La Placette, Jeax, a distinguished French Prot- estant theologian and moralist, was born at Pontac, in Beam, Jan. 19, 1639, and studied theology at the Prot- estant Academy of Montauban. Appointed pastor of Or- thez in 1660, he removed in the same capacity to Nai in 1664, and remained there until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, refusing several pressing invitations from the important congregation of Charenton. At the revocation he obtained leave to go to Holland, from whence he afterwards went to Prussia. In 1686 he final- ly accepted tlie office of pastor to the French Church at Copenhagen, which he held until 1711. He then re- signed and retired to Utrecht, where he died April 25, 1718. His principal works are, Traite des Bonnes Q\unxs en general (Amst. 1709, 12mo) : — Traite de la Restitution, etc. (Amst, 1696, 12mo): — La mart desjustes,ou la ma^ niere de hien mourir (La Haye, 1729, 12mo) : — Traite de VAumone (Amsterd. 1699, 12mo) : — Diveis traiies sur les matiires de Conscience (Amst. 1697, 12mo) : — The Death of the Righteous, etc., translated by Thomas Fenton, M.A. (Lond. 1725, 2 vols. 12mo) : — Ti-aite de lafoi divine (Poter. 1716, 3 vols. 12mo): — La communion devote, ou la ma- niere de participer saintement et utilement a VEucharistiQ (Amsterd. 6'"* edit. 1706, 12mo) : — La morale Chretienne (d)regee, etc. (Amst, 2d ed. 1701, r2mo): — Essais de mo- rale (Amst. 1716, 4 vols. r2mo) : — Kouveetu essais de mo- rale (La Haye, 1715,2 vols. 12mo) : — The incurahle Scep- ticism of the Church of Rome (Gibson's Presei-vative, xvi. 176) ; etc. See Vie de La Placette, by Carrier de St. Philippe, in Avis sur la maniere de prtcher ; Niceron, Memoires, vol. ii ; Europe Savante, vol. xviii ; Nouvelles Litteraires, July, 1718, Haag, La France Protestante; (iuerard. La, France Litteraire ; Sayons, I/ist. de la lit- ter. Fran^aise a Vetranger, ii, 211-220; Hoefer, A'owi'. Biog. Generale, xxix, .549; Darling, Cyclopauia Bihlio- graphica, ii, 1767. (J, N. P.)
Laplaud (native Sameanda'), a territor}^ in the noriliernmost part of Europe, is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the south by Finland and the Swedish province of Norrland, on the east by the White Sea, and on the west by Norway, The winter is verj- long
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and severe ; the summer lasts only nine weeks, but is, in consequence of the very long days, almost as liot as in Italy, and, owing to the innumerable mosquitoes, most oppressive for both man and beast. Only in the south- ern part of Swedish Lapland is the soil capable of culti- vation ; the corn is sown towards the close of Slay, and reaped in the middle of August, but is frequently spoiled by night-frosts. Tlie territory is but very thinly set- tled, and only a part of it is now occupied by the people to which it owes its name, the southern and better por- tions having been gradually encroached upon by Nor- wegians, Swedes, and Finlanders, till the Laplanders l)roper have in a great measure been cooped up within the Arctic Circle. The territory is politically divided into tliree parts : 1. Norwegian Lapland or Finnmark, containing 27,315.70 square miles and 13,008 inhabitants, all Laplanders, or, as they are here called, Finnar. 2. Swedish Lapland, containing 49,035.17 square miles, with a population of 27,443 inhabitants, of whom only 5685 are Laplanders, and all the remainder S^vedish col- onists, whose number has steadily increased since 17G0, when the first two Swedish families settled in the coun- try. 3. Russian Lapland, which partly belongs to Fin- land and partly to the government of Archangel, and embraces Eastern Lapland, with the peninsula of Kola, also called the Lapland peninsula. The number of Lap- landers in Russian Lapland had in 1852 been reduced to 2290. The native inhabitants, Laplanders or Laps, call themselves Sami or Saraelads, and consider Lapland and Laplanders as terms of abuse. Tliey are either Fjell- Lappar-Finner, mountain Laplanders, who lead a no- madic life, and pasture large reindeer herds; or Skogs- La])par, forest Laplanders, chiefly occujiiod with hunting and fishing, leaving their herds of reindeer in charge of the preceding class; or Soe-Finner, sea or shore Lap- landers, who, too poor to possess such herds, have been obliged to fix their residence upon the coast, and subsist chiefly by fishing; or Sockne Lappar, parish Lappars, who hire themselves out as servants, chiefly for tending the reindeer. They are good-natured, honest, superstitious, and patriotic, and, with the exception of an inclination to drinikenness, they show neither great vices nor great virtues. The origin of the Laplanders is not yet fully cleared up, as their physical characteristics point partly to the Mongolian and partly to the Caucasian race. The prevailing opinion, however, is, that they are only a va- riety of Tchude or Finns. The Christianization of the Laplanders did not begin until, in 1275, a part of their territory was annexed to Sweden. For several centu- ries, however, no re.sidts were obtained except the in- troduction of Christian baptism and Ciiristian marriage. The Norwegian part of Lapland belonged to the arch- bishopric of Nidaros (Dronthcim) ; the Swedish to the archbishopric of Upsala. Gustavus I, of Sweden, in the first half of the IGth century, established the first Lap- pish school in the town of Pikea. Charles IX and Chris- tina made great efforts for bringing them over to the Lutheran Church, while in Norwegian Finnark king Christian IV, of Denmark (about 1(500), extirpated the remnants of paganism by force. The Christianization of this part of Lapland was completed by the zeal of bishop Eric Bredahl, of Drontheitn (1643 "to 1672\ and his successors. At the beginning of the 18th century, Isaac Olsen, a poor man, during fourteen years, labored among the Laplanders for their Christianization, and king Frederick IV, of Denmark, in 1715 and 1717, for the same purpose, established theological seminaries in Copenhagen and Drontheim. In 1730 king Christian VI issued an order that every Laplander, before the nineteenth year of his age, must receive confirmation, from which time the parents began to bestow greater care upon the education of their children. The govern- ment appointed travelling teachers, and also several res- ident clergymen, who at first found their progress great- ly delayed by the difficulty of mastering the Lappish language. The kings of Sweden since Frederick I U748) worked with great zeal, but little success, for