LADY OF THE LAKE, the name given to Vivien, the mistress of Merlin, who dwelt in an imaginary lake, surrounded by a court of knights and damsels; also to Helen Douglas, a heroine of Scott’s, who lived with her father near Loch Katrine.

LA FAYETTE, MADAME DE, novelist, born in Paris; is credited with being the originator of the class of fiction in which character and its analysis are held of chief account; she was the daughter of the governor of Havre, and contracted a Platonic affection for La Rochefoucauld in his old age, and was besides on intimate terms with Madame Sevigne and the most eminent literary men of the time; her “Princess de Cleves” is a classic work, and the merit of it is enhanced by the reflection that it preceded by nearly half a century the works both of Le Sage and Defoe (1634-1693).

LA FAYETTE, MARQUIS DE, born in the castle of Chavagnac; went to America in 1777, took an active and self-sacrificing part in the War of Independence; was honourably distinguished at the battle of Brandywine; sailed for France, brought over auxiliaries; he commanded Washington’s vanguard in 1782; returned to Paris, and was made commander-in-chief of the National Guard in 1789; would have achieved the Revolution with the minimum of violence and set up a republic on the model of the Washington one; was obliged to escape from France during the Reign of Terror; was imprisoned five years at Olmuetz, but was liberated when Napoleon appeared on the scene; as a consistent republican showed no favour to Napoleon; took part in the Revolution of 1830, became again commander-in-chief of the National Guard and a supporter of Louis Philippe, the citizen king; characterised by Carlyle as “a constitutional pedant; clear, thin, inflexible, as water turned to thin ice” (1757-1834).

LAFITTE, JACQUES, French banker and financier; played a conspicuous part in the Revolution of 1830, and by his influence as a liberal politician with the French people secured the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne; in the calamities attendant on this Revolution his house became insolvent, but he was found, after paying all demands, to be worth in francs nearly seven millions (1767-1844).

LAFONTAINE, JEAN DE, celebrated French author, born at Chateau-Thierry, in Champagne; a man of indolent, gay, and dissipated habits, but of resplendent genius, known to all the world for his inimitable “Tales” and “Fables,” and who was the peer of all the distinguished literary notabilities of his time; the former, published in 1665, too often transgress the bounds of morality, but are distinguished by exquisite grace of expression and sparkling wit; the latter, published in 1668, have an irresistible charm which no reader can withstand; he was the author also of the “Amours of Cupid and Psyche”; he was the friend of Boileau, Moliere, and Racine, and in his later years a confirmed Parisian (1621-1695).

LA FORCE, DUC DE, marechal of France under Henry IV., and one of the most distinguished; escaped when an infant the massacre of St. Bartholomew (1558-1652).