Sidney (q.v.), was born on the 19th of November 1563, and was educated
at Christ Church, Oxford, afterwards travelling on the Continent for
some years between 1578 and 1583. In 1585 he was elected member of
parliament for Glamorganshire; and in the same year he went with his
elder brother Sir Philip Sidney (q.v.) to the Netherlands, where he
served in the war against Spain under his uncle Robert Dudley, earl of
Leicester. He was present at the engagement where Sir Philip Sidney was
mortally wounded, and remained with his brother till the latter's death
in October 1586. After visiting Scotland on a diplomatic mission in
1588, and France on a similar errand in 1593, he returned to the
Netherlands in 1596, where he rendered distinguished service in the war
for the next two years. He had been appointed governor of Flushing in
1588, and he spent much time there till 1603, when, on the accession of
James I., he returned to England. James raised him at once to the
peerage as Baron Sidney of Penshurst, and he was appointed chamberlain
to the queen consort. In 1605 he was created Viscount Lisle, and in 1618
earl of Leicester, the latter title having become extinct in 1588 on the
death of his uncle, whose property he had inherited (see LEICESTER,
EARLS OF). Leicester was a man of taste and a patron of literature,
whose cultured mode of life at his country seat, Penshurst, was
celebrated in verse by Ben Jonson. The earl died at Penshurst on the
13th of July 1626. He was twice married; first to Barbara, daughter of
John Gamage, a Glamorganshire gentleman; and secondly to Sarah, daughter
of William Blount, and widow of Sir Thomas Smythe. By his first wife he
had a large family. His eldest son having died unmarried in 1613,
Robert, the second son (see below), succeeded to the earldom; one of his
daughters married Sir John Hobart, ancestor of the earls of
Buckinghamshire.
ROBERT SIDNEY, 2nd earl of Leicester of the 1618 creation (1595-1677),
was born on the 1st of December 1595, and was educated at Christ Church,
Oxford; he was called to the bar in in 1618, having already served in
the army in the Netherlands during his father's governorship of
Flushing, and having entered parliament as member for Wilton in 1614. In
1616 he was given command of an English regiment in the Dutch service;
and having succeeded his father as earl of Leicester in 1626, he was
employed on diplomatic business in Denmark in 1632, and in France from
1636 to 1641. He was then appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in place
of the earl of Strafford, but he waited in vain for instructions from
the king, and in 1643 he was compelled to resign the office without
having set foot in Ireland. He shared the literary and cultivated tastes
of his family, without possessing the statesmanship of his uncle Sir
Philip Sidney; his character was lacking in decision, and, as commonly
befalls men of moderate views in times of acute party strife, he failed
to win the confidence of either of the opposing parties. His sincere
protestantism offended Laud, without being sufficiently extreme to
please the puritans of the parliamentary faction; his fidelity to the
king restrained him from any act tainted with rebellion, while his
dislike for arbitrary government prevented him giving whole-hearted
support to Charles I. When, therefore, the king summoned him to Oxford
in November 1642, Leicester's conduct bore the appearance of
vacillation, and his loyalty of uncertainty. Accordingly, after his
resignation of the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland at the end of 1643, he
retired into private life. In 1649 the younger children of the king were
for a time committed to his care at Penshurst. He took no part in public
affairs during the Commonwealth; and although at the Restoration he took
his seat in the House of Lords and was sworn of the privy council, he
continued to live for the most part in retirement at Penshurst, where he
died on the 2nd of November 1677. Leicester married, in 1616, Dorothy,
daughter of Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland, by whom he had
fifteen children. Of his nine daughters, the eldest, Dorothy, the
"Sacharissa" of the poet Waller, married Robert Spencer, 2nd earl of
Sunderland; and Lucy married John Pelham, by whom she was the ancestress
of the 18th-century statesmen, Henry Pelham, and Thomas Pelham, duke of
Newcastle. Algernon Sidney (q.v.), and Henry Sidney, earl of Romney
(q.v.), were younger sons of the earl.
Leicester's eldest son, Philip, 3rd earl (1619-1698), known for most of
his life as Lord Lisle, took a somewhat prominent part during the civil
war. Being sent to Ireland in 1642 in command of a regiment of horse, he
became lieutenant-general under Ormonde; he strongly favoured the
parliamentary cause, and in 1647 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of
Ireland by the parliament. Named one of Charles I.'s judges, he refused
to take part in the trial; but he afterwards served in Cromwell's
Council of State, and sat in the Protector's House of Lords. Lisle stood
high in Cromwell's favour, but nevertheless obtained a pardon at the
Restoration. He carried on the Sidney family tradition by his patronage
of men of letters; and, having succeeded to the earldom on his father's
death in 1677, he died in 1698, and was succeeded in the peerage by his
son Robert, 4th earl of Leicester (1649-1702), whose mother was
Catherine, daughter of William Cecil, 2nd earl of Salisbury.
See _Sydney Papers_, edited by A. Collins (2 vols., London, 1746);
_Sydney Papers_, edited by R. W. Blencowe (London, 1825) containing
the 2nd earl of Leicester's journal; Lord Clarendon _History of the
Rebellion and Civil Wars in England_ (8 vols, Oxford, 1826); S. R.
Gardiner, _History of the Great Civil War_ (3 vols., London,
1886-1891). (R. J. M.)
LEICESTER, THOMAS WILLIAM COKE, EARL OF (1754-1842), English
agriculturist, known as Coke of Norfolk, was the eldest son of Wenman
Roberts, who assumed the name of Coke in 1750. In 1759 Wenman Coke's
maternal uncle Thomas Coke, earl of Leicester, died leaving him his
estates, subject, however, to the life-interest of his widow, Margaret,
Baroness de Clifford in her own right. This lady's death in 1775 was
followed by that of Wenman Coke in 1776, when the latter's son, Thomas
William, born on the 6th of May 1754, succeeded to his father's estates
at Holkham and elsewhere. From 1776 to 1784, from 1790 to 1806, and
again from 1807 to 1832 Coke was member of parliament for Norfolk; he
was a friend and supporter of Charles James Fox and a sturdy and
aggressive Whig, acting upon the maxim taught him by his father "never
to trust a Tory." Coke's chief interests, however, were in the country,
and his fame is that of an agriculturist. His land around Holkham in
Norfolk was poor and neglected, but he introduced many improvements,
obtained the best expert advice, and in a few years wheat was grown upon
his farms, and the breed of cattle, sheep and pigs greatly improved. It
has been said that "his practice is really the basis of every treatise
on modern agriculture." Under his direction the rental of the Holkham
estate is said to have increased from £2200 to over £20,000 a year. In
1837 Coke was created earl of Leicester of Holkham. Leicester, who was a
strong and handsome man and a fine sportsman, died at Longford Hall in
Derbyshire on the 30th of June 1842. He was twice married, and Thomas
William, his son by his second marriage, succeeded to his earldom.
See A. M. W. Stirling, _Coke of Norfolk and his Friends_ (1907).
LEICESTER, a municipal county and parliamentary borough, and the county
town of Leicestershire, England; on the river Soar, a southern tributary
of the Trent. Pop. (1891) 174,624, (1901) 211,579. It is 99 m. N.N.W.
from London by the Midland railway, and is served by the Great Central
and branches of the Great Northern and London and North-Western
railways, and by the Leicester canal.
This was the Roman _Ratae_ (_Ratae Coritanorum_), and Roman remains of
high interest are preserved. They include a portion of Roman masonry
known as the Jewry Wall; several pavements have been unearthed; and in
the museum, among other remains, is a milestone from the Fosse Way,
marking a distance of 2 m. from Ratae. St Nicholas church is a good
example of early Norman work, in the building of which Roman bricks are
used. St Mary de Castro church, with Norman remains, including sedilia,
shows rich Early English work in the tower and elsewhere, and has a
Decorated spire and later additions. All Saints church has Norman
remains. St Martin's is mainly Early English, a fine cruciform
structure. St Margaret's, with Early English nave, has extensive
additions of beautiful Perpendicular workmanship. North of the town are
slight remains of an abbey of Black Canons founded in 1143. There are a
number of modern churches. Of the Castle there are parts of the Norman
hall, modernized, two gateways and other remains, together with the
artificial Mount on which the keep stood. The following public buildings
and institutions may be mentioned--municipal buildings (1876), old town
hall, formerly the gild-hall of Corpus Christi; market house, free
library, opera house and other theatres and museum. The free library has
several branches; there are also a valuable old library founded in the
17th century, a permanent library and a literary and philosophical
society. Among several hospitals are Trinity hospital, founded in 1331
by Henry Plantagenet, earl of Lancaster and of Leicester, and
Wyggeston's hospital (1513). The Wyggeston schools and Queen Elizabeth's
grammar school are amalgamated, and include high schools for boys and
girls; there are also Newton's greencoat school for boys, and municipal
technical and art schools. A memorial clock tower was erected in 1868 to
Simon de Montfort and other historical figures connected with the town.
The Abbey Park is a beautiful pleasure ground; there are also Victoria
Park, St Margaret's Pasture and other grounds. The staple trade is
hosiery, an old-established industry; there are also manufactures of
elastic webbing, cotton and lace, iron-works, makings and brick-works.
Leicester became a county borough in 1888, and the bounds were extended
and constituted one civil parish in 1892. It is a suffragan bishopric in
the diocese of Peterborough. The parliamentary borough returns two
members. Area, 8586 acres.
The Romano-British town of _Ratae Coritanorum_, on the Fosse Way, was a
municipality in A.D. 120-121. Its importance, both commercial and
military, was considerable, as is attested by the many remains found
here. Leicester (_Ledecestre_, _Legecestria_, _Leyrcestria_) was called
a "burh" in 918, and a city in Domesday. Until 874 it was the seat of a
bishopric. In 1086 both the king and Hugh de Grantmesnil had much land
in Leicester; by 1101 the latter's share had passed to Robert of Meulan,
to whom the rest of the town belonged before his death. Leicester thus
became the largest mesne borough. Between 1103 and 1118 Robert granted
his first charter to the burgesses, confirming their merchant gild. The
portmanmote was confirmed by his son. In the 13th century the town
developed its own form of government by a mayor and 24 jurats. In 1464
Edward IV. made the mayor and 4 of the council justices of the peace. In
1489 Henry VII. added 48 burgesses to the council for certain purposes,
and made it a close body; he granted another charter in 1505. In 1589
Elizabeth incorporated the town, and gave another charter in 1599. James
I. granted charters in 1605 and 1610; and Charles I. in 1630. In 1684
the charters were surrendered; a new one granted by James II. was
rescinded by proclamation in 1688.
Leicester has been represented in parliament by two members since 1295.
