LESSE

(49° 59’ N., 5° 10’ E.), river; Belgium; joins Meuse..: 94), ia Fr. diplomat; a 6. at Versailles;; ed. ‘ at y 3 conceived project of making Suez Canal; consul, Cairo, 1833; subse-, quently consul-gen., Alexandria; dis- | “guished for zeal during plague, 183435; consul at Rotter dam, 1839; ei. 1 i 1849, Introduced Suez Canal scheme, 1854; obtaining ie ee eon Bene Pasha, company organized, 1858; wor' | began, 1859; canal opened, 1869; received Grand Cro of Legion of Honor. Undertook Panama Canal, 1881, on insuffiof|cient money; charged with fraud; sentence of imprisonment not carried ut 1729-81), Ger. critic and dramatist; b. eeong (Saxony); studied theol., med., and philology at Leipzig, 1746-48, and wrote Der Junge Gelehrie, Dev Freigeisi, Der Misogyn (plays). L. spent most of | the years 1748-55 in Berlin as journalist of|and critic; to this period belong his critical writings, Das Neuste aus dem, Sara Sampson (tragedy); lived in zig, 1755-58; returned to Berlin wrote Fabeln and Philotas 1759, and his share of the Briefe Breslau (1760-65) L. wrote parts great critical work, Laokoon (pub. and his fine comedy, Minna von helm (pub. 1767); app. director National Theater, Hamburg, 1767; came court librarian at Wolf enb i it tel, 1770, until his death. Three of his works belong to these years, (viz.): die Alten den Tod-gebildet, 1769; Galott? (tragedy), 1772; and the drama, Nathan der Weise, 1779. founded modern drama and crowned Aufklarung movement in Germany.