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LARKSPUR

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 222 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LARKSPUR , in See also:

botany, the popular name for See also:species of Delphinium, a genus of See also:hardy herbaceous See also:plants belonging to the natural See also:order See also:Ranunculaceae (q.v.). They are of erect branching See also:habit, with the See also:flowers in terminal racemes, often of considerable length. See also:Blue is the predominating See also:colour, but See also:purple, See also:pink, yellow (D. Zalil or sulphureum), See also:scarlet (D. cardinale) and See also:white also occur; the " See also:spur " is produced by the See also:elongation of the upper sepal. The See also:field or See also:rocket larkspur (D. Ajacis), the branching larkspur (D. consolida), D. cardiopetalum and their varieties, are charming annuals; height about 18 in. The spotted larkspur (D. requienii) and a few others are biennials. The perennial larkspurs, however, are the most gorgeous of the See also:family. There are numerous species of this See also:group, natives of the old and new worlds, and a See also:great number of varieties, raised chiefly from D. exaltatum, D. formosum and D. grandiflorum. Members of this group vary from 2 ft. to 6 ft. in height. The larkspurs are of easy cultivation, either in beds or herbaceous See also:borders; the See also:soil should be deeply dug and manured. The See also:annual varieties are best sown See also:early in See also:April, where they are intended to See also:flower, and suitably thinned out as growth is made.

The perennial kinds are increased by the See also:

division of existing plants in See also:spring, or by cuttings taken in spring or autumn and rooted in pots in See also:cold frames. The varieties cannot be perpetuated with certainty by See also:seed. Seed is the most popular means, however, of raising larkspurs in the See also:majority of gardens, and is suitable for all See also:ordinary purposes; it should be sown as soon as gathered, preferably in rows in nursery beds, and the See also:young plants transplanted when ready. They should be See also:fit for the borders in the spring of the following See also:year, and if strong, should be planted in See also:groups about 3 ft. apart. Delphiniums require exposure to See also:light and See also:air. Given plenty of space in a See also:rich soil, the plants rarely require to be staked Tuzla), a See also:town of the See also:island of See also:Cyprus, at the See also:head of a See also:bay on the See also:south See also:coast, 23 M. S.S.E. from See also:Nicosia. Pop. (1901) 7964. It is the See also:principal See also:port of the island, exporting See also:barley, See also:wheat, See also:cotton, raisins, oranges, lemons and See also:gypsum. There is an See also:iron See also:pier 450 ft. See also:long, but vessels See also:anchor in the bay in from 16 to 70 ft. of See also:water. Larnaca occupies the site of the See also:ancient Cilium, but the citadel of the ancient See also:city was used to fill up the ancient See also:harbour in 1879.

The See also:

modern and principal residential See also:part of the town is called Scala. Mycenaean tombs and other antiquities have been found (see CYPRUS). LA See also:ROCHE, a small town in the Belgian See also:Ardennes, See also:notice-able for its antiquity and its picturesque situation. Pop. (1904) 2065. Its name is derived from its position on a See also:rock commanding the See also:river Ourthe, which meanders See also:round the little See also:place, and skirts the rock on which are the interesting ruins of the old See also:castle of the nth See also:century. This is supposed to have been the site of a See also:hunting See also:box of See also:Pippin, and certainly the See also:counts of La Roche held it in See also:fief from his descendants, the Carolingian rulers. In the 12th century they sold it to the counts of See also:Luxemburg. In the 16th and 17th centuries the See also:French and Imperialists frequently fought in its neighbourhood, and at Tenneville, not far distant, is shown the See also:tomb of an See also:English officer named Barnewall killed in one of these encounters in 1692. La Roche is famous as a tourist centre on See also:account of its See also:fine sylvan scenery. Among the See also:local curiosities is the Diable-See also:Chateau, a freak of nature, being the apparent replica of a See also:medieval castle. La Roche is connected by See also:steam See also:tramway with Melreux, a station on the See also:main See also:line from Marloie to See also:Liege.

