iards navigated the gulf of Mexico for two centuries without being aware that one of the largest rivers of the world falls into it. This fact may be explained from the circumstance that a low, flat, and dangerous coast extends on both sides of its outlet to a great distance. The French after their establishment in Canada had explored the Mississippi to the sea in 1682, but made no settlement near its mouth before 1699, when Iberville founded his first colony. The city of New Orleans was founded in 1718, about which time the colony began to assume importance; and it soon afterward acquired universal notoriety from having been granted to the company formed by John Law at Paris in 1716, and incorporated as the Mississippi company. When this scheme, called the "Mississippi bubble," burst, the country was resumed by the crown, and the commerce of the river declared free. The French remained in possession of Louisiana until 1762, when they ceded it to Spain. From neglect, and notwithstanding the great natural resources, little improvement was effected under the new rule, which was never popular. In 1800 Bonaparte, then first consul, succeeded in inducing the Spanish government to retrocede Louisiana to France. It was held for a time, but only nominally, as a French colony, and only long enough to enable Bonaparte to complete a sale of it to the United States, which he succeeded in doing in 1803 for the sum of $15,000,000. The country comprehended in this purchase included not only the present state of Louisiana, but also all the country to the N. and W. between the Mississippi and the Pacific, excepting such portions as were then occupied by Spain, and as far north as the British territory. This vast country is now occupied by the states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa, the greater part of the state of Minnesota, and the Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian territories. The American flag was first raised in New Orleans on Dec. 20, 1803. By the act of congress of March 26, 1804, the territory was divided into two governments, that of Orleans including the present state of Louisiana, and that of Louisiana all the country N. and W. of it. In 1810 the United States dispossessed Spain of a large part of West Florida, extending from the Mississippi to the Perdido, S. of the 31st parallel, and subsequently annexed that part of it W. of Pearl river to the new territory. On Feb. 11, 1811, an act of congress was passed to enable the inhabitants to form a constitution and state government; and by a subsequent act of April 8, 1812, the territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union under the title of the state of Louisiana. On June 4 of the same year the territory theretofore known as Louisiana had its designation altered to Missouri. The share that Louisiana took in the war of 1812 is familiar to all. The great battle fought at New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815, in which the British sustained a total defeat, was the crowning event of the period, and the last hostile engagement

between the two nations. Since this time the progress of the state has been rapid. With the development of the great central valley its commerce has expanded at a wonderful rate, and become so vast as to give it rank as the second commercial state of the Union. In 1845 Louisiana framed a new constitution, which was reframed and reordained in 1852.

LOUISVILLE, a city and the capital of Jefferson co., Ky., situated at the falls of the Ohio, in lat. 38° 3' N., long. 85° 30′ W., 130 m. below Cincinnati, and 53 m. W. from Frankfort; pop. in 1840, 21,210; in 1850, 43,196; in 1860, about 80,000. The city is built upon a level plain about 75 feet above low water mark. The streets are wide, well paved, straight, lighted with gas, and cross each other at right angles. Main street is about 3 miles long, and is remarkably handsome and well built. The streets in that part of the city devoted to private residences are commonly lined with ornamental shade trees. The city is abundantly supplied with water by water works. Dupont's Artesian well is one of the deepest in the world, its depth being 2,086 feet, and its bore 3 inches; the flow of water is 330,000 gallons in 24 hours, and the elevation above the surface 170 feet. The public buildings are a fine court house, erected at a cost of over $1,000,000, a gaol, custom house, city hall, the university, 2 marine asylums, 3 orphan asylums, a house of refuge, an institution for the blind, 60 churches and 2 synagogues, 5 banks of issue and many others of deposit, 4 spacious market houses, and 12 very handsome public school edifices. There are 5 daily and 12 weekly newspapers, and 2 semi-monthly and 3 monthly magazines. There is a great number of literary, scientific, charitable, and other associations. Louisville is very extensively engaged in manufactures, the condition of which in 1860 is shown by the foling table:

The Louisville and New Orleans packets, which are built and mostly owned here, are noted for their speed, elegance, and safety. The chief source of the prosperity of Louisville has been its commerce. It has uninterrupted intercourse most of the year by means of the Ohio with nearly all the towns and cities of the great West, and is in direct communication by railroad with all points north, south, east, and west. The commerce of the city is estimated at over $100,000,000 per annum, and is rapidly increasing. The exports comprise every species of western produce and manufactures; those of pork and other products of the hog exceed $3,000,000 in value per annum. The principal imports are dry goods, groceries, hardware, and cutlery. There are 8 pork packing establishments, employing over 1,200 men and a capital of about $2,125,000. The following table shows the number of hogs slaughtered in Louisville from 1853 to 1858:

