Chapter Lars to Launce of L by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Lars to Launce

Lars, the emperor or over-king of the ancient Etruscans. A khedive, satrap, or under-king, was called lucumo. Thus the king of Prussia, as emperor of Germany, is lars, but the king of Bavaria is a lucumo.

There be thirty chosen prophets,
The wisest of the land,
Who alway by lars Porsena,
Both morn and evening stand.
   —Macaulay: Lays of Ancient Rome (“Horatius, ix.”, 1842).

Larthmor, petty king of Berrathon, one of the Scandinavian islands. He was dethroned by his son Uthal, but Fingal sent Ossian and Toscar to his aid. Uthal was slain in single combat, and Larthmor restored to his throne.—Ossian: Berrathon.

Larthon, the leader of the Fir-bolg or Belgæ of Britain who settled in the southern parts of Ireland.

Larthon, the first of Bolga’s race who travelled in the winds. White-bosomed spread the sails of the king towards streamy Inisfail [Ireland]. Dun night was rolled before him, with its skirts of mist. Unconstant blew the winds and rolled him from wave to wave.—Ossian: Temora, vii.

La Saisiaz (Savoyard for “The Sun”), a poem by R. Browning (1878). The name of a villa in the mountains near Geneva, where Mr. and Mrs. Browning and a friend spent part of the summer of 1877. The friend died very suddenly, and the poem is Browning’s “In Memoriam.” Compare La Saisiaz with Tennyson’s In Memoriam.

Lascaris, a citizen.—Sir W. Scott: Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Las-Casas, a noble old Spaniard, who vainly attempted to put a stop to the barbarities of his countrymen, and even denounced them (act i. 1).—Sheridan: Pizarro (1799, altered from Kotzebue).

Lascelles (Lady Caroline), supposed to be Miss M. E. Braddon.—Athenæum, 2073, p. 82 (C. R. Jackson).

Last Days of Pompeii, an historical novel by lord Lytton (1834).

Last Man (The), Charles I.; so called by the parliamentarians, meaning the last man who would wear a crown in Great Britain. Charles II. was called “The Son of the Last Man.”

Last of the Barons (The). (See Barons, p. 91.)

Last of the Fathers, St. Bernard abbot of Clairvaux (1091–1153).

Last of the Goths, Roderick, the thirty-fourth and last of the Visigothic line of kings in Spain (414-711). He was dethroned by the African Moors.

(Southey has an historical tale in blank verse entitled Roderick, the Last of the Goths.)

Last of the Greeks (The), Philopœmen of Arcadia (B.C. 253-183).

Last of the Knights, Maximilian I. the Penniless, emperor of Germany (1459, 1493–1519).

Last of the Mohicans. Uncas the Indian chief is so called by F. Cooper in his novel of that title.

(The word ought to be pronounced Mohec-kanz, but custom rules it otherwise.)

Last of the Romans, Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of Cæsar (B.C. 85–42).

Caius Cassius Longinus is so called by Brutus (B. C. *-42).

Aëtius, a general who defended the Gauls against the Franks, and defeated Attila in 451, is so called by Procopius.