[1] The verb "to lie," to speak falsely, to tell a falsehood, is in O. Eng. _léogan_; it appears in most Teutonic languages, e.g. Dutch _lugen_, Ger. _lügen_.
LAYA, JEAN LOUIS (1761-1833), French dramatist, was born in Paris on the 4th of December 1761 and died in August 1833. He wrote his first comedy in collaboration with Gabriel M. J. B. Legouvé in 1785, but the piece, though accepted by the Comédie Française, was never represented. In 1789 he produced a plea for religious toleration in the form of a five-act tragedy in verse, _Jean Calas_; the injustice of the disgrace cast on a family by the crime of one of its members formed the theme of _Les Dangers de l'opinion_ (1790); but it is by his _Ami des lois_ (1793) that Laya is remembered. This energetic protest against mob-rule, with its scarcely veiled characterizations of Robespierre as Nomophage and of Marat as Duricrâne, was an act of the highest courage, for the play was produced at the Théâtre Français (temporarily Théâtre de la Nation) only nineteen days before the execution of Louis XVI. Ten days after its first production the piece was prohibited by the commune, but the public demanded its representation; the mayor of Paris was compelled to appeal to the convention, and the piece was played while some 30,000 Parisians guarded the hall. Laya went into hiding, and several persons convicted of having a copy of the obnoxious play in their possession were guillotined. At the end of the Terror Laya returned to Paris. In 1813 he replaced Delille in the Paris chair of literary history and French poetry; he was admitted to the Academy in 1817. Laya produced in 1797 _Les Deux Stuarts_, and in 1799 _Falkland_, the title-rôle of which provided Talma with one of his finest opportunities. Laya's works, which chiefly owe their interest to the circumstances attending their production, were collected in 1836-1837.
See _Notice biographique sur J. L. Laya_ (1833); Ch. Nodier, _Discours de réception_, 26th December (1833); Welschinger, _Théâtre de la révolution_ (1880).
LAYAMON, early English poet, was the author of a chronicle of Britain entitled _Brut_, a paraphrase of the _Brut d'Angleterre_ by Wace, a native of Jersey, who is also known as the author of the _Roman de Rou_. The excellent edition of Layamon by Sir F. Madden (Society of Antiquaries, London, 1847) should be consulted. All that is known concerning Layamon is derived from two extant MSS., which present texts that often vary considerably, and it is necessary to understand their comparative value before any conclusions can be drawn. The older text (here called the A-text) lies very near the original text, which is unfortunately lost, though it now and then omits lines which are absolutely necessary to the sense. The later text (here called the B-text) represents a later recension of the original version by another writer who frequently omits couplets, and alters the language by the substitution of better-known words for such as seemed to be obsolescent; e.g. _harme_ (harm) in place of _balewe_ (bale), and _dead_ in place of _feie_ (fated to die, or dead). Hence little reliance can be placed on the B-text, its chief merit being that it sometimes preserves couplets which seem to have been accidentally omitted in A; besides which, it affords a valuable commentary on the original version.