativity, Huntsville, Ala., from 1847 to 18.38: was consecrated Missionary Bishop of the Southwest in 18.59, and was trans- ferred to the Diocese of Easton (Md.) in 1860. He wrote Studies in the Church (1872) and The Church and the Nation (188.5). • LAY, .John Louls (1832-90). An American inventor, born in Buffalo. X. Y. He secured an appointment as second assistant engineer in the navy in .July, 18(i2, and in 1864 invented the torpedo with which Lieutenant Cushing (q.v.) destroyed the Confederate ram Albemnrle. After the evacuation of Richmond by the Confederate forces, he was employed in clearing the .Lames Eiver of obstructions which impeded the ad- vance of Admiral Porter's fleet. On the close of the war he resigned from the service and went to South America, where the Government of Peru engaged him to mine the harbor of Callao as a defense against an expected attack by the Spanish fleet. He returned to the United States in 1867, and soon after perfected the Lay dirigi- ble submarine torpedo, which he sold to the L'nited States Oovermiient. LAYAMON, Ui'ya-mon (c.l200). The author of the Brut, a metrical chronicle of Britain. All that is known of him is told in the o|)Piiing lines of his poem. He was a priest dwelling at Ernley on the Severn (Arley Regis, in North Worcestershire). It came to his mind, he says, to relate the noble deeds of the English : and to this end he traveled about to procure noble books. The book he made most use of was the Ii'omau rle Brut (11.5.5). by an Anglo-Norman poet named Waee. Wace's poem in turn was derived largely from OeofTrey of Jlonmoutb's Bistort/ of the British Kinfis. written in Latin prose (about 1139). But in his wanderings Layamon gathered other traditions which lie turned to good account. His poem derives its name from Brut, or Brutus, a great-grandson of .iEueas. After the fall of Trov manv of the LAYABD. 'I'rojans. it was believed, were taken to Greece, where their descendants were living as slaves. They are freed by Brut and conducted to Albion. From this jioint Layamon relates the history of Britain down to the death of Cadvvalader, who, according to tradition, was the last of the Celtic kings. He mentions Cymbeline, and tells the story of Lear and his unkind daughters, and a large section of his poem is devoted to the deeds of Arthur. The Brut is of great philo- logical interest. It exists in two manuscripts which are assigned respectively to about 1200 and 12.50. The older and better manuscript con- tains 32,243 short lines. The verse is at times alliterative as in Old English or Anglo-Saxon; and again assonance or rhyme is employed in imitation of the French. There occur, however, not more than a hundred words of French origin ; a fact to which attention has often been called to show that in Layamon's time the French and English tongues had hardly begun to intermingle. The two manuscripts were edited with translation by F. JIadden for the Society of Antiquaries (3 vols., London, 1847). Consult also Ten Brink, Early English Literature, vol. i. trans. (New York, 1883). See Geoffbev of Monmouth. LAY'ARD, Sir Au.sTE?f Henry (1817-94). An English traveler, arch.'cologist, and diplo- matist. He was born in Paris of English parents and spent several years of his youth with his father at Florence, in Italy. He l)egan the study of law. but before finishing set out on a course of Eastern travel, visited several districts of Asiatic Turkey, and acquired a love for Oriental studies, which he never lost. In 1842 be paid a second visit to Mosul, where the French Consul, P. Botta (q.v.), was conducting excava- tions on the site of the ancient Nineveh. I>ayard, several years before Botta, had recognized the importance of these ruins, and formed the deter- mination to continue the examination of the site of the ancient city. In 184.5 he was able to begin his excavations, being liberally assisted by Lord Stratford de RedclifTe. then British .■mbassador at Constantinople. In 1848 he received a gen- erous subvention to carry on the work under the auspices of the British Jtuseum. His ex- cavations were successful to a remarkable degree. He sent to the British Museum a mass of sculptures and inscriptions, and discovered among other remains the library of King Asslnir- banipal. (See Assyri.a..) The results of his labors were embodied in his works. Xinereh and Its Itcmains (1848). and Xinereh and Babylon (1853). In 1852 Layard became member of Parliament for Aylesbury, and was for a short time Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Lord John Russell. In 1855-56 he served as lord rector of Aberdeen University. In 1860 he was elected to Parliament from Southwark. From 1801 to 1860 he was again Under-Sec- retary of State for Foreign Affairs. He was" appointed chief commissioner of works and privy councilor in 1868, and in 1869 went as British . ibassador to Spain. In 1877 he was .sent ns .Viiibassador to Constantinople, where he re- mained until 1880. He was honored with the Order of the Bath in 1878. and in 1890 liecame a foreign member of the Institute of France. He died in London. .July 5, 1894. Besides the works mentioned above, Layard published: Monu-