LA HARPE LAHORE 107 ber of pamphlets expounding his plans for the reorganization of his country, and denouncing the misdeeds of its old governments. LA HARPE, Jean Francois de, a French critic, born in Paris, Nov. 20, 1739, died there, Feb. 11, 1803. His father died when he was nine years old, and he was admitted as a free schol- ar to the Harcourt college, where he gave early evidence of literary talent. On leaving this institution, he wrote with several of his com- rades some satirical verses on certain members of the college, for which he was imprisoned by the police for several months. This severe punishment, together with his narrow circum- stances, increased the natural bitterness of his disposition. His first attempts at poetry were heroic epistles, a kind of poem, then much in vogue. In 1763 he produced his tragedy of Warwick^ which was successful. Three simi- lar plays, Timoleon (1764), Pharamond (1765), and Gustave Wasa (1766), failed; and, disap- pointed in his anticipations of fortune, he went to Ferney, where he remained for nearly two years the guest of Voltaire. On his return to Paris in 1768, he became a contributor to the Mercure de France, and was noted for the bitterness of his criticism. He won 11 of the academical prizes within 10 years, 8 being at the French academy. These successes, as well as the reputation which he won by his Melanie, ou la Religieuse, a play flattering the liberal ideas of the time, procured in 1776 his election to the academy. The trage- dies he produced after this were mercilessly criticised, and, with the exception of Philoc- tete (1780) and Coriolan (1784), were coldly received by the public. He was meanwhile the correspondent of the grand duke Paul of Russia, the son of Catharine II., and under- took several publications, especially an Abrege de Vhistoire generate des voyages, from which he realized some profit. He adopted the 'rev- olutionary principles, showed himself an ar- dent Jacobin, and became an occasional flatter- er of Robespierre. Yet he was incarcerated during the reign of terror, which made such an impression on his mind that he became a devout Christian and an uncompromising en- emy of all that was called philosophy. On his liberation after the 9th Thermidor, he resumed with great success a course of public lectures which he had begun a few years before. These lectures, collected under the title of Lycee, ou Cours de litterature ancienne et moderne (12 vols. 8vo, 1799-1805), were long regarded as a standard of literary criticism. His Correspon- dance litteraire with the grand duke Paul was printed in 1801 (4 vols. 8vo) ; and the severity of its judgments rekindled the hatred against him, and embittered the last years of his life. LA HOGUE. See CAPE LA HAGUE. LA HONTAN, Armand Louis de Delondaree de, baron de la Hontan et Herleche, a French trav- eller, born near Mont de Marsan, Gascony, about 1667, died in Hanover in 1715. His trav- els, which were widely read in French and translated into English and other languages, make him play an important part in Canadian affairs, but he evidently came out merely as a private soldier. The voluminous Canadian documents are utterly silent as to him and his services. He came over in 1683 in one of the three companies of marines sent to enable Gov. de la Barre to invade the Iroquois cantons. He was in that governor's fruitless expedition, and in Denonville's against the Senecas. In 1688 he was sent to Michilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie with a detachment, and pretended to have discovered and explored Long river, a branch of the Mississippi, which he peopled with fictitious tribes, misleading geographers for many years. He soon after descended to Quebec, and in November, 1690, sailed for France. He was sent back to Canada in 1691, and while he was returning to France soon af- ter with despatches from Frontenac, the vessel put in to Placentia, Newfoundland, and La Hontan rendered signal service in defending it against the English. He was accordingly made king's lieutenant in Newfoundland and Acadia, with a company of 100 men. On arriving there in 1693 he got into difficulties with Gov. de Brouillon, and made his escape to Portugal. He then visited Spain, Denmark, and England. After vainly soliciting redress and advancement from the French court, he published his Nou- veaux voyages de M. le laron de Lahontan dans VAmerique Septentrionale (2 vols. 12mo, the Hague, 1703 ; the second volume relating chief- ly to the Indians). A third volume, Dialogue de M. le laron de Lahontan et d'un sauvage dans VAmerique, awe les voyages du meme en Portugal, appeared at Amsterdam in 1704. The dialogue is fictitious and merely a vehicle for anti-Christian ideas. The voyages are dedica- ted to the king of Denmark, and are said to have been rewritten by Gueudeville. La Hon- tan also wrote Reponse d la lettre d'un parti- culier opposee au manifeste de S. M. le roi de la Grande Bretagne contre la Suede, published by Leibnitz after the baron's death. Truth and fiction are so blended in his work that it has long ceased to be of any authority. LAHORE, a city of India, capital of the Pun- jaub, about 1 m. from the E. bank of the Ra- vee, in lat. 31 36' N., Ion. 74 21' E., 265 m. N. W. of Delhi ; pop. in 1871, 98,924. It is walled with brick and defended by a citadel and out- works. The moat which formerly encircled it is now filled up, and is laid out in gardens and planted with trees. There are several fine mosques, including one of red sandstone, with lofty minarets and cupolas, said to have been built by Aurungzebe. The Hindoos have a number of temples, and in the neighborhood are some handsome tombs, one of the most at- tractive of which is that of the emperor Je- hanghir, built of red sandstone and adorned with marble mosaics representing flowers and texts of the Koran. The city has narrow streets, tall gloomy houses, small but well fur- nished bazaars, and a vernacular college sup-