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, the name of an old French family which is derived from a castle' in the See also:

province of See also:Angoumois (See also:department of See also:Charente), which was in its See also:possession in the rrth century. See also:Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1494–1517), godson of See also:King See also:Francis I., was made See also:count in 1515. At the See also:time of the See also:wars of See also:religion the family fought for the See also:Protestant cause. Francois (1588–165o) was created See also:duke and peer of See also:France by See also:Louis XIII. in 1622. His son Francois was the author of the See also:Maxims, and the son of the latter acquired for his See also:house the estates of La Roche-See also:Guyon and Liancourt by his See also:marriage with Jeanne See also:Charlotte du Plessis-Liancourt. See also:Alexandre, duc de La Rochefoucauld (d. 1762), See also:left two daughters, who married into the Roye See also:branch of the family. Of the numerous branches of the family the most famous are those of Roucy, Roye, Bayers, Doudeauville, See also:Randan and Estissac, which all furnished distinguished statesmen and soldiers. LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, FRANCOIS DE (1613-1680), the greatest See also:maxim writer of France, one of her best memoir writers, and perhaps the most See also:complete and accomplished representative of her ancient See also:nobility, was See also:born at See also:Paris in the See also:Rue See also:des Petits Champs on the 15th of See also:September 1613. The author of the Maxims, who during the lifetime of his See also:father (see above) and part of his own most stirring years See also:bore the See also:title of See also:prince de Marcillac, was somewhat neglected in the See also:matter of See also:education, at least of the scholastic See also:kind; but he joined the See also:army before he was sixteen, and almost immediately began to make a figure in public See also:life. He had been nominally married a year before to See also:Andree de Vivonne, who seems to have been an affectionate wife, while not a breath of See also:scandal touches her—two points in which La Rochefoucauld was perhaps more fortunate than he deserved. For some years Marcillac continued to take part in the annual See also:campaigns, where he displayed the utmost bravery, though he never obtained See also:credit for much military skill.

Then he passed under the spell of Madame de Chevreuse, the first of three celebrated See also:

women who successively influenced his life. Through Madame de Chevreuse he became attached to the See also:queen, See also:Anne of See also:Austria, and in one of her quarrels with See also:Richelieu and her See also:husband a See also:wild See also:scheme seems to have been formed, according to which Marcillac was to carry her off to See also:Brussels on a See also:pillion. These caballings against Richelieu, however, had no more serious results (an eight days' experience of the See also:Bastille excepted) than occasional exiles, that is to say, orders to retire to his father's estates. After the See also:death of the great See also:minister (1642), opportunity seemed to be favourable to the vague ambition which then animated See also:half the nobility of France. Marcillac became one of the so-called importancs, and took an active part in reconciling the queen and See also:Conde in a See also:league against Gaston of See also:Orleans. But the growing credit of See also:Mazarin came in his way, and the liaison in which about this time (1645) he became entangled with the beautiful duchess of See also:Longueville made him irrevocably a Frondeur. He was a conspicuous figure in the See also:siege of Paris, fought desperately in the desultory engagements which were constantly taking place, and was severely wounded at the siege of Mardyke. In the second See also:Fronde Marcillac followed the fortunes of Conde, and the death of his father, which happened at the time (165o), gave rise to a characteristic incident. The nobility of the province gathered to the funeral, and the new duke de La Rochefoucauld took the opportunity of persuading them to follow him in an See also:attempt on the royalist See also:garrison of See also:Saumur, which, however, was not successful. We have no space to follow La Rochefoucauld through the tortuous cabals and negotiations of the later Fronde; it is sufficient to say that he was always brave and generally unlucky. His run of See also:bad See also:fortune reached its See also:climax in the See also:battle of the See also:Faubourg See also:Saint See also:Antoine (1652), where he was shot through the head, and it was thought that he would lose the sight of both eyes. It was nearly a year before he recovered, and then he found himself at his See also:country seat of Verteuil, with no result of twenty years' ' The castle was largely rebuilt in the reign of Francis I., and is one of the finest specimens of the See also:Renaissance See also:architecture in France.fighting and intriguing except impaired See also:health, a seriously embarrassed fortune, and some cause for bearing a grudge against almost every party and See also:man of importance in the See also:state.

