also often used by heads of families as a means of correction, e.g. for protecting the family honour from the disorderly or criminal conduct of sons; wives, too, took advantage of them to curb the profligacy of husbands and vice versa. They were issued by the intermediary on the advice of the intendants in the provinces and of the lieutenant of police in Paris. In reality, the secretary of state issued them in a completely arbitrary fashion, and in most cases the king was unaware of their issue. In the 18th century it is certain that the letters were often issued blank, i.e. without containing the name of the person against whom they were directed; the recipient, or mandatary, filled in the name in order to make the letter effective.

Protests against the lettres de cachet were made continually by the parlement of Paris and by the provincial parlements, and often also by the States-General. In 1648 the sovereign courts of Paris procured their momentary suppression in a kind of charter of liberties which they imposed upon the crown, but which was ephemeral. It was not until the reign of Louis XVI. that a reaction against this abuse became clearly perceptible. At the beginning of that reign Malesherbes during his short ministry endeavoured to infuse some measure of justice into the system, and in March 1784 the baron de Breteuil, a minister of the king’s household, addressed a circular to the intendants and the lieutenant of police with a view to preventing the crying abuses connected with the issue of lettres de cachet. In Paris, in 1779, the Cour des Aides demanded their suppression, and in March 1788 the parlement of Paris made some exceedingly energetic remonstrances, which are important for the light they throw upon old French public law. The crown, however, did not decide to lay aside this weapon, and in a declaration to the States-General in the royal session of the 23rd of June 1789 (art. 15) it did not renounce it absolutely. Lettres de cachet were abolished by the Constituent Assembly, but Napoleon re-established their equivalent by a political measure in the decree of the 9th of March 1801 on the state prisons. This was one of the acts brought up against him by the sénatus-consulte of the 3rd of April 1814, which pronounced his fall “considering that he has violated the constitutional laws by the decrees on the state prisons.”

LETTUCE, known botanically as Lactuca sativa (nat. ord. Compositae), a hardy annual, highly esteemed as a salad plant. The London market-gardeners make preparation for the first main crop of Cos lettuces in the open ground early in August, a frame being set on a shallow hotbed, and, the stimulus of heat not being required, this is allowed to subside till the first week in October, when the soil, consisting of leaf-mould mixed with a little sand, is put on 6 or 7 in. thick, so that the surface is within 4½ in. of the sashes. The best time for sowing is found to be about the 11th of October, one of the best varieties being Lobjoits Green Cos. When the seeds begin to germinate the sashes are drawn quite off in favourable weather during the day, and put on, but tilted, at night in wet weather. Very little watering is required, and the aim should be to keep the plants gently moving till the days begin to lengthen. In January a more active growth is encouraged, and in mild winters a considerable extent of the planting out is done, but in private gardens the preferable time would be February. The ground should be light and rich, and well manured below, and the plants put out at 1 ft. apart each way with the dibble. Frequent stirring of the ground with the hoe greatly encourages the growth of the plants. A second sowing should be made about the 5th of November, and a third in frames about the end of January or beginning of February. In March a sowing may be made in some warm situation out of doors; successional sowings may be made in the open border about every third or fourth week till August, about the middle of which month a crop of Brown Cos, Hardy Hammersmith or Hardy White Cos should be sown, the latter being the most reliable in a severe winter. These plants may be put out early in October on the sides of ridges facing the south or at the front of a south wall, beyond the reach of drops from the copings, being planted 6 or 8 in. apart. Young lettuce plants should be thinned out in the seed-beds before they crowd or draw each other, and transplanted as soon as possible after two or three leaves are formed. Some cultivators prefer that the summer crops should not be transplanted, but sown where they are to stand, the plants being merely thinned out; but transplanting checks the running to seed, and makes the most of the ground.

For a winter supply by gentle forcing, the Hardy Hammersmith and Brown Dutch Cabbage lettuces, and the Brown Cos and Green Paris Cos lettuces, should be sown about the middle of August and in the beginning of September, in rich light soil, the plants being pricked out 3 in. apart in a prepared bed, as soon as the first two leaves are fully formed. About the middle of October the plants should be taken up carefully with balls attached to the roots, and should be placed in a mild hotbed of well-prepared dung (about 55°) covered about 1 ft. deep with a compost of sandy peat, leaf-mould and a little well-decomposed manure. The Cos and Brown Dutch varieties should be planted about 9 in. apart. Give plenty of air when the weather permits, and protect from frost. For winter work Stanstead Park Cabbage Lettuce is greatly favoured now by London market-gardeners, as it stands the winter well. Lee’s Immense is another good variety, while All the Year Round may be sown for almost any season, but is better perhaps for summer crops.

There are two races of the lettuce, the Cos lettuce, with erect oblong heads, and the Cabbage lettuce, with round or spreading heads,—the former generally crisp, the latter soft and flabby in texture. Some of the best lettuces for general purposes of the two classes are the following:—

Cos: White Paris Cos, best for summer; Green Paris Cos, hardier than the white; Brown Cos, Lobjoits Green Cos, one of the hardiest and best for winter; Hardy White Cos.

Cabbage: Hammersmith Hardy Green; Stanstead Park, very hardy, good for winter; Tom Thumb; Brown Dutch; Neapolitan, best for summer; All the Year Round; Golden Ball, good for forcing in private establishments.

Lactuca virosa, the strong-scented lettuce, contains an alkaloid which has the power of dilating the pupil and may possibly be identical with hyoscyamine, though this point is as yet not determined. No variety of lettuce is now used for any medicinal purpose, though there is probably some slight foundation for the belief that the lettuce has faint narcotic properties.