It has had a prescriptive market since the 13th century, now held on
Wednesday and Saturday. Before 1228-1229 the burgesses had a fair from
July 31 to August 14; changes were made in its date, which was fixed in
1360 at September 26 to October 2. It is now held on the second Thursday
in October and three following days. In 1473 another fair was granted on
April 27 to May 4. It is now held on the second Thursday in May and the
three following days. Henry VIII. granted two three-day fairs beginning
on December 8 and June 26; the first is now held on the second Friday in
December; the second was held in 1888 on the last Tuesday in June. In
1307 Edward III. granted a fair for seventeen days after the feast of
the Holy Trinity. This would fall in May or June, and may have merged in
other fairs. In 1794 the corporation sanctioned fairs on January 4, June
1, August 1, September 13 and November 2. Other fairs are now held on
the second Fridays in March and July and the Saturdays next before
Easter and in Easter week. Leicester has been a centre for brewing and
the manufacture of woollen goods since the 13th century. Knitting frames
for hosiery were introduced about 1680. Boot manufacture became
important in the 19th century.
See _Victoria County History_, Leicester; M. Bateson, _Records of
Borough of Leicester_ (Cambridge, 1899).
LEICESTERSHIRE, a midland county of England, bounded N. by
Nottinghamshire, E. by Lincolnshire and Rutland, S.E. by
Northamptonshire, S.W. by Warwickshire, and N.W. by Derbyshire, also
touching Staffordshire on the W. The area is 823.6 sq. m. The surface of
the county is an undulating tableland, the highest eminences being the
rugged hills of Charnwood Forest (q.v.) in the north-west, one of which,
Bardon Hill, has an elevation of 912 ft. The county belongs chiefly to
the basin of the Trent, which forms for a short distance its boundary
with Derbyshire. The principal tributary of the Trent in Leicestershire
is the Soar, from whose old designation the _Leire_ the county is said
to derive its name, and which rises near Hinckley in the S.E., and forms
the boundary with Nottinghamshire for some distance above its junction
with the Trent. The Wreak, which, under the name of the Eye, rises on
the borders of Rutland, flows S.W. to the Soar. Besides the Soar the
other tributaries of the Trent are the Anker, touching the boundary with
Warwickshire, the Devon and the Mease. A portion of the county in the S.
drains to the Avon, which forms part of the boundary with
Northamptonshire, and receives the Swift. The Welland forms for some
distance the boundary with Northamptonshire.
_Geology._--The oldest rocks in the county belong to the Charnian
System, a Pre-Cambrian series of volcanic ashes, grits and slates,
into which porphyroid and syenite were afterwards intruded. These
rocks emerge from the plain formed by the Keuper Marls of the Triassic
System as a group of isolated hills and peaks (known as Charnwood
Forest); these are the tops of an old mountain-range, the lower slopes
of which are still buried under the surrounding Keuper Marls. West of
this district lies the Leicestershire coalfield, where the poor state
of development of the Carboniferous Limestone shows that the Charnian
rocks formed shoals or islands in the Carboniferous Limestone sea. The
Millstone Grit just enters the county to the north of the same region,
while the Coal Measures occupy a considerable area round
Ashby-de-la-Zouch and contain valuable coal-seams. The rest of the
county is almost equally divided between the red Keuper Marls of the
Trias on the west and the grey limestones and shales of the Lias on
the east. The former were deposited in lagoons into which the land was
gradually lowered after a prolonged period of desert conditions. The
Rhaetic beds which follow the Keuper mark the incoming of the sea and
introduce the fossiliferous Liassic deposits. On the eastern margin of
the county a few small outliers of the Inferior Oolite sands and
limestones are present. The Glacial Period has left boulder-clay,
gravel and erratic blocks scattered over the surface, while later
gravels, with remains of mammoth, reindeer, &c., border some of the
present streams.
Slates, honestones, setts and roadstone from the Charnian rocks,
limestone and cement from the Carboniferous and Lias, and coal from
the Coal Measures are the chief mineral products.
_Agriculture._--The climate is mild, and, on account of the inland
position of the county, and the absence of any very high elevations,
the rainfall is very moderate. The soil is of a loamy character, the
richest district being that east of the Soar, which is occupied by
pasture, while the corn crops are grown chiefly on a lighter soil
resting above the Red Sandstone formation. About nine-tenths of the
total area is under cultivation. The proportion of pasture land is
large and increasing. It is especially rich along the river-banks.
Dairy-farming is extensively carried on, the famous Stilton cheese
being produced near Melton Mowbray. Cattle are reared in large
numbers, while of sheep the New Leicester breed is well known. It was
introduced by Robert Bakewell the agriculturist, who was born near
Loughborough in 1725. He also improved the breed of horses by the
importation of mares from Flanders.
The county is especially famed for fox-hunting, Leicester and Melton
Mowbray being favourite centres, while the kennels of the Quorn hunt
are located at Quorndon near Mount Sorrel. For this reason
Leicestershire is rich in good riding horses.
_Other Industries._--Coal is worked in the districts about Moira,
Coleorton and Coalville. Limestone is worked in various parts,
freestone is plentiful, gypsum is found, and a kind of granite,
extensively used for paving, is obtained in the Charnwood district, as
at Bardon and Mount Sorrel, and at Sapcote and Stoney Stanton in the
south-west. Apart from the mining industries, the staple manufacture
of Leicestershire is hosiery, for which the wool is obtained
principally from home-bred sheep. Its principal seats are Leicester,
Loughborough, Hinckley and Castle Donington. Cotton hose are likewise
made, and other industries include the manufacture of boots and shoes,
as at Market Harborough, elastic webbing, and bricks, also iron
founding. Melton Mowbray gives name to a well-known manufacture of
pork pies.
_Communications._--The main line of the Midland railway serves Market
Harborough, Leicester, and Loughborough, having an important junction
at Trent (on that river) for Derby and Nottingham. Branches radiate
from Leicester to Melton Mowbray, to Coalville, Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
Moira and Burton-upon-Trent, with others through the mining district
of the N.W., which is also served by the branch of the London &
North-Western railway from Nuneaton to Market Bosworth, Coalville and
Loughborough. This company serves Market Harborough from Rugby, and
branches of the Great Northern serve Market Harborough, Leicester and
Melton Mowbray. The main line of the Great Central railway passes
through Lutterworth, Leicester and Loughborough. The principal canals
are the Union and Grand Union, with which various branches are
connected with the Grand Junction, and the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal,
which joins the Coventry canal at Nuneaton. The Loughborough canal
serves that town, connecting with the river Soar.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
527,123 acres; pop. (1891) 373,584, (1901) 434,019. The area of the
administrative county is 532,788 acres. The county contains six
hundreds. The municipal boroughs are: Leicester, the county town and a
county borough (pop. 211,579), Loughborough (21,508). The urban
districts are: Ashby-de-la-Zouch (4726), Ashby Woulds (2799),
Coalville (15,281), Hinckley (11,304), Market Harborough (7735),
Melton Mowbray (7454), Quorndon (2173), Shepshed (5293). Thurmaston
(1732), Wigston Magna (8404). The county is in the Midland circuit,
has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into 9 petty
sessional divisions. The county borough of Leicester has a separate
court of quarter sessions and a separate commission of the peace.
There are 327 civil parishes. The county is divided into four
parliamentary divisions (Eastern or Melton, Mid or Loughborough,
Western or Bosworth, Southern or Harborough), each returning one
member; and the parliamentary borough of Leicester returns 2 members.
The county is in the diocese of Peterborough, with the exception of
small parts in those of Southwell and Worcester; and contains 255
ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part.
_History._--The district which is now Leicestershire was reached in the
6th century by Anglian invaders who, making their way across the Trent,
penetrated Charnwood Forest as far as Leicester, the fall of which may
be dated at about 556. In 679 the district formed the kingdom of the
Middle Angles within the kingdom of Mercia, and on the subdivision of
the Mercian see in that year was formed into a separate bishopric having
its see at Leicester. In the 9th century the district was subjugated by
the Danes, and Leicester became one of the five Danish boroughs. It was
recovered by Æthelflaed in 918, but the Northmen regained their
supremacy shortly after, and the prevalence of Scandinavian place-names
in the county bears evidence of the extent of their settlement.
Leicestershire probably originated as a shire in the 10th century, and
at the time of the Domesday Survey was divided into the four wapentakes
of Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and Gartree. The Leicestershire Survey
of the 12th century shows an additional grouping of the vills into small
local hundreds, manorial rather than administrative divisions, which
have completely disappeared. In the reign of Edward I. the divisions
appear as hundreds, and in the reign of Edward III. the additional
hundred of Sparkenhoe was formed out of Guthlaxton. Before the 17th
century Goscote was divided into East and West Goscote, and since then
the hundreds have undergone little change. Until 1566 Leicestershire and
Warwickshire had a common sheriff, the shire-court for the former being
held at Leicester.
Leicestershire constituted an archdeaconry within the diocese of Lincoln
from 1092 until its transference to Peterborough in 1837. In 1291 it
comprised the deaneries of Akeley, Leicester (now Christianity),
Framland, Gartree, Goscote, Guthlaxton and Sparkenhoe. The deaneries
remained unaltered until 1865. Since 1894 they have been as follows:
East, South and West Akeley, Christianity, Framland (3 portions),
Sparkenhoe (2 portions), Gartree (3 portions), Goscote (2 portions),
Guthlaxton (3 portions).
Among the earliest historical events connected with the county were the
siege and capture of Leicester by Henry II. in 1173 on the rebellion of
the earl of Leicester; the surrender of Leicester to Prince Edward in
1264; and the parliament held at Leicester in 1414. During the Wars of
the Roses Leicester was a great Lancastrian stronghold. In 1485 the
battle of Bosworth was fought in the county. In the Civil War of the
17th century the greater part of the county favoured the parliament,
though the mayor and some members of the corporation of Leicester sided
with the king, and in 1642 the citizens of Leicester on a summons from
Prince Rupert lent Charles £500. In 1645 Leicester was twice captured by
the Royalist forces.
Before the Conquest large estates in Leicestershire were held by Earls
Ralf, Morcar, Waltheof and Harold, but the Domesday Survey of 1086
reveals an almost total displacement of English by Norman landholders,
only a few estates being retained by Englishmen as under-tenants. The
first lay-tenant mentioned in the survey is Robert, count of Meulan,
ancestor of the Beaumont family and afterwards earl of Leicester, to
whose fief was afterwards annexed the vast holding of Hugh de
Grantmesnil, lord high steward of England. Robert de Toeni, another
Domesday tenant, founded Belvoir Castle and Priory. The fief of Robert
de Buci was bestowed on Richard Basset, founder of Laund Abbey, in the
reign of Henry I. Loughborough was an ancient seat of the Despenser
family, and Brookesby was the seat of the Villiers and the birthplace of
George Villiers, the famous duke of Buckingham. Melton Mowbray was named
from its former lords, the Mowbrays, descendants of Nigel de Albini, the
founder of Axholme Priory. Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate near
Leicester, and Bishop Latimer was born at Thurcaston.