He spent some years in this retirement, and he was fortunate enough (thanks chiefly to the fidelity of See also:

Gourville, who had been in his service, and who, passing into the service of Mazarin and of Conde, had acquired both See also:wealth and See also:influence) to be able to repair in some measure the breaches in his fortune. He did not, however, return to See also:court life much before Mazarin's death, when Louis XIV. was on the See also:eve of assuming See also:absolute See also:power, and the turbulent aristocratic anarchy of the Fronde was a thing utterly of the past. Somewhat earlier, La Rochefoucauld had taken his place in the See also:salon of Madame de See also:Sable, a member of the old See also:Rambouillet coterie, and the founder of a kind of successor to it. It was known that he, like almost all his more prominent contemporaries, had spent his solitude in See also:writing See also:memoirs, while the See also:special See also:literary employment of the Sable salon was the fabrication of Sentences and Maxims. In 1662, however, more trouble than reputation, and not a little of both, was given to him by a surreptitious publication of his memoirs, or what purported to be his memoirs, by the Elzevirs. Many of his old See also:friends were deeply wounded, and he hastened to deny flatly the authenticity of the publication, a denial which (as it seems, without any See also:reason) was not very generally accepted. Three years later (1665) he published, though without his name, the still more famous Maxims, which at once established him high among the men of letters of the time. - About the same date began the friendship with Madame de la Fayette, which lasted till the end of his life. The glimpses which we have of him henceforward are chiefly derived from the letters of Madame de See also:Sevigne, and, though they show him suffering agonies from See also:gout, are on the whole pleasant. He had a circle of devoted friends; he was recognized as a moralist and man of letters of the first See also:rank; he might have entered the See also:Academy for the asking; and in the altered measure of the times his son, the prince de Marcillac, to whom some time before his death he resigned his titles and honours, enjoyed a considerable position at court. Above all, La Rochefoucauld was generally recognized by his contemporaries from the king downward as a type of the older noblesse as it was before the See also:sun of the great monarch dimmed its brilliant qualities. This position he has retained until the See also:present See also:day.

He died at Paris on the 17th of See also:

March r68o, of the disease which had so long tormented him. La Rochefoucauld's See also:character, if considered without the See also:prejudice which a dislike to his ethical views has sometimes occasioned, is thoroughly respectable and even amiable. Like almost all his contemporaries, he saw in politics little more than a chessboard where the See also:people at large were but pawns. The See also:weight of testimony, however, inclines to the conclusion that he was unusually scrupulous in his conduct, and that his See also:comparative See also:ill-success in the struggle arose more from this scrupulousness than from anything else. He has been charged with irresolution, and there is some ground for admitting the See also:charge so far as to pronounce him one of those the keenness of whose See also:intellect, together with their See also:apprehension of both sides of a question, interferes with their capacity as men of See also:action. But there is no ground whatever for the view which represents the Maxims as the See also:mere outcome of the spite of a disappointed intriguer, disappointed through his own want of skill rather than of fortune. His importance as a social and See also:historical figure is, however, far inferior to his importance in literature. His See also:work in this respect consists of three parts—letters, Memoirs and the Maxims. His letters exceed one See also:hundred in number, and are biographically valuable, besides displaying not a few of his literary characteristics; but they need not further detain us. The Memoirs, when they are read in their proper See also:form, yield in literary merit, in See also:interest, and in value to no memoirs of the time, not even to those of See also:Retz, between whom and La Rochefoucauld there was a See also:strange mixture of enmity and esteem which resulted in a couple of most characteristic " portraits." But their See also:history is unique in its strangeness. It has been said that a pirated edition appeared in See also:Holland, and this, despite the author's protest, continued to be reprinted for some See also:thirty years. It has been now proved to be a mere See also:cento of the work of half a dozen different men, scarcely a third of which is La Rochefoucauld's, and which could only have been possible at a time when it was the habit of persons who frequented literary society to copy See also:pell-mell in See also:commonplace books the MS. compositions of their friends and others.