The tobacco business is also carried on extensively in this city. There are three immense warehouses for storing and selling this staple, which are capable of holding 7,000 hogsheads. The aggregate sales of these houses amount to about 19,000 hogsheads annually, realizing the sum of about $2,500,000.-The first settlement on the site of the present city was made in the spring of 1778, when a few families came to the falls under Gen. George Rogers Clark. In 1780 the legislature of Virginia passed "an act for establishing the town of Louisville at the falls of the Ohio," naming the town in honor of Louis XVI., whose troops were then aiding the Americans in their revolutionary struggle. The settlement was for several years greatly annoyed by the Indians. The town was for some 20 years very unhealthy, but it is now, perhaps, the healthiest city of its size in the world.

LOUSE. See EPIZOA, vol. vii. p. 253. LOUTH, an E. co. of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, bounded N. by Armagh and Down, E. by the Irish sea, S. by Meath, and W. by Meath and Monaghan; area, 322 sq. m.; pop. in 1851, 107,657. The surface in the N. is rugged and mountainous, elsewhere level and undulating, and the soil generally fertile. It returns 4 members to parliament, including 2 for the boroughs of Drogheda and Dundalk.

LOUVAIN, a town of Belgium, in the prov. ince of Brabant, situated on the Dyle, 27 m. E. by N. from Brussels; pop. in 1857, 30,765. The streets are regular, but the houses are not well built. It is celebrated for its town hall, a fine Gothic building, for its cathedral, which

is one of the most beautiful religious edifices in Belgium, and for its university, at one time celebrated among the literary institutions of Europe, and still the leading school of Roman Catholic theology in Belgium, attended by about 600 students (6,000 in the 16th century), and containing 20 colleges (formerly 43), zoological and mineralogical museums, a botanic garden, and an extensive library. Jansenius, the founder of Jansenism, was among the most celebrated professors there. St. Gertrude's church and St. Michael's are noteworthy, the former on account of its celebrated oaken stalls with detached groups, statues, and bass-reliefs, and the latter for containing many of the best paintings of modern Belgian artists. Beside the many pictures of the Flemish masters in the cathedral, Louvain possesses in the gallery belonging to M. Vandenschrieck a very valuable collection of paintings by native artists. The town transacts a considerable business in the agricultural produce and manufactures of the country. The principal trade is in beer, of which 200,000 casks are made annually. Vessels of 150 tons can reach the town through the canal of Louvain. The town, although its activity is now increasing, presents a desolate aspect, compared to former times, when it was the capital of Brabant, the residence of the dukes, and possessed a population of 100,000, mostly engaged in the manufacture of woollens. The weavers revolted against the duke of Brabant in 1483, and many of them, being banished, transplanted their industry to England.-The foundation of Louvain is attributed by some authorities to Julius Caesar, and the old castle is still called Château de César, although it is known to have been built at the end of the 9th century as a defence against the Northmen. The walls of the town, built in the middle of the 12th century, now partly turned into bonlevards, measure 7 m. in circumference. Edward III. of England resided for some time in the castle of Louvain, and the emperor Charles V. was brought up there. The town was unsuccessfully besieged by various powers during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Taken by the French in 1756 and 1792, it fell in 1793 into the hands of the Austrians, and was retaken by Gen. Kléber in 1794 and annexed to France, as the capital of an arrondissement of the department of Dyle. An engagement between the Dutch and Belgians took place outside of its walls in Aug. 1831, when the present king Leopold narrowly escaped being captured by his opponents.

LOUVET DE COUVRAY, JEAN BAPTISTE, A French author and revolutionist, born in Paris, June 11, 1760, died Aug. 25, 1797. During his youth he was employed in a bookseller's shop kept by one Prault, where he acquired a knowledge of literature which he employed in the service of the revolution by writing stories, of which the notorious Aventures du chevalier de Faublas is the best known. At this time a licentious literature, in the form of novels professing to