The woollen industry flourished in Leicestershire in Norman times, and
in 1343 Leicestershire wool was rated at a higher value than that of
most other counties. Coal was worked at Coleorton in the early 15th
century and at Measham in the 17th century. The famous blue slate of
Swithland has been quarried from time immemorial, and the limestone
quarry at Barrow-on-Soar is also of very ancient repute, the monks of
the abbey of St Mary de Pré formerly enjoying the tithe of its produce.
The staple manufacture of the county, that of hosiery, originated in the
17th century, the chief centres being Leicester, Hinckley and
Loughborough, and before the development of steam-driven frames in the
19th century hand framework knitting of hose and gloves was carried on
in about a hundred villages. Wool-carding was also an extensive industry
before 1840.
In 1290 Leicestershire returned two members to parliament, and in 1295
Leicester was also represented by two members. Under the Reform Act of
1832 the county returned four members in two divisions until the
Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, under which it returned four
members in four divisions.
_Antiquities._--Remains of monastic foundations are slight, though
there were a considerable number of these. There are traces of
Leicester Abbey and of Gracedieu near Coalville, while at Ulverscroft
in Charnwood, where there was an Augustinian priory of the 12th
century, there are fine Decorated remains, including a tower. The most
noteworthy churches are found in the towns, as at Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
Hinckley, Leicester, Loughborough, Lutterworth, Market Bosworth,
Market Harborough, and Melton Mowbray (qq.v.). The principal old
castle is that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, while at Kirby Muxloe there is a
picturesque fortified mansion of Tudor date. There are several good
Elizabethan mansions, as that at Laund in the E. of the county. Among
modern mansions that of the dukes of Rutland, Belvoir Castle in the
extreme N.E., is a massive mansion of the early 19th century, finely
placed on the summit of a hill.
See _Victoria County History, Leicestershire_; W. Burton, _Description
of Leicestershire_ (London, 1622; 2nd ed., Lynn, 1777); John Nicholls,
_History and Antiquities of The County of Leicester_ (4 vols., London,
1795-1815); John Curtis, _A Topographical History of the County of
Leicester_ (Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 1831).
LEIDEN or LEYDEN, a city in the province of South Holland, the kingdom
of the Netherlands, on the Old Rhine, and a junction station 18 m. by
rail S.S.W. of Haarlem. It is connected by steam tramway with Haarlem
and The Hague respectively, and with the seaside resorts of Katwyk and
Noordwyk. There is also regular steamboat connexion with Katwyk,
Noordwyk, Amsterdam and Gouda. The population of Leiden which, it is
estimated, reached 100,000 in 1640, had sunk to 30,000 between 1796 and
1811, and in 1904 was 56,044. The two branches of the Rhine which enter
Leiden on the east unite in the centre of the town, which is further
intersected by numerous small and sombre canals, with tree-bordered
quays and old houses. On the south side of the town pleasant gardens
extend along the old Singel, or outer canal, and there is a large open
space, the Van der Werf Park, named after the burgomaster, Pieter
Andriaanszoon van der Werf, who defended the town against the Spaniards
in 1574. This open space was formed by the accidental explosion of a
powdership in 1807, hundreds of houses being demolished, including that
of the Elzevir family of printers. At the junction of the two arms of
the Rhine stands the old castle (De Burcht), a circular tower built on
an earthen mound. Its origin is unknown, but some connect it with Roman
days and others with the Saxon Hengist. Of Leiden's old gateways only
two--both dating from the end of the 17th century--are standing. Of the
numerous churches the chief are the Hooglandsche Kerk, or the church of
St Pancras, built in the 15th century and restored in 1885-1902,
containing the monument of Pieter Andriaanszoon van der Werf, and the
Pieterskerk (1315) with monuments to Scaliger, Boerhaave and other
famous scholars. The most interesting buildings are the town hall
(Stadhuis), a fine example of 16th-century Dutch building; the
Gemeenlandshuis van Rynland (1596, restored 1878); the weight-house
built by Pieter Post (1658); the former court-house, now a military
storehouse; and the ancient gymnasium (1599) and the so-called city
timber-house (Stads Timmerhuis) (1612), both built by Lieven de Key (c.
1560-1627).
In spite of a certain industrial activity and the periodical bustle of
its cattle and dairy markets, Leiden remains essentially an academic
city. The university is a flourishing institution. It was founded by
William of Orange in 1575 as a reward for the heroic defence of the
previous year, the tradition being that the citizens were offered the
choice between a university and a certain exemption from taxes.
Originally located in the convent of St Barbara, the university was
removed in 1581 to the convent of the White Nuns, the site of which it
still occupies, though that building was destroyed in 1616. The presence
within half a century of the date of its foundation of such scholars as
Justus Lipsius, Joseph Scaliger, Francis Gomarus, Hugo Grotius, Jacobus
Arminius, Daniel Heinsius and Guardas Johannes Vossius at once raised
Leiden university to the highest European fame, a position which the
learning and reputation of Jacobus Gronovius, Hermann Boerhaave,
Tiberius Hemsterhuis and David Ruhnken, among others, enabled it to
maintain down to the end of the 18th century. The portraits of many
famous professors since the earliest days hang in the university _aula_,
one of the most memorable places, as Niebuhr called it, in the history
of science. The university library contains upwards of 190,000 volumes
and 6000 MSS. and pamphlet portfolios, and is very rich in Oriental and
Greek MSS. and old Dutch travels. Among the institutions connected with
the university are the national institution for East Indian languages,
ethnology and geography; the fine botanical gardens, founded in 1587;
the observatory (1860); the natural history museum, with a very complete
anatomical cabinet; the museum of antiquities (Museum van Oudheden),
with specially valuable Egyptian and Indian departments; a museum of
Dutch antiquities from the earliest times; and three ethnographical
museums, of which the nucleus was P. F. von Siebold's Japanese
collections. The anatomical and pathological laboratories of the
university are modern, and the museums of geology and mineralogy have
been restored. The university has now five faculties, of which those of
law and medicine are the most celebrated, and is attended by about 1200
students.
The municipal museum, founded in 1869 and located in the old cloth-hall
(Laeckenhalle) (1640), contains a varied collection of antiquities
connected with Leiden, as well as some paintings including works by the
elder van Swanenburgh, Cornelius Engelbrechtszoon, Lucas van Leiden and
Jan Steen, who were all natives of Leiden. Jan van Goyen, Gabriel Metsu,
Gerard Dou and Rembrandt were also natives of this town. There is also a
small collection of paintings in the Meermansburg. The Thysian library
occupies an old Renaissance building of the year 1655, and is especially
rich in legal works and native chronicles. Noteworthy also are the
collection of the Society of Dutch Literature (1766); the collections of
casts and of engravings; the seamen's training school; the Remonstrant
seminary, transferred hither from Amsterdam in 1873; the two hospitals
(one of which is private); the house of correction; and the court-house.
Leiden is an ancient town, although it is not the _Lugdunum Batavorum_
of the Romans. Its early name was Leithen, and it was governed until
1420 by burgraves, the representatives of the courts of Holland. The
most celebrated event in its history is its siege by the Spaniards in
1574. Besieged from May until October, it was at length relieved by
the cutting of the dikes, thus enabling ships to carry provisions to
the inhabitants of the flooded town. The weaving establishments
(mainly broadcloth) of Leiden at the close of the 15th century were
very important, and after the expulsion of the Spaniards Leiden cloth,
Leiden baize and Leiden camlet were familiar terms. These industries
afterwards declined, and in the beginning of the 19th century the
baize manufacture was altogether given up. Linen and woollen
manufactures are now the most important industries, while there is a
considerable transit trade in butter and cheese.
Katwyk, or Katwijk, 6 m. N.W. of Leiden, is a popular seaside resort
and fishing village. Close by are the great locks constructed in 1807
by the engineer, F. W. Conrad (d. 1808), through which the Rhine (here
called the Katwyk canal) is admitted into the sea at low tide. The
shore and the entrance to the canal are strengthened by huge dikes. In
1520 an ancient Roman camp known as the Brittenburg was discovered
here. It was square in shape, each side measuring 82 yds., and the
remains stood about 10 ft. high. By the middle of the 18th century it
had been destroyed and covered by the sea.
See P. J. Blok, _Eine hollandsche stad in de middeleeuwen_ (The Hague,
1883); and for the siege see J. L. Motley, _The Rise of the Dutch
Republic_ (1896).
LEIDY, JOSEPH (1823-1891), American naturalist and palaeontologist, was
born in Philadelphia on the 9th of September 1823. He studied mineralogy
and botany without an instructor, and graduated in medicine at the
university of Pennsylvania in 1844. Continuing his work in anatomy and
physiology, he visited Europe in 1848, but both before and after this
period of foreign study lectured and taught in American medical
colleges. In 1853 he was appointed professor of anatomy in the
university of Pennsylvania, paying special attention to comparative
anatomy. In 1884 he promoted the establishment in the same institution
of the department of biology, of which he became director, and meanwhile
taught natural history in Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia. His
papers on biology and palaeontology were very numerous, covering both
fauna and flora, and ranging from microscopic forms of animal life to
the higher vertebrates. He wrote also occasional papers on minerals. He
was an active member of the Boston Society of Natural History and of the
American Philosophical Society; and was the recipient of various
American and foreign degrees and honours. His _Cretaceous Reptiles of
the United States_ (1865) and _Contributions to the Extinct Vertebrate
Fauna of the Western Territories_ (1873) were the most important of his
larger works; the best known and most widely circulated was an
_Elementary Treatise on Human Anatomy_ (1860, afterwards revised in
new editions). He died in Philadelphia on the 30th of April 1891.
See Memoir and portrait in _Amer. Geologist_, vol. ix. (Jan. 1892) and
Bibliography in vol. viii. (Nov. 1891) and Memoir by H. C. Chapman in
_Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc._ (Philadelphia, 1891), p. 342.