Some years after La Rochefoucauld's death a new recension appeared, somewhat less incorrect than the former, but still largely adulterated, and this held its ground for more than a century. Only in 1817 did anything like a genuine edition (even then by no means perfect) appear. The Maxims, however, had no such See also:

fate. The author re-edited them frequently during his life, with alterations and additions; a few were added after his death, and it is usual now to See also:print the whole of them, at what-ever time they appeared, together. Thus taken, they amount to about seven hundred in number, in hardly any See also:case exceeding half a See also:page in length, and more frequently confined to two or three lines. The view of conduct which they illustrate is usually and not quite incorrectly summed up in the words " everything is reducible to the See also:motive of self-interest." But though not absolutely incorrect, the phrase is misleading. The Maxims are in no respect mere deductions from or applications of any such See also:general theory. They are on the contrary See also:independent judgments on different relations of life, different affections of the human mind, and so forth, from which, taken together, the general view may be deduced or rather composed. Sentimental moralists have protested loudly against this view, yet it is easier to declaim against it in general than to find a flaw in the several parts of which it is made up. With a few exceptions La Rochefoucauld's maxims represent the matured result of the reflection of a man deeply versed in the business and pleasures of the See also:world, and possessed of an extraordinarily fine and acute intellect, on the conduct and motives which have guided himself and his See also:fellows. There is as little trace in them of See also:personal spite as of forfanterie de See also:vice. But the astonishing excellence of the literary See also:medium in which they are conveyed is even more remarkable than the general soundness of their ethical import.

In uniting the four qualities of brevity, clearness, fulness of meaning and point, La Rochefoucauld has no See also:

rival. His Maxims are never mere epigrams; they are never platitudes; they are never dark sayings. He has packed them so full of meaning that it would be impossible to See also:pack them closer, yet there is no undue See also:compression; he has sharpened their point to the utmost, yet there is no loss of substance. The comparison which occurs most frequently, and which is perhaps on the whole the justest, is that of a See also:bronze medallion, and it applies to the matter no less than to the form. Nothing is left unfnished, yet none of the workmanship is finical. The sentiment, far from being merely hard, as the sentimentalists pretend, has a vein of See also:melancholy See also:poetry See also:running through it which calls to mind the traditions of La Rochefoucauld's devotion to the romances of See also:chivalry. The maxims are never shallow; each is the See also:text for a whole See also:sermon of application and corollary which any one of thought and experience can write. Add to all this that the See also:language in which they are written is French, still at almost its greatest strength, and chastened but as yet not emasculated by the reforming influence of the 17th century, and it is not necessary to say more. To the literary critic no less than to the man of the world La Rochefoucauld ranks among the scanty number of See also:pocket-books to be read and re-read with ever new admiration, instruction and delight. The See also:editions of La Rochefoucauld's Maxims (as the full title runs, Refiexions oa sentences et maximes morales) published in his lifetime See also:bear the See also:dates 1665 (editio princeps), 1666, 1671, 1675, 1678. An important edition which appeared after his death in 1693 may rank almost with these. As long as the Memoirs remained in the state above described, no edition of them need be mentioned, and none of the complete See also:works was possible.

The previous more or less complete editions are all superseded by that of MM See also:

Gilbert and Gourdault (1865-1883), in the See also:series of " Grands Ecrivains de la France," 3 vols. There are still some puzzles as to the text; but this edition supplies all available material in regard to them. The handsomest separateedition of the Maxims is the so-called Edition des bibliophiles (1870); but cheap and handy issues are plentiful. See the English version by G. H. See also:Powell (1903). Nearly all the great French critics of the 19th century have dealt more or less with La Rochefoucauld: the See also:chief See also:recent monograph on him is that of J. Bourdeau in the Grands ecrivains See also:francais (1893). (G. SA.) LA ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT, FRANCOIS ALEXANDRE See also:FREDERIC, Due DE (1747-1827), French social re-former, was born at La Roche Guyon on the 11th of See also:January 1747, the son of Francois Armand de La Rochefoucauld, due d'Estissac, See also:grand See also:master of the royal See also:wardrobe. The duc de Liancourt became an officer of carbineers, and married at seventeen. A visit to See also:England seems to have suggested the See also:establishment of a See also:model See also:farm at Liancourt, where he reared See also:cattle imported from England and See also:Switzerland.

