LAVRADIO, Antonio de Almeida Soares e Portugal (Lah-vrah'-dyo), Marquis de, governor of Brazil, b. in Lisbon, 27 June, 1729; d. in Oporto, 2 March, 1790. He entered the navy in 1747, and served in South America. In 1760 he became governor-general of Brazil, and during his administration of twenty years he greatly improved the country. He developed the culture of indigo and rice, and introduced the first coffee-trees into the coun- try. He also endeavored to civilize the Indians in- stead of persecuting them like most of his prede- cessors, and founded villages in countries where formerly no European had dared to travel. Un- der his administration Brazil grew rich and pros- perous.. He first conceived the idea of making the culture of the ipecacuanha-tree a source of profit to the country, and had thousands of them planted, thus opening to Brazil a new branch of trade. He also did much to ameliorate the condition of the poorer classes and to check the insolence of the aristocracy toward the people. Alfonso de Varn- hagen, in his " Historia geral do Brazil," praises him as a benefactor of the country, and his name has been given recently to one of the principal streets of Rio Janeiro. In 1781 he was relieved of his command in Brazil and appointed vice-admiral. In 1782 he commanded the Portuguese fleet in South America, and in the following year became president of the admiralty and privy councillor of the king, which post he held till his death. LAW, Andrew, psalmodist, b. in Cheshire, Conn., in 1748 ; d. there in July, 1821. About the beginning of the 19th century he began the issue of a periodical, the " Art of Singing." It was in three parts, entitled, respectively, " Musical Primer," " Christian Harmony," and " Musical Magazine," and is thought to be the first musical periodical that was issued in this country. He endeavored to introduce a new system of notation without the five lines, and, failing in this, modified the system by restoring the five lines in a broken manner. The heads of the notes had peculiar shapes — square, diamond, half-diamond, and quarter-diamond, ac- cording to their value. He published " Musical Primer" (1780); "A Collection of the Best and most Approved Tunes and Anthems known to ex- ist " (Cheshire, 1782), which was subsequently com- bined with a second volume entitled " Christian Harmony " ; " Original Collection of Music " (Bal- timore, 1786) ; and " Rudiments of Music."
LAW, George, financier, b. in Jackson, Wash-
ington co., N. Y., 25 Oct., 1806 ; d. in New York
city, 18 Nov., 1881. He left his father's farm at
the age of eighteen to seek his fortune, walked to
Troy, and applied for work in vain until he saw a
hod-carrier fall from a high ladder, and took the
place of the disabled man. He learned the trades
of mason and stone-cutter while working on a
house in Hoosic, obtained employment On the Dela-
ware and Hudson canal in 1825, superintended the
making of canal-locks at High Falls, went to the
York mountains of Pennsylvania to quarry stone
for locks, and was employed as a mechanic on
canals till June, 1829, when he obtained a contract
for a small lock and aqueduct on the Delaware
and Hudson canal. Though his only early educa-
tion had been obtained in the winter night-school,
he employed all his leisure hours in study, and
made himself a good engineer and draughtsman.
He soon became a large contractor for the con-
struction of railroads and canals. In August,
1837, he went to New York city, where one of his
brothers was engaged in the construction of the
Croton water-works. He obtained contracts for
sections of the aqueduct, and in 1839 that for the
High Bridge, by which it crosses Harlem river.
In 1842 he undertook the management of the Dry
Dock bank, and subsequently purchased and ex-
tended the Harlem and Mohawk railroads, lie
bought the steamer " Neptune " in 1843, built the
" Oregon " in 1845, assumed the contract to carry
the L. S. mails to California, had the " Ohio " and
the " Georgia" built, and in 1849 carried the first
fassengers by steamship to the Isthmus of Panama.
n the same year High Bridge was completed.
When the Pacific mail steamship company estab-
lished a competing line between New York and
Chagres, Mr. Law placed an opposition line of four
steamers on the Pacific. In April, 1851, the rivalry
was ended by his purchasing their steamers on the
Atlantic side, ana selling to them his new line
from Panama to San Francisco. In 1852 he ac-
quired a large interest in the projected Panama
railroad, went to the isthmus to examine the route,
and located the terminus at Aspinwall, where he
began to build the railroad and steamship wharf
and depot. In 1852 he purchased from the incor-
porators the franchise of the Eighth avenue street-
railroad in New York city, and completed it within
thirty days. He sold his interest in the Panama
railroad in the winter of 1853. He also built the
Ninth avenue road, and purchased the steam ferry
to Staten island, and Grand and Roosevelt street
ferries between New York city and Brooklyn. In
1852 he had a contest with the Cuban captain-
general, which brought him prominently into pub-
lic notice. The Spanish official was incensed be-
cause the purser of one of his vessels had published
an offensive statement in a New York newspaper,
and refused entrance to any vessel having him on
board. The American government refused to sus-
tain Mr. Law in his determination to send the
" Crescent City " to Havana with the purser on
board, and withdrew the mail when he persisted.
He nevertheless despatched the steamship, and the
captain-general failed to carry out his threat to
fire on her. Mr. Law, who after this was called
'• Live-Oak George," from a nickname bestowed on
him by the workmen in his ship-yard, assailed the
administration, which he accused of pusillanimity,
in newspaper articles, and for his bold demonstra-
tion of American prestige he was placed in nomi-
nation in February, 1855, by the Pennsylvania
legislature, as the Native American or Know-
Nothing candidate for the presidency. He was
supported by several journals, but the National
convention in Philadelphia in 1856 chose Millard
Fillmore, the president whom Law had attacked,
to be the party candidate.
LAW, John, Scotch financier, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April, 1671 ; d. in Venice, Italy, 21 May, 1729. He inherited the estate of Lauriston, applied himself to abstruse studies, especially finance, and at the same time became skilled in games of dexterity and hazard. After squandering his property he went to London, and gained a
footing in fashionable society, but killed an antagonist in a duel in 1695, and escaped to France after sentence of death had been pronounced. He investigated the financial methods of Jean Baptiste Colbert, spent some time in Holland studying the mercantile system of that republic, and about 1700 returned to Scotland and proposed a system of credit-banking and paper money for the develop-
ment of the agriculture and industry of the country. His plan was presented in a publication entitled " Money and Trade Considered, with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money" (Edinburgh, 1705). The court party favored his
scheme, but parliament passed a resolution against