LEIF ERICSSON [LEIFR EIRIKSSON] (fl. 999-1000), Scandinavian explorer,
of Icelandic family, the first known European discoverer of "Vinland,"
"Vineland" or "Wineland, the Good," in North America. He was a son of
Eric the Red (Eirikr hinn raudi Thorvaldsson), the founder of the
earliest Scandinavian settlements--from Iceland--in Greenland (985). In
999 he went from Greenland to the court of King Olaf Tryggvason in
Norway, stopping in the Hebrides on the way. On his departure from
Norway in 1000, the king commissioned him to proclaim Christianity in
Greenland. As on his outward voyage, Leif was again driven far out of
his course by contrary weather--this time to lands (in America) "of
which he had previously had no knowledge," where "self-sown" wheat grew,
and vines, and "mösur" (maple?) wood. Leif took specimens of all these,
and sailing away came home safely to his father's home in Brattahlid on
Ericsfiord in Greenland. On his voyage from this Vineland to Greenland,
Leif rescued some shipwrecked men, and from this, and his discoveries,
gained his name of "The Lucky" (_hinn heppni_). On the subsequent
expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni for the further exploration and
settlement of the Far Western vine-country, it is recorded that certain
Gaels, incredibly fleet of foot, who had been given to Leif by Olaf
Tryggvason, and whom Leif had offered to Thorfinn, were put on shore to
scout.
Such is the account of the _Saga of Eric the Red_, supported by a number
of briefer references in early Icelandic and other literature. The less
trustworthy history of the _Flatey Book_ makes Biarni Heriulfsson in 985
discover Helluland (Labrador?) as well as other western lands which he
does not explore, not even permitting his men to land; while Leif
Ericsson follows up Biarni's discoveries, begins the exploration of
Helluland, Markland and Vinland, and realizes some of the charms of the
last named, where he winters. But this secondary authority (the _Flatey
Book_ narrative), which till lately formed the basis of all general
knowledge as to Vinland, abounds in contradictions and difficulties from
which _Eric the Red Saga_ is comparatively free. Thus (in _Flatey_) the
grapes of Vinland are found in winter and gathered in spring; the man
who first finds them, Leif's foster-father Tyrker the German, gets drunk
from eating the fruit; and the vines themselves are spoken of as big
trees affording timber. Looking at the record in _Eric the Red Saga_, it
would seem probable that Leif's Vinland answers to some part of southern
Nova Scotia. See VINLAND. (As to Helluland and Markland see THORFINN
KARLSEFNI.)
The MSS. of _Eric the Red's Saga_ are Nos. 544 and 557 of the
Arne-Magnaean collection in Copenhagen; the MS. of the _Flatey Book_,
so called because it was long the property of a family living on Flat
Island in Broad Firth (Flatey in Breiðafjord [B-eidafj-d]), on the
north-west coast of Iceland, was presented in 1662 to the Royal
Library of Denmark, of which it is still one of the chief treasures.
These leading narratives are supplemented by Adam of Bremen, _Gesta
Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_, chap. 38 (247 Lappenberg) of
book iv. (often separately entitled _Descriptio Insularum Aquilonis_;
Adam's is the earliest extant reference to Vinland, c. 1070): we have
also notices of Vinland in the _Libellus Islandorum_ of Ari Frodi (c.
1120), the oldest Icelandic historian; in the _Kristni Saga_ (repeated
in Snorri Sturlason's _Heimskringla_); in _Eyrbyggia Saga_ (c. 1250);
in _Gretti Saga_ (c. 1290); and in an Icelandic chorography of the
14th century, or earlier, partly derived from the famous traveller
Abbot Nicolas of Thing-eyrar ([+]1159).
See Gustav Storm, "Studies on the Vineland Voyages," in the _Mémoires
de la Société royale des Antiquaires du Nord_ (Copenhagen, 1888); and
_Eiriks Saga Raudha_ (Copenhagen, 1891); A. M. Reeves, _Finding of
Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic Discovery of America_
(London, 1890); in this work the original authorities are given in
full, with photographic facsimiles, English translations and adequate
commentary; Rafn's _Antiquitates Americanae_ (Copenhagen, 1837)
contains all the sources, but the editor's personal views have in many
cases failed to satisfy criticism; the _Flatey_ text is printed also
by Vigfusson and Unger in _Flateyjar-bok_, vol. i. (Christiania,
1860). There are also translations of _Flatey_ and _Red Eric Saga_ in
Beamish, _Discovery of North America, by the Northmen_ (Lond., 1841);
E. F. Slafter, _Voyages of the Northmen_ (Boston, 1877); B. F. de
Costa, _Pre-Columbian Discovery of America by the Northmen_ (Albany,
1901); and _Original Narratives of Early American History; The
Northmen, Columbus and Cabot_, pp. 1-66 (New York, 1906). See also C.
Raymond Beazley, _Dawn of Modern Geography_ ii. 48-83 (London, 1901);
Josef Fischer, _Die Entdeckungen der Normannen in Amerika_ (Freiburg
i. B., 1902); John Fiske, _Discovery of America_, vol. i.; Juul
Dieserud, "Norse Discoveries in America," in the _Bulletin of the
American Geographical Society_ (February, 1901); G. Vigfusson,
_Origines Islandicae_ (1905), which strangely expresses a preference
for the _Flatey Book_ "account of the first sighting of the American
continent" by the Norsemen. (C. R. B.)
LEIGH, EDWARD (1602-1671), English Puritan and theologian, was born at
Shawell, Leicestershire. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, from
1616, and subsequently became a member of the Middle Temple. In 1636 he
entered parliament as member for Stafford, and during the Civil War held
a colonelcy in the parliamentary army. He has sometimes been confounded
with John Ley (1583-1662), and so represented as having sat in the
Westminster Assembly. The public career of Leigh terminated with his
expulsion from parliament with the rest of the Presbyterian party in
1648. From an early age he had studied theology and produced numerous
compilations, the most important being the _Critica Sacra, containing
Observations on all the Radices of the Hebrew Words of the Old and the
Greek of the New Testament_ (1639-1644; new ed., with supplement, 1662),
for which the author received the thanks of the Westminster Assembly, to
whom it was dedicated. His other works include _Select and Choice
Observations concerning the First Twelve Caesars_ (1635); _A Treatise of
Divinity_ (1646-1651); _Annotations upon the New Testament_ (1650), of
which a Latin translation by Arnold was published at Leipzig in 1732; _A
Body of Divinity_ (1654); _A Treatise of Religion and Learning_ (1656);
_Annotations of the Five Poetical Books of the Old Testament_ (1657).
Leigh died in Staffordshire in June 1671.
LEIGH, a market town and municipal borough in the Leigh parliamentary
division of Lancashire, England, 11 m. W. by N. from Manchester by the
London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1891) 30,882, (1901) 40,001. The
ancient parish church of St Mary the Virgin was, with the exception of
the tower, rebuilt in 1873 in the Perpendicular style. The grammar
school, the date of whose foundation is unknown, received its principal
endowments in 1655, 1662 and 1681. The staple manufactures are silk and
cotton; there are also glass works, foundries, breweries, and flour
mills, with extensive collieries. Though the neighbourhood is
principally an industrial district, several fine old houses are left
near Leigh. The town was incorporated in 1899, and the corporation
consists of a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area, 6358 acres.
LEIGHTON, FREDERICK LEIGHTON, BARON (1830-1896), English painter and
sculptor, the son of a physician, was born at Scarborough on the 3rd of
December 1830. His grandfather, Sir James Leighton, also a physician, was
long resident at the court of St Petersburg. Frederick Leighton was taken
abroad at a very early age. In 1840 he learnt drawing at Rome under
Signor Meli. The family moved to Dresden and Berlin, where he attended
classes at the Academy. In 1843 he was sent to school at Frankfort, and
in the winter of 1844 accompanied his family to Florence, where his
future career as an artist was decided. There he studied under Bezzuoli
and Segnolini at the Accademia delle Belle Arti, and attended anatomy
classes under Zanetti; but he soon returned to complete his general
education at Frankfort, receiving no further direct instruction in art
for five years. He went to Brussels in 1848, where he met Wiertz and
Gallait, and painted some pictures, including "Cimabue finding Giotto,"
and a portrait of himself. In 1849 he studied for a few months in Paris,
where he copied Titian and Correggio in the Louvre, and then returned to
Frankfort, where he settled down to serious art work under Edward
Steinle, whose pupil he declared he was "in the fullest sense of the
term." Though his artistic training was mainly German, and his master
belonged to the same school as Cornelius and Overbeck, he loved Italian
art and Italy and the first picture by which he became known to the
British public was "Cimabue's Madonna carried in Procession through the
Streets of Florence," which appeared at the Royal Academy in 1855. At
this time the works of the Pre-Raphaelites almost absorbed public
interest in art--it was the year of Holman Hunt's "Light of the World,"
and the "Rescue," by Millais. Yet Leighton's picture, painted in quite a
different style, created a sensation, and was purchased by Queen
Victoria. Although, since his infancy, he had only visited England once
(in 1851, when he came to see the Great Exhibition), he was not quite
unknown in the cultured and artistic world of London, as he had made many
friends during a residence in Rome of some two years or more after he
left Frankfort in 1852. Amongst these were Giovanni Costa, Robert
Browning, James Knowles, George Mason and Sir Edward Poynter, then a
youth, whom he allowed to work in his studio. He also met Thackeray, who
wrote from Rome to the young Millais: "Here is a versatile young dog, who
will run you close for the presidentship one of these days." During these
years he painted several Florentine subjects--"Tybalt and Romeo," "The
Death of Brunelleschi," a cartoon of "The Pest in Florence according to
Boccaccio," and "The Reconciliation of the Montagues and the Capulets."
He now turned his attention to themes of classic legend, which at first
he treated in a "Romantic spirit." His next picture, exhibited in 1856,
was "The Triumph of Music: Orpheus by the Power of his Art redeems his
Wife from Hades." It was not a success, and he did not again exhibit till
1858, when he sent a little picture of "The Fisherman and the Syren" to
the Royal Academy, and "Samson and Delilah" to the Society of British
Artists in Suffolk Street. In 1858 he visited London and made the
acquaintance of the leading Pre-Raphaelites--Rossetti, Holman Hunt and
Millais. In the spring of 1859 he was at Capri, always a favourite resort
of his, and made many studies from nature, including a very famous
drawing of a lemon tree. It was not till 1860 that he settled in London,
when he took up his quarters at 2 Orme Square, Bayswater, where he stayed
till, in 1860, he moved to his celebrated house in Holland Park Road,
with its Arab hall decorated with Damascus tiles. There he lived till his
death. He now began to fulfil the promise of his "Cimabue," and by such
pictures as "Paolo e Francesca," "The Star of Bethlehem," "Jezebel and
Ahab taking Possession of Naboth's Vineyard," "Michael Angelo musing over
his Dying Servant," "A Girl feeding Peacocks," and "The Odalisque," all
exhibited in 1861-1863, rose rapidly to the head of his profession. The
two latter pictures were marked by the rhythm of line and luxury of
colour which are among the most constant attributes of his art, and may
be regarded as his first dreams of Oriental beauty, with which he
afterwards showed so great a sympathy. In 1864 he exhibited "Dante in
Exile" (the greatest of his Italian pictures), "Orpheus and Eurydice" and
"Golden Hours." In the winter of the same year he was elected an
Associate of the Royal Academy. After this the main effort of his life
was to realize visions of beauty suggested by classic myth and history.
If we add to pictures of this class a few Scriptural subjects, a few
Oriental dreams, one or two of tender sentiment like "Wedded" (one of the
most popular of his pictures, and well known by not only an engraving,
but a statuette modelled by an Italian sculptor), a number of studies of
very various types of female beauty, "Teresina," "Biondina," "Bianca,"
"Moretta," &c., and an occasional portrait, we shall nearly exhaust the
two classes into which Lord Leighton's work (as a painter) can be
divided.
Amongst the finest of his classical pictures were--"Syracusan Bride
leading Wild Beasts in Procession to the Temple of Diana" (1866), "Venus
disrobing for the Bath" (1867), "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," and
"Helios and Rhodos" (1869), "Hercules wrestling with Death for the Body
of Alcestis" (1871), "Clytemnestra" (1874), "The Daphnephoria" (1876),
"Nausicaa" (1878), "An Idyll" (1881), two lovers under a spreading oak
listening to the piping of a shepherd and gazing on the rich plain
below; "Phryne" (1882), a nude figure standing in the sun; "Cymon and
Iphigenia" (1884), "Captive Andromache" (1888), now in the Manchester
Art Gallery; with the "Last Watch of Hero" (1887), "The Bath of Psyche"
(1890), now in the Chantrey Bequest collection; "The Garden of the
Hesperides" (1892), "Perseus and Andromeda" and "The Return of
Persephone," now in the Leeds Gallery (1891); and "Clytie," his last
work (1896). All these pictures are characterized by nobility of
conception, by almost perfect draughtsmanship, by colour which, if not
of the highest quality, is always original, choice and effective. They
often reach distinction and dignity of attitude and gesture, and
occasionally, as in the "Hercules and Death," the "Electra" and the
"Clytemnestra," a noble intensity of feeling. Perhaps, amidst the great
variety of qualities which they possess, none is more universal and more
characteristic than a rich elegance, combined with an almost fastidious
selection of beautiful forms. It is the super-eminence of these
qualities, associated with great decorative skill, that make the
splendid pageant of the "Daphnephoria" the most perfect expression of
his individual genius. Here we have his composition, his colour, his
sense of the joy and movement of life, his love of art and nature at
their purest and most spontaneous, and the result is a work without a
rival of its kind in the British School.
Leighton was one of the most thorough draughtsmen of his day. His
sketches and studies for his pictures are numerous and very highly
esteemed. They contain the essence of his conceptions, and much of their
spiritual beauty and subtlety of expression was often lost in the
elaboration of the finished picture. He seldom succeeded in retaining
the freshness of his first idea more completely than in his last
picture--"Clytie"--which was left unfinished on his easel. He rarely
painted sacred subjects. The most beautiful of his few pictures of this
kind was the "David musing on the Housetop" (1865). Others were "Elijah
in the Wilderness" (1879), "Elisha raising the Son of the Shunammite"
(1881) and a design intended for the decoration of the dome of St Paul's
Cathedral, "And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it" (1892), now
in the Tate Gallery, and the terrible "Rizpah" of 1893. His diploma
picture was "St Jerome," exhibited in 1869. Besides these pictures of
sacred subjects, he made some designs for Dalziel's Bible, which for
force of imagination excel the paintings. The finest of these are "Cain
and Abel," and "Samson with the Gates of Gaza."
Not so easily to be classed, but among the most individual and beautiful
of his pictures, are a few of which the motive was purely aesthetic.
Amongst these may specially be noted "The Summer Moon," two Greek girls
sleeping on a marble bench, and "The Music Lesson," in which a lovely
little girl is seated on her lovely young mother's lap learning to play
the lute. With these, as a work produced without any literary
suggestion, though very different in feeling, may be associated the
"Eastern Slinger scaring Birds in the Harvest-time: Moon-rise" (1875), a
nude figure standing on a raised platform in a field of wheat.
Leighton also painted a few portraits, including those of Signor Costa,
the Italian landscape painter, Mr F. P. Cockerell, Mrs Sutherland Orr
(his sister), Amy, Lady Coleridge, Mrs Stephen Ralli and (the finest of
all) Sir Richard Burton, the traveller and Eastern scholar, which was
exhibited in 1876 and is now in the National Portrait Gallery.
Like other painters of the day, notably G. F. Watts, Lord Leighton
executed a few pieces of sculpture. His "Athlete struggling with a
Python" was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877, and was purchased
for the Chantrey Bequest collection. Another statue, "The Sluggard," of
equal merit, was exhibited in 1886; and a charming statuette of a nude
figure of a girl looking over her shoulder at a frog, called "Needless
Alarms," was completed in the same year, and presented by the artist to
Sir John Millais in acknowledgment of the gift by the latter of his
picture, "Shelling Peas." He made the beautiful design for the reverse
of the Jubilee Medal of 1887. It was also his habit to make sketch
models in wax for the figures in his pictures, many of which are in the
possession of the Royal Academy. As an illustrator in black and white he
also deserves to be remembered, especially for the cuts to Dalziel's
Bible, already mentioned, and his illustrations to George Eliot's
_Romola_, which appeared in the _Cornhill Magazine_. The latter are full
of the spirit of Florence and the Florentines, and show a keen sense of
humour, elsewhere excluded from his work. Of his decorative paintings,
the best known are the elegant compositions (in spirit fresco) on the
walls of the Victoria and Albert Museum, representing "The Industrial
Arts of War and Peace." There, also, is the refined and spirited figure
of "Cimabue" in mosaic. In Lyndhurst church are mural decorations to the
memory of Mr Pepys Cockerell, illustrating "The Parable of the Wise and
Foolish Virgins."
Leighton's life was throughout marked by distinction, artistic and
social. Though not tall, he had a fine presence and manners, at once
genial and courtly. He was welcomed in all societies, from the palace to
the studio. He spoke German, Italian and French, as well as English. He
had much taste and love for music, and considerable gifts as an orator
of a florid type. His Presidential Discourses (published, London, 1896)
were full of elegance and culture. For seven years (1876-1883) he
commanded the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteers, retiring with
the rank of honorary colonel, and subsequently receiving the Volunteer
Decoration. Yet no social attractions or successes diverted him from his
devotion to his profession, the welfare of his brethren in art or of the
Royal Academy. As president he was punctilious in the discharge of his
duties, ready to give help and encouragement to artists young and old,
and his tenure of the office was marked by some wise and liberal
reforms. He frequently went abroad, generally to Italy, where he was
well known and appreciated. He visited Spain in 1866, Egypt in 1868,
when he went up the Nile with Ferdinand de Lesseps in a steamer lent by
the Khedive. He was at Damascus for a short time in 1873. It was his
custom on all these trips to make little lively sketches of landscape
and buildings. These fresh little flowers of his leisure used to
decorate the walls of his studio, and at the sale of its contents after
his death realized considerable prices. It was when he was in the full
tide of his popularity and success, and apparently in the full tide of
his personal vigour also, that he was struck with _angina pectoris_. For
a long time he struggled bravely with this cruel disease, never omitting
except from absolute necessity any of his official duties except during
a brief period of rest abroad, which failed to produce the desired
effect. His death occurred on the 25th of January 1896.
Leighton was elected an Academician in 1868, and succeeded Sir Francis
Grant as President in 1878, when he was knighted. He was created a
baronet in 1886, and was raised to the peerage in 1896, a few days
before his death. He held honorary degrees at the universities of
Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh and Durham, was an Associate of the
Institute of France; a Commander of the Legion of Honour, and of the
Order of Leopold. He was a Knight of the Coburg Order, "Dem Verdienste,"
and of the Prussian Order, "Pour le Mérite," and a member of at least
ten foreign Academies. In 1859 he won a medal of the second class at the
Paris Salon, and at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 a gold medal. As
a sculptor he was awarded a medal of the first class in 1878 and the
Grand Prix in 1889.
See _Art Annual_ (Mrs A. Lang), 1884; Royal Academy Catalogue, Winter
Exhibition, 1897; National Gallery of British Art Catalogue; C.
Monkhouse, _British Contemporary Artists_ (London, 1899); Ernest Rhys,
_Frederick, Lord Leighton_ (London, 1898, 1900). (C. Mo.)
LEIGHTON, ROBERT (1611-1684), archbishop of Glasgow, was born, probably
in London (others say at Ulishaven, Forfarshire), in 1611, the eldest
son of Dr Alexander Leighton, the author of _Zion's Plea against the
Prelacie_, whose terrible sufferings for having dared to question the
divine right of Episcopacy, under the persecution of Laud, form one of
the most disgraceful incidents of the reign of Charles I. Dr Leighton is
said to have been of the old family of Ulishaven in Forfarshire. From
his earliest childhood, according to Burnet, Robert Leighton was
distinguished for his saintly disposition. In his sixteenth year (1627)
he was sent to the university of Edinburgh, where, after studying with
distinguished success for four years, he took the degree of M.A. in
1631. His father then sent him to travel abroad, and he is understood to
have spent several years in France, where he acquired a complete mastery
of the French language. While there he passed a good deal of time with
relatives at Douai who had become Roman Catholics, and with whom he kept
up a correspondence for many years afterwards. Either at this time or on
some subsequent visit he had also a good deal of intercourse with
members of the Jansenist party. This intercourse contributed to the
charity towards those who differed from him in religious opinion, which
ever afterwards formed a feature in his character. The exact period of
his return to Scotland has not been ascertained; but in 1641 he was
ordained Presbyterian minister of Newbattle in Midlothian. In 1652 he
resigned his charge and went to reside in Edinburgh. What led him to
take this step does not distinctly appear. The account given is that he
had little sympathy with the fiery zeal of his brother clergymen on
certain political questions, and that this led to severe censures on
their part.
Early in 1653 he was appointed principal of the university of Edinburgh,
and primarius professor of divinity. In this post he continued for seven
or eight years. A considerable number of his Latin prelections and other
addresses (published after his death) are remarkable for the purity and
elegance of their Latinity, and their subdued and meditative eloquence.
They are valuable instructions in the art of living a holy life rather
than a body of scientific divinity. Throughout, however, they bear the
marks of a deeply learned and accomplished mind, saturated with both
classical and patristic reading, and like all his works they breathe the
spirit of one who lived very much above the world. His mental temper was
too unlike the temper of his time to secure success as a teacher.