He also set up See also:

spinning See also:machines on his See also:estate, and founded a school of arts and crafts for the sons of soldiers, which became in 1788 the Ecole des Enfants de la Patrie under royal See also:protection. Elected to the states-general of 1789 he sought in vain to support the cause of See also:royalty while furthering the social reforms he had at See also:heart. On the 12th of See also:July, two days before the fall of the Bastille, he warned Louis XVI. of the state of affairs in Paris, and met his exclamation that there was a revolt with the See also:answer, "Non, sire, c'est une revolution." On the 18th of July he became See also:president of the See also:Assembly. Established in command of a military division in See also:Normandy, he offered Louis a See also:refuge in See also:Rouen, and, failing in this effort, assisted him with a large sum of See also:money. After the events of the loth of See also:August 1792 he fled to England, where he was the See also:guest of See also:Arthur Young, and thence passed to See also:America. After the assassination of his See also:cousin, Louis-Alexandre, duc de La Rochefoucauld d'Enville, at See also:Gisors on the 14th of September 1792 he assumed the title of duc de La Rochefoucauld. He returned to Paris in 1799, but received small favour from See also:Napoleon. At the Restoration he entered the House of Peers, but Louis XVIII. refused to reinstate him as master of the wardrobe, although his father had paid 400,000 francs for the See also:honour. Successive governments, revolutionary and other-See also:wise, recognized the value of his institutions at Liancourt, and he was for twenty-three years See also:government inspector of his school of arts and crafts, which had been removed to Chalons. He was one of the first promoters of See also:vaccination in France; he established a dispensary in Paris, and he was an active member of the central boards of See also:administration for hospitals, prisons and See also:agriculture. His opposition to the government in the House of Peers led to his removal in 1823 from the honorary positions he held, while the vaccination See also:committee, of which he was president, was suppressed. The See also:academies of See also:science and of See also:medicine admitted him to their membership by way of protest.

See also:

Official hostility pursued him even after his death (27th of March 1827), for the old pupils of his school were charged by the military at his funeral. His works, chiefly on economic. questions, include books on the English See also:system of See also:taxation, poor-See also:relief and education. His eldest son, Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1765-1848), succeeded his father in the House of Peers. The second, Alexandre, See also:comte de La Rochefoucauld (1767-1841), married a See also:San Domingo heiress allied to the See also:Beauharnais family. Mme de La Rochefoucauld became See also:dame d'honneur to the empress See also:Josephine, and their eldest daughter married a See also:brother-in-See also:law of Pauline See also:Bonaparte, Princess See also:Borghese. La Rochefoucauld became See also:ambassador successively to See also:Vienna (1805) and to the See also:Hague (18o8-181o), where he negotiated the See also:union of Holland with France. During the " Hundred Days " he was made a peer of France. He subsequently devoted himself to philanthropic work, and in 1822 became See also:deputy to the Chamber and sat with the constitutional royalists. He was again raised to the See also:peerage in 1831. The third son, Frederic Gaetan, See also:marquis de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1779-1863), was a zealous philanthropist and a See also:partisan of constitutional See also:monarchy. He took no part in politics after 1848. The marquis wrote on social questions, notably on See also:prison administration; he edited the works of La Rochefoucauld, and the memoirs of See also:Condorcet ; and he was the author of some vaudevilles, tragedies and poems.

LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN, DE, the name of an ancient French family of La See also:

Vendee, celebrated for its devotion to the See also:throne during and after the Revolution. Its See also:original name was Duverger, derived from a fief near See also:Bressuire in See also:Poitou, and its See also:pedigree is traceable to the 13th century. In 1505 Gui Duverger married Renee, heiress of Jacques Lemartin, seigneur de La Rochejacquelein, whose name he assumed. His See also:grandson, Louis Duverger,, seigneur de La Rochejacquelein, was a devoted adherent of See also:Henry II., and was badly wounded at the battle of Arques; other members of the family were also distinguished soldiers, and the seigniory was raised to a countship and marquisate in See also:reward for their services. At the outbreak of the Revolution the chief of the family was See also:HENRI Louis AUGUSTE, marquis de La Rochejacquelein, marechal de See also:camp in the royal army, who had three sons named after himself—Henri, Louis and Auguste. The marquis fled abroad with his second son Louis at the time of the See also:emigration of the nobles. He entered the service of Great See also:Britain, and died in San Domingo in 1802.

End of Article: LARKSPUR

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