Place Vendôme in Paris, the great aqueducts of Maintenon, and other magnificent public works which will long be identified with his name. The death in 1683 of Colbert, who had always protected the Huguenots, having given Louvois almost absolute power, he instigated the king to persecute this class of his subjects. Finding argument of no avail to convert them, he had resort to force, and the royal dragoons are said to have waged a war of extermination upon them, whole families being sometimes ruthlessly slaughtered. Finally, in Oct. 1685, at the earnest suggestion of Louvois, the edict of Nantes was revoked, and the emigration of Huguenots which followed deprived the kingdom of upward of half a million of its most industrious and useful population. In 1688 war broke out between France and the league of continental powers headed by the prince of Orange, and the energy and capacity of Louvois became if possible more conspicuous than ever, while the number of his personal enemies daily increased. Again the Palatinate was barbarously ravaged, and the ambition of the war minister satiated at the expense of humanity. His dictatorial manner and affectation of supreme control, however, were beginning to incense the king against him; and after the siege and capture of Mons in 1691, during which he had provoked Louis by repeated contradictions, the cold and altered manner of the latter satisfied the court that the overthrow of Louvois was impending. He still however persisted in visiting the palace at Versailles; and on one occasion the king, after reproaching him with the numerous cruelties perpetrated under the royal name, but in reality planned by Louvois, was only prevented by the interposition of Mme. de Maintenon from striking his minister. Wearied by incessant labors and alarmed by these slights, Louvois declined rapidly in health, and died suddenly after a stormy interview with his master, not without suspicion of poison. Louis heard without emotion of the death of the minister whose talents had so enhanced the military glory of France; and to the court, and more especially to the people, who had long groaned under the severe taxes imposed upon them by Louvois for the support of armies, the event was the occasion of rejoicing rather than of sorrow.

LOUVRE, a celebrated public building of Paris, situated in the W. part of the city, near the right bank of the Seine. It consists of the old and the new Louvre. The old Louvre forms nearly a square 576 feet long and 538 wide, enclosing a quadrangle of about 400 feet square, and containing a vast collection of sculptures, paintings, and other works of art. Its E. façade, looking toward the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, is a colonnade of 28 coupled Corinthian columns, and is one of the finest works of architecture of any age or country. The new Louvre, inaugurated Aug. 17, 1857, consists of two lateral piles of buildings projecting at right angles from the two parallel galleries which join the old Louvre with the Tuileries, and forming the E.

boundary of the place du Carrousel. Between the place or square called Napoleon III. and the rue Rivoli, they present on the E. side a frontage of nearly 300 feet, intersected by three sumptuous pavilions, intended to be occupied by the departments of state and of the interior, by the administration of the telegraphs, by the imperial library of the Louvre, and by a permanent exhibition of fine arts. On the other side of the square are galleries set apart for periodical exhibitions of the works of living artists. In the central part of the building, between the gallery facing the quay and that opposite the place Napoleon, is the council chamber, to be used as an assembly room for the public bodies of the empire on the opening of the legislature and on other solemn occasions, which communicates through the museum gallery with the palace of the Tuileries.-The Louvre was originally probably a hunting lodge, upon the site of which a tower was erected in 1214 by Philip Augustus to serve as a state prison and arsenal. It was enlarged and embellished by several of his successors, especially by Charles V., who placed in it the royal collection of books, which became the nucleus of the royal library, and fitted it up as a royal residence, providing it with gardens and terraces. Under Charles VI. and VII., Louis XI., Charles VIII., and Louis XII., it was converted into a fortress. During the reign of Francis I. plans for the improvement of the building were designed by Lescot, and executed chiefly under the reign of Henry II. by that artist, who was aided by Jean Goujon and Paul Poncino. About the same period one of the galleries was built by Serlio, an architect of Bologna, and covered with a terrace under the auspices of Henry IV., who also conceived the project of uniting the Louvre with the Tuileries, which to some extent was carried out by Louis XIV., mainly through the exertions of Colbert, under whose direction a powerful impetus was given to the enlargement of the palace. From the end of the reign of that monarch, however, the works were interrupted until the middle of the 18th century, when, under the direction of M. de Marigny, the architect Gabriel was employed in finishing the three façades, which had been commenced by Claude Perrault under Colbert's administration, while the vestibule on the side of the rue Marengo was completed by Soufflot. The work was once more interrupted by the revolution, when the Louvre was declared national property, and its contents roughly handled by the populace. When the great number of works of art seized in Italy by the armies of Napoleon made it necessary to assign a proper place for their reception, the architect Raimond was selected to conduct the work; and Percier and Fontaine, who in 1803 were charged by Napoleon with its resumption, built the great staircase of the museum proper, the museums of ancient art, the staircases on the two extreme ends of the colonnade, the Egyptian museum, the chambers for

the council of state, which are now destined to receive the designs of all the various schools of art, the marine museum, and other portions of the Louvre. After the restoration the work was again brought to a standstill. The only activity displayed by the Bourbons consisted in causing the initials of Napoleon, which were inscribed in many parts of the palace, to be erased. Under the government of Louis Philippe, Thiers offered a resolution to appropriate 18,000,000 francs to the completion of the building, which was rejected; and nothing was done until after the revolution of 1848, when 2,000,000 francs were devoted by the provisional government to the repairs of the old Louvre under the direction of M. Duban, who restored the Apollo gallery. The decorations of the interior were intrusted to Delacroix and other eminent artists. The resolution passed by the provisional government in favor of the completion of the whole building was carried into effect July 25, 1852, when the foundation stone of the new Louvre was laid, which was completed in 1857 at a cost of nearly $6,000,000. The architect Visconti conducted the work until his death, Dec. 1, 1853, when he was succeeded by M. Lefuel. The Louvre and the Tuileries, both now completed and harmonized, form almost one single palace of unparalleled splendor and magnitude, and occupy with their enclosures an area of nearly 60 acres. LOVAT, SIMON FRASER, _lord, a Scottish Jacobite, chief of the clan Fraser, born probably in Tanich, Ross-shire, about 1667, beheaded on Tower hill, London, April 9, 1747. His father, Thomas Fraser, 3d son of the 9th Lord Lovat, eventually succeeded his grand-nephew, the 11th Lord Lovat, as 12th lord. Simon Fraser was educated at the university of Aberdeen, where he had a reputation for scholarship, and about 1694 accepted a commission in a highland regiment raised by Lord Murray, on the assurance that, although ostensibly in the service of King William, it was really intended for King James, whenever the opportunity to assert his rights to the crown should occur. The duplicity and treachery thus early manifested never ceased to characterize his conduct. Ilis father succeeded to the title in 1696, and upon his death in 1699 Simon became 13th Lord Lovat and chief of the Frasers. For several years he was engaged in a series of lawless but unsuccessful attempts to secure the estates of his cousin, the 11th lord, with whose daughter and heiress he even made a fruitless attempt to elope. He next effected a forced marriage with the dowager Lady Lovat, widow of the 11th lord, in the hope of being acknowledged the head of the house and owner of the estates. Having been outlawed for this offence, he went to France, and embraced the cause of James II., to obtain whose confidence and protection he renounced the Protestant faith and embraced that of the Roman Catholics. In 1703 he returned to Scotland as a secret emissary to stir up the highlanders in

favor of the pretender; but, his principal ob ject still being to obtain possession of the Lovat estates, he determined as the best means of effecting this to reconcile himself with the government, and betrayed the plot in which he was engaged to the duke of Queensberry. By the confession of two of his confederates his treachery became known to the English and French courts, and upon his return to France he was subjected to a confinement of 10 years, 3 of which were passed in the castle of Angoulême, and the remainder in Saumur. The current story that in this interval he took orders, and for some years discharged the duties of a priest at the college of St. Omer, is not sufficiently substantiated. During his imprisonment the heiress of Lovat, in whose person by a decree of the court of session of 1702 vested the family honors and possessions, was married to Mackenzie, Lord Fraserdale; and the object of his ambition being thus apparently removed from his reach, Lovat determined to espouse the Hanoverian cause. In Nov. 1714, he effected his escape into England, and had the prudence to remain quiet until the insurrection under the pretender in the succeeding year, when, putting himself at the head of the Frasers, he was instrumental in driving the insurgents out of Inverness. For his loyalty on this occasion he received a full pardon from government. Fraserdale had meanwhile joined the pretender, and, the insurrection being quelled, his estates were declared forfeited, and were subsequently, by a decree of the court of session, after long litigation, conferred upon Simon Fraser, who, by cultivating friendly relations with George I. and some of the prominent aristocratic families of Scotland, secured also a portion of the property forfeited by various highland chiefs. As the head of his clan he maintained considerable state, and in the same capacity also committed many cruel and lawless acts. He discouraged education, and according to one of his contemporaries did more to revive a clannish spirit, which had greatly declined since the revolution of 1688, than any other man. For many years he remained loyal, or seemingly so; but his title and estates having been secured to him, he withdrew his affections from the house of Hanover, from which he had nothing further to expect, and as early as 1729 was known to be in treasonable communication with the exiled Stuarts. Subsequent to 1737 he was the head of an association of highland chiefs the object of which was to procure the restoration of the pretender, in whose cause he professed to have expended large sums of money. Nevertheless, when Charles Edward landed in 1745, he avoided with selfish caution committing himself in his favor until some decided success should be achieved by the Jacobites. Even after the defeat of Sir John Cope at Gladsmuir he continued to pursue the game of deception which had now become almost a second nature with him, and sent his son with the Frasers to join the pretender's standard,