In 1661, when Charles II. had resolved to force Episcopacy once more
upon Scotland, he fixed upon Leighton for one of his bishops (see
SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF). Leighton, living very much out of the world, and
being somewhat deficient in what may be called the political sense, was
too open to the persuasions used to induce him to enter a sphere for
which he instinctively felt he was ill qualified. The Episcopacy which
he contemplated was that modified form which had been suggested by
Archbishop Ussher, and to which Baxter and many of the best of the
English Nonconformists would have readily given their adherence. It is
significant that he always refused to be addressed as "my lord," and it
is stated that when dining with his clergy on one occasion he wished to
seat himself at the foot of the table.
Leighton soon began to discover the sort of men with whom he was to be
associated in the episcopate. He travelled with them in the same coach
from London towards Scotland, but having become, as he told Burnet, very
weary of their company (as he doubted not they were of his), and having
found that they intended to make a kind of triumphal entrance into
Edinburgh, he left them at Morpeth and retired to the earl of Lothian's
at Newbattle. He very soon lost all hope of being able to build up the
church by the means which the government had set on foot, and his work,
as he confessed to Burnet, "seemed to him a fighting against God." He
did, however, what he could, governing his diocese (that of Dunblane)
with the utmost mildness, as far as he could, preventing the persecuting
measures in active operation elsewhere, and endeavouring to persuade the
Presbyterian clergy to come to an accommodation with their Episcopal
brethren. After a hopeless struggle of three or four years to induce the
government to put a stop to their fierce persecution of the Covenanters,
he determined to resign his bishopric, and went up to London in 1665 for
this purpose. He so far worked upon the mind of Charles that he promised
to enforce the adoption of milder measures, but it does not appear that
any material improvement took place. In 1669 Leighton again went to
London and made fresh representations on the subject, but little result
followed. The slight disposition, however, shown by the government to
accommodate matters appears to have inspired Leighton with so much hope
that in the following year he agreed, though with a good deal of
hesitation, to accept the archbishopric of Glasgow. In this higher
sphere he redoubled his efforts with the Presbyterians to bring about
some degree of conciliation with Episcopacy, but the only result was to
embroil himself with the hot-headed Episcopal party as well as with the
Presbyterians. In utter despair, therefore, of being able to be of any
further service to the cause of religion, he resigned the archbishopric
in 1674 and retired to the house of his widowed sister, Mrs Lightmaker,
at Broadhurst in Sussex. Here he spent the remaining ten years, probably
the happiest of his life, and died suddenly on a visit to London in
1684.
It is difficult to form a just or at least a full estimate of
Leighton's character. He stands almost alone in his age. In some
respects he was immeasurably superior both in intellect and in piety
to most of the Scottish ecclesiastics of his time; and yet he seems to
have had almost no influence in moulding the characters or conduct of
his contemporaries. So intense was his absorption in the love of God
that little room seems to have been left in his heart for human
sympathy or affection. Can it be that there was after all something to
repel in his outward manner? Burnet tells us that he had never seen
him laugh, and very seldom even smile. In other respects, too, he
gives the impression of standing aloof from human interests and ties.
It may go for little that he never married, but it was surely a
curious idiosyncrasy that he habitually cherished the wish (which was
granted him) that he might die in an inn. In fact, holy meditation
seems to have been the one absorbing interest of his life. At Dunblane
tradition preserved the memory of "the good bishop," silent and
companionless, pacing up and down the sloping walk by the river's bank
under the beautiful west window of his cathedral. And from a letter of
the earl of Lothian to his countess it appears that, whatever other
reasons Leighton might have had for resigning his charge at Newbattle,
the main object which he had in view was to be left to his own
thoughts. It is therefore not very wonderful that he was completely
misjudged and even disliked both by the Presbyterian and by the
Episcopal party.
It was characteristic of him that he could never be made to understand
that anything which he wrote possessed the smallest value. None of his
works were published by himself, and it is stated that he left orders
that all his MSS. should be destroyed after his death. But fortunately
for the world this charge was disregarded. Like all the best writing,
it seems to flow without effort; it is the easy unaffected outcome of
his saintly nature. Throughout, however, it is the language of a
scholar and a man of perfect literary taste; and with all its
spirituality of thought there are no mystical raptures, such as are
often found mingled with the Scottish practical theology of the 17th
century. It was a common reproach against Leighton that he had
leanings towards Roman Catholicism, and perhaps this is so far true
that he had formed himself in some degree upon the model of some of
the saintly persons of that faith, such as Pascal and Thomas à Kempis.
The best account of Leighton's character is that of Bishop Burnet in
_Hist. of his Own Times_ (1723-1734). No perfectly satisfactory
edition of Leighton's works exists. After his death his _Commentary on
Peter_ and several of his other works were published under the
editorship of his friend Dr Fall, and those early editions may be said
to be, with some drawbacks, by far the best. His later editors have
been possessed by the mania of reducing his good archaic and nervous
language to the bald feebleness of modern phraseology. It is
unfortunately impossible to exempt from this criticism even the
edition, in other respects very valuable and meritorious, published
under the superintendence of the Rev. W. West (7 vols., London,
1869-1875); see also volume of selections (with biography) by Dr Blair
of Dunblane (1883), who also contributed "Bibliography of Archbishop
Leighton" to the _British and Foreign Evangelical Review_ (July 1883);
Andrew Lang, _History of Scotland_ (1902). (J. T. Br.; D. Mn.)
LEIGHTON BUZZARD, a market town in the southern parliamentary division
of Bedfordshire, England, 40 m. N.W. of London by the London &
North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6331. It lies in
the flat valley of the Ouzel, a tributary of the Ouse, sheltered to east
and west by low hills. The river here forms the county boundary with
Buckinghamshire. The Grand Junction canal follows its course, and gives
the town extensive water-communications. The church of All Saints is
cruciform, with central tower and spire. It is mainly Early English, and
a fine example of the style; but some of the windows including the nave
clerestory, and the beautiful carved wooden roof, are Perpendicular. The
west door has good early iron-work; and on one of the tower-arch pillars
are some remarkable early carvings of jocular character, one of which
represents a man assaulted by a woman with a ladle. The market cross is
of the 14th century, much restored, having an open arcade supporting a
pinnacle, with flying buttresses. The statues in its niches are modern,
but the originals are placed on the exterior of the town hall. Leighton
has a considerable agricultural trade, and some industry in
straw-plaiting. Across the Ouzel in Buckinghamshire, where Leighton
railway station is situated, is the urban district of Linslade (pop.
2157).
LEININGEN, the name of an old German family, whose lands lay principally
in Alsace and Lorraine. The first count of Leiningen about whom anything
certain is known was a certain Emicho (d. 1117), whose family became
extinct in the male line when Count Frederick, a Minnesinger, died about
1220. Frederick's sister, Liutgarde, married Simon, count of
Saarbrücken, and Frederick, one of their sons, inheriting the lands of
the counts of Leiningen, took their arms and their name. Having
increased its possessions the Leiningen family was divided about 1317
into two branches; the elder of these, whose head was a landgrave, died
out in 1467. On this event its lands fell to a female, the last
landgrave's sister Margaret, wife of Reinhard, lord of Westerburg, and
their descendants were known as the family of Leiningen-Westerburg.
Later this family was divided into two branches, those of
Alt-Leiningen-Westerburg and Neu-Leiningen-Westerburg, both of which are
represented to-day.
Meanwhile the younger branch of the Leiningens, known as the family of
Leiningen-Dagsburg, was flourishing, and in 1560 this was divided into
the lines of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg, founded by Count John Philip
(d. 1562), and Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim or Falkenburg, founded by
Count Emicho (d. 1593). In 1779 the head of the former line was raised
to the rank of a prince of the Empire. In 1801 this family was deprived
of its lands on the left bank of the Rhine by France, but in 1803 it
received ample compensation for these losses. A few years later its
possessions were mediatized, and they are now included mainly in Baden,
but partly in Bavaria and in Hesse. A former head of this family, Prince
Emich Charles, married Maria Louisa Victoria, princess of Saxe-Coburg;
after his death in 1814 the princess married George III.'s son, the duke
of Kent, by whom she became the mother of Queen Victoria. In 1910 the
head of the family was Prince Emich (b. 1866).
The family of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim was divided into three
branches, the two senior of which became extinct during the 18th century.
At present it is represented by the counts of Leiningen-Guntersblum and
Leiningen-Heidesheim, called also Leiningen-Billigheim and
Leiningen-Neidenau.
See Brinckmeier, _Genealogische Geschichte des Hauses Leiningen_
(Brunswick, 1890-1891).
LEINSTER, a province of Ireland, occupying the middle and south-eastern
portion of the island, and extending to the left bank of the Shannon. It
includes counties Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Louth, King's County,
Kildare, Dublin, Queen's County, Carlow, Wicklow, Kilkenny and Wexford
(q.v. for topography, &c.). Leinster (_Laighen_) was one of the early
Milesian provinces of Ireland. Meath, the modern county of which is
included in Leinster, was the name of a separate province created in the
2nd century A.D. The kings of Leinster retained their position until
1171, and their descendants maintained independence within a
circumscribed territory as late as the 16th century. In 1170 Richard
Strongbow married Aoife, daughter of the last king Diarmid, and thus
acquired the nominal right to the kingdom of Leinster. Henry II.
confirmed him in powers of jurisdiction equivalent to those of a
palatinate. His daughter Isabel married William Marshal, earl of
Pembroke. Their five daughters shared the territory of Leinster, which
was now divided into five liberties carrying the same extensive
privileges as the undivided territory, namely, Carlow, Kilkenny,
Wexford, Kildare and Leix. The history of Leinster thereafter passes to
the several divisions which were gradually organized into the present
counties.
LEIPZIG, a city of Germany, the second town of the kingdom of Saxony in
size and the first in commercial importance, 70 m. N.W. of Dresden and
111 m. S.W. of Berlin by rail, and 6 m. from the Prussian frontier. It
lies 350 ft. above the sea-level, In a broad and fertile plain, just
above the junction of three small rivers, the Pleisse, the Parthe and
the Elster, which flow in various branches through or round the town and
afterwards under the name of the Elster, discharge themselves into the
Saale. The climate, though not generally unhealthy, may be inclement in
winter and hot in summer.
Leipzig is one of the most enterprising and prosperous of German towns,
and in point of trade and industries ranks among German cities
immediately after Berlin and Hamburg. It possesses the third largest
German university, is the seat of the supreme tribunal of the German
empire and the headquarters of the XIX. (Saxon) army corps, and forms
one of the most prominent literary and musical centres in Europe. Its
general aspect is imposing, owing to the number of new public buildings
erected during the last 20 years of the 19th century. It consists of the
old, or inner city, surrounded by a wide and pleasant promenade laid out
on the site of the old fortifications, and of the very much more
extensive inner and outer suburbs. Many thriving suburban villages, such
as Reudnitz, Volkmarsdorf, Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Plagwitz and Lindenau,
have been incorporated with the city, and with these accretions the
population in 1905 amounted to 502,570. On the north-west the town is
bordered by the fine public park and woods of the Rosenthal, and on the
west by the Johanna Park and by pleasant groves leading along the banks
of the Pleisse.
The old town, with its narrow streets and numerous houses of the 16th
and 17th centuries, with their high-pitched roofs, preserves much of its
quaint medieval aspect. The market square, lying almost in its centre,
is of great interest. Upon it the four main business streets, the
Grimmaische-, the Peters-, the Hain- and the Katharinen-strassen,
converge, and its north side is occupied by the beautiful old Rathaus, a
Gothic edifice built by the burgomaster Hieronymus Lotter in 1556, and
containing life-size portraits of the Saxon rulers. Superseded by the
new Rathaus, it has been restored and accommodates a municipal museum.
Behind the market square and the main street lie a labyrinth of narrow
streets interconnected by covered courtyards and alleys, with extensive
warehouses and cellars. The whole, in the time of the great fairs, when
every available place is packed with merchandise and thronged with a
motley crowd, presents the semblance of an oriental bazaar. Close to the
old Rathaus is Auerbach's _Hof_, built about 1530 and interesting as
being immortalized in Goethe's _Faust_. It has a curious old wine vault
(Keller) which contains a series of mural paintings of the 16th century,
representing the legend on which the play is based. Near by is the
picturesque Königshaus, for several centuries the palace of the Saxon
monarchs in Leipzig and in which King Frederick Augustus I. was made
prisoner by the Allies after the battle of Leipzig in October 1813. At
the end of the Petersstrasse, in the south-west corner of the inner town
and on the promenade, lay the Pleissenburg, or citadel, modelled,
according to tradition, on that of Milan, and built early in the 13th
century. Here Luther in 1519 held his momentous disputation. The round
tower was long used as an observatory and the building as a barrack.
With the exception of the tower, which has been encased and raised to
double its former height--to 300 ft.--the citadel has been removed and
its site is occupied by the majestic pile of the new Rathaus in
Renaissance style, with the tower as its central feature. The business
of Leipzig is chiefly concentrated in the inner city, but the
headquarters of the book trade lie in the eastern suburb. Between the
inner town and the latter lies the magnificent Augustusplatz, one of the
most spacious squares in Europe. Upon it, on the side of the inner town
and included within it, is the Augusteum, or main building of the
university, a handsome edifice containing a splendid hall (1900),
lecture rooms and archaeological collections; adjoining it is the
Paulinerkirche, the university church. The other sides of the square are
occupied by the new theatre, an imposing Renaissance structure, designed
by C. F. Langhans, the post office and the museum of sculpture and
painting, the latter faced by the Mende fountain. The churches of
Leipzig are comparatively uninteresting. The oldest, in its present
form, is the Paulinerkirche, built in 1229-1240, and restored in 1900,
with a curiously grooved cloister; the largest in the inner town is the
Thomaskirche, with a high-pitched roof dating from 1496, and memorable
for its association with J. Sebastian Bach, who was organist here. Among
others may be mentioned the new Gothic Petrikirche, with a lofty spire,
in the south suburb. On the east is the Johanniskirche, round which
raged the last conflict in the battle of 1813, when it suffered severely
from cannon shot. In it is the tomb of Bach, and outside that of the
poet Gellert. Opposite its main entrance is the Reformation monument,
with bronze statues of Luther and Melanchthon, by Johann Schilling,
unveiled in 1883. In the Johanna Park is the Lutherkirche (1886), and
close at hand the Roman Catholic and English churches. To the south-west
of the new Rathaus, lying beyond the Pleisse and between it and the
Johanna Park, is the new academic quarter. Along the fine thoroughfares,
noticeable among which is the Karl Tauchnitz Strasse, are closely
grouped many striking buildings. Here is the new Gewandhaus, or
Konzerthaus, built in 1880-1884, in which the famous concerts called
after its name are given, the old Gewandhaus, or Drapers' Hall, in the
inner town having again been devoted to commercial use as a market hall
during the fairs. Immediately opposite to it is the new university
library, built in 1891, removed hither from the old monasterial
buildings behind the Augusteum, and containing some 500,000 volumes and
5000 MSS. Behind that again is the academy of art, one wing of which
accommodates the industrial art school; and close beside it are the
school of technical arts and the conservatoire of music. Between the
university library and the new Gewandhaus stands a monument of
Mendelssohn (1892). Immediately to the east of the school of arts rises
the grand pile of the supreme tribunal of the German empire, the
Reichsgericht, which compares with the Reichstag building in Berlin. It
was built in 1888-1895 from plans by Ludwig Hoffmann, and is
distinguished for the symmetry and harmony of its proportions. It bears
an imposing dome, 225 ft. high, crowned by a bronze figure of Truth by
O. Lessing, 18 ft. high. Opposite, on the outer side of the Pleisse, are
the district law-courts, large and substantial, though not specially
imposing edifices. In the same quarter stands the Grassi Museum
(1893-1896) for industrial art and ethnology, and a short distance away
are the palatial buildings of the Reichs and Deutsche Banks. Farther
east and lying in the centre of the book-trade quarter stand close
together the Buchhändlerhaus (booksellers' exchange), the great hall
decorated with allegorical pictures by Sascha Schneider, and the
Buchgewerbehaus, a museum of the book trade, both handsome red brick
edifices in the German Renaissance style, erected in 1886-1890.
South-west of these buildings, on the other side of the Johannisthal
Park, are clustered the medical institutes and hospitals of the
university--the infirmary, clinical and other hospitals, the
physico-chemical institute, pathological institute, physiological
institute, ophthalmic hospital, pharmacological institute, the schools
of anatomy, the chemical laboratory, the zoological institute, the
physico-mineralogical institute, the botanical garden and also the
veterinary schools, deaf and dumb asylum, agricultural college and
astronomical observatory. Among other noteworthy buildings in this
quarter must be noted the Johannisstift, an asylum for the relief of the
aged poor, with a handsome front and slender spire. On the north side of
the inner town and on the promenade are the handsome exchange with
library, and the reformed church, a pleasing edifice in late Gothic.
Leipzig has some interesting monuments; the Siegesdenkmal, commemorative
of the wars of 1866 and 1870, on the market square, statues of Goethe,
Leibnitz, Gellert, J. Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Hahnemann, the
homeopathist, and Bismarck. There are also many memorials of the battle
of Leipzig, including an obelisk on the Randstädter-Steinweg, on the
site of the bridge which was prematurely blown up, when Prince
Poniatowski was drowned; a monument of cannon balls collected after the
battle; a "relief" to Major Friccius, who stormed the outer Grimma gate;
while on the battle plain itself and close to "Napoleonstein," which
commemorates Napoleon's position on the last day of the battle, a
gigantic obelisk surrounded by a garden has been planned for dedication
on the hundredth anniversary of the battle (October 19, 1913).
_The University and Education._--The university of Leipzig, founded in
1409 by a secession of four hundred German students from Prague, is one
of the most influential universities in the world. It was a few years
since the most numerously attended of any university in Germany, but it
has since been outstripped by those of Berlin and of Munich. Its large
revenues, derived to a great extent from house property in Leipzig and
estates in Saxony, enable it, in conjunction with a handsome state
subvention, to provide rich endowments for the professorial chairs. To
the several faculties also belong various collegiate buildings, notably,
to the legal, that of the _Collegium beatae Virginis_ in the
Petersstrasse, and to the philosophical the _Rothe Haus_ on the
promenade facing the theatre. The other educational institutions of
Leipzig include the Nicolai and Thomas gymnasia, several "Realschulen,"
a commercial academy (_Handelsschule_), high schools for girls, and a
large number of public and private schools of all grades.
_Art and Literature._--The city has a large number of literary,
scientific and artistic institutions. One of the most important is the
museum, which contains about four hundred modern paintings, a large
number of casts, a few pieces of original sculpture and a well-arranged
collection of drawings and engravings. The collection of the historical
society and the ethnographical and art-industrial collections in the
Grassi Museum are also of considerable interest. The museum was erected
with part of the munificent bequest made to the city by Dominic Grassi
in 1881. As a musical centre Leipzig is known all over the world for its
excellent conservatorium, founded in 1843 by Mendelssohn. The series of
concerts given annually in the Gewandhaus is also of world-wide
reputation, and the operatic stage of Leipzig is deservedly ranked among
the finest in Germany. There are numerous vocal and orchestral
societies, some of which have brought their art to a very high pitch of
perfection. The prominence of the publishing interest has attracted to
Leipzig a large number of gifted authors, and made it a literary centre
of considerable importance. Over five hundred newspapers and periodicals
are published here, including several of the most widely circulated in
Germany. Intellectual interests of a high order have always
characterized Leipzig, and what Karl von Holtei once said of it is true
to-day: "There is only one city in Germany that represents Germany; only
a single city where one can forget that he is a Hessian, a Bavarian, a
Swabian, a Prussian or a Saxon; only one city where, amid the opulence
of the commercial world with which science is so gloriously allied, even
the man who possesses nothing but his personality is honoured and
esteemed; only one city, in which, despite a few narrownesses, all the
advantages of a great, I may say a world-metropolis, are conspicuous!
This city is, in my opinion, and in my experience, Leipzig."
_Commerce, Fairs._--The outstanding importance of Leipzig as a
commercial town is mainly derived from its three great fairs, which
annually attract an enormous concourse of merchants from all parts of
Europe, and from Persia, Armenia and other Asiatic countries. The most
important fairs are held at Easter and Michaelmas, and are said to have
been founded as markets about 1170. The smaller New Year's fair was
established in 1458. Under the fostering care of the margraves of
Meissen, and then of the electors of Saxony they attained great
popularity. In 1268 the margrave of Meissen granted a safe-conduct to
all frequenters of the fairs, and in 1497 and 1507 the emperor
Maximilian I. greatly increased their importance by prohibiting the
holding of annual markets at any town within a wide radius of Leipzig.
During the Thirty Years' War, the Seven Years' War and the troubles
consequent upon the French Revolution, the trade of the Leipzig fairs
considerably decreased, but it recovered after the accession of Saxony
to the German Customs Union (_Zollverein_) in 1834, and for the next
twenty years rapidly and steadily increased. Since then, owing to the
greater facilities of communication, the transactions at the fairs have
diminished in relative, though they have increased in actual, value.
Wares that can be safely purchased by sample appear at the fairs in
steadily diminishing quantities, while others, such as hides, furs and
leather, which require to be actually examined, show as marked an
increase. The value of the sales considerably exceeds £10,000,000
sterling per annum. The principal commodity is furs (chiefly American
and Russian), of which about one and a quarter million pounds worth are
sold annually; other articles disposed of are leather, hides, wool,
cloth, linen and glass. The Leipzig wool-market, held for two days in
June, is also important.
In the trades of bookselling and publishing Leipzig occupies a unique
position, not only taking the first place in Germany, but even surpassing
London and Paris in the number and total value of its sales. There are
upwards of nine hundred publishers and booksellers in the town, and about
eleven thousand firms in other parts of Europe are represented here.
Several hundred booksellers assemble in Leipzig every year, and settle
their accounts at their own exchange (_Buchhändler-Börse_). Leipzig also
contains about two hundred printing-works, some of great extent, and a
corresponding number of type-foundries, binding-shops and other kindred
industries.
The book trades give employment to over 15,000 persons, and since 1878
Leipzig has grown into an industrial town of the first rank. The iron
and machinery trades employ 4500 persons; the textile industries, cotton
and yarn spinning and hosiery, 6000; and the making of scientific and
musical instruments, including pianos, 2650. Other industries include
the manufacture of artificial flowers, wax-cloth, chemicals, ethereal
oils and essences, beer, mineral waters, tobacco and cigars, lace,
india-rubber wares, rush-work and paper, the preparation of furs and
numerous other branches. These industries are mostly carried on in the
suburbs of Plagwitz, Reudnitz, Lindenau, Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Konnewitz
and the neighbouring town of Markranstädt.
_Communications._--Leipzig lies at the centre of a network of railways
giving it direct communication with all the more important cities of
Germany. There are six main line railway stations, of which the Dresden
and the Magdeburg lie side by side in the north-east corner of the
promenade, the Thuringian and Berlin stations further away in the
northern suburb; in the eastern is the Eilenburg station (for Breslau
and the east) and in the south the Bavarian station. The whole traffic
of these stations is to be directed into a vast central station (the
largest in the world), lying on the sites of the Dresden, Magdeburg and
Thuringian stations. The estimated cost, borne by Prussia, Saxony and
the city of Leipzig, is estimated at 6 million pounds sterling. The city
has an extensive electric tramway system, bringing all the outlying
suburbs into close connexion with the business quarters of the town.
_Population._--The population of Leipzig was quintupled within the 19th
century, rising from 31,887 in 1801 to 153,988 in 1881, to 455,089 in
1900 and to 502,570 in 1905.
_History._--Leipzig owes its origin to a Slav settlement between the
Elster and the Pleisse, which was in existence before the year 1000,
and its name to the Slav word _lipa_, a lime tree. There was also a
German settlement near this spot, probably round a castle erected
early in the 10th century by the German king, Henry the Fowler. The
district was part of the mark of Merseburg, and the bishops of
Merseburg were the lords of extensive areas around the settlements. In
the 11th century Leipzig is mentioned as a fortified place and in the
12th it came into the possession of the margrave of Meissen, being
granted some municipal privileges by the margrave, Otto the Rich,
before 1190. Its favourable situation in the midst of a plain
intersected by the principal highways of central Europe, together with
the fostering care of its rulers, now began the work of raising
Leipzig to the position of a very important commercial town. Its
earliest trade was in the salt produced at Halle, and its enterprising
inhabitants constructed roads and bridges to lighten the journey of
the traders and travellers whose way led to the town. Soon Leipzig was
largely used as a depot by the merchants of Nuremberg, who carried on
a considerable trade with Poland. Powers of self-government were
acquired by the council (_Rat_) of the town, the importance of which
was enhanced during the 15th century by several grants of privileges
from the emperors. When Saxony was divided in 1485 Leipzig fell to the
Albertine, or ducal branch of the family, whose head Duke George gave
new rights to the burghers. This duke, however, at whose instigation
the famous discussion between Luther and Johann von Eck took place in
the Pleissenburg of Leipzig, inflicted some injury upon the town's
trade and also upon its university by the harsh treatment which he
meted out to the adherents of the new doctrines; but under the rule of
his successor, Henry, Leipzig accepted the teaching of the reformers.
In 1547 during the war of the league of Schmalkalden the town was
besieged by the elector of Saxony, John Frederick I. It was not
captured, although its suburbs were destroyed. These and the
Pleissenburg were rebuilt by the elector Maurice, who also
strengthened the fortifications. Under the elector Augustus I.
emigrants from the Netherlands were encouraged to settle in Leipzig
and its trade with Hamburg and with England was greatly extended.
During the Thirty Years' War Leipzig suffered six sieges and on four
occasions was occupied by hostile troops, being retained by the Swedes
as security for the payment of an indemnity from 1648 to 1650. After
1650 its fortifications were strengthened; its finances were put on a
better footing; and its trade, especially with England, began again to
prosper; important steps being taken with regard to its organization.
Towards the end of the 17th century the publishing trade began to
increase very rapidly, partly because the severity of the censorship
at Frankfort-on-the-Main caused many booksellers to remove to Leipzig.
During the Seven Years' War Frederick the Great exacted a heavy
contribution from Leipzig, but this did not seriously interfere with
its prosperity. In 1784 the fortifications were pulled down. The wars
in the first decade of the 19th century were not on the whole
unfavourable to the commerce of Leipzig, but in 1813 and 1814, owing
to the presence of enormous armies in the neighbourhood, it suffered
greatly. Another revival, however, set in after the peace of 1815, and
this was aided by the accession of Saxony to the German Zollverein in
1834, and by the opening of the first railway a little later. In 1831
the town was provided with a new constitution, and in 1837 a scheme
for the reform of the university was completed. A riot in 1845, the
revolutionary movement of 1848 and the Prussian occupation of 1866
were merely passing shadows. In 1879 Leipzig acquired a new importance
by becoming the seat of the supreme court of the German empire.
The immediate neighbourhood of Leipzig has been the scene of several
battles, two of which are of more than ordinary importance. These are
the battles of Breitenfeld, fought on the 17th of September 1631,
between the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus and the imperialists, and
the great battle of Leipzig, known in Germany as the Völkerschlacht,
fought in October 1813 between Napoleon and the allied forces of
Russia, Prussia and Austria.
Towards the middle of the 18th century Leipzig was the seat of the
most influential body of literary men in Germany, over whom Johann
Christoph Gottsched, like his contemporary, Samuel Johnson, in
England, exercised a kind of literary dictatorship. Then, if ever,
Leipzig deserved the epithet of a "Paris in miniature" (_Klein Paris_)
assigned to it by Goethe in his _Faust_. The young Lessing produced
his first play in the Leipzig theatre, and the university counts
Goethe, Klopstock, Jean Paul Richter, Fichte and Schelling among its
alumni. Schiller and Gellert also resided for a time in Leipzig, and
Sebastian Bach and Mendelssohn filled musical posts here. Among the
celebrated natives of the town are the philosopher Leibnitz and the
composer Wagner.
AUTHORITIES.--For the history of Leipzig see E. Hasse, _Die Stadt
Leipzig und ihre Umgebung, geographisch und statistisch beschrieben_
(Leipzig, 1878); K. Grosse, _Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig_ (Leipzig,
1897-1898); Rachel, _Verwaltungsorganisation und Ämterwesen der Stadt
Leipzig bis 1627_ (Leipzig, 1902); G. Wustmann, _Aus Leipzigs
Vergangenheit_ (Leipzig, 1898); _Bilderbuch aus der Geschichte der
Stadt Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1897); _Leipzig durch drei Jahrhunderte,
Atlas zur Geschichte des Leipziger Stadtbildes_ (Leipzig, 1891);
_Quellen zur Geschichte Leipzigs_ (Leipzig, 1889-1895); and
_Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1905); F. Seifert, _Die
Reformation in Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1883); G. Buchwald,
_Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1900); Geffcken
and Tykocinski, _Stiftungsbuch der Stadt Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1905); the
_Urkundenbuch der Stadt Leipzig_, edited by C. F. Posern-Klett and
Förstemann (Leipzig, 1870-1895); and the _Schriften des Vereins für
die Geschichte Leipzigs_ (Leipzig, 1872-1904). For other aspects of
the town's life see Hirschfeld, _Leipzigs Grossindustrie und
Grosshandel_ (Leipzig, 1887); Hassert, _Die geographische Lage und
Entwickelung Leipzigs_ (Leipzig, 1899); Helm, _Heimatkunde von
Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1903); E. Friedberg, _Die Universität Leipzig in
Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_ (Leipzig, 1897); F. Zarncke, _Die
Statutenbücher der Universität Leipzig_ (Leipzig, 1861); E. Hasse,
_Geschichte der Leipziger Messen_ (Leipzig, 1885); Tille, _Die Anfänge
der hohen Landstrasse_ (Gotha, 1906); Biedermann, _Geschichte der
Leipziger Kramerinnung_ (Leipzig, 1881); and Moltke, _Die Leipziger
Kramerinnung im 15 und 16 Jahrhundert_ (Leipzig, 1901).
LEIRIA, an episcopal city and the capital of the district of Leiria,
formerly included in Estremadura, Portugal; on the river Liz and on the
Lisbon-Figueria da Foz railway. Pop. (1900) 4459. The principal
buildings of Leiria are the ruined citadel, which dates from 1135, and
the cathedral, a small Renaissance building erected in 1571 but
modernized in the 18th century. The main square of the city is named
after the poet Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, who was born here about 1500.
Between Leiria and the Atlantic there are extensive pine woods known as
the Pinhal de Leiria, which were planted by King Diniz (1279-1325) with
trees imported from the Landes in France, in order to give firmness to
the sandy soil. In the neighbourhood there are glass and iron foundries,
oil wells and mineral springs. Leiria, the Roman Calippo, was taken from
the Moors in 1135 by Alphonso I. (Affonso Henriques). King Diniz made it
his capital. In 1466 the first Portuguese printing-press was established
here; in 1545 the city was made an episcopal see. The administrative
district of Leiria coincides with the north and north-west of the
ancient province of Estremadura (q.v.); pop. (1900) 238,755; area 1317
sq. m.
LEISLER, JACOB (c. 1635-1691), American political agitator, was born
probably at Frankfort-on-Main, Germany, about 1635. He went to New
Netherland (New York) in 1660, married a wealthy widow, engaged in
trade, and soon accumulated a fortune. The English Revolution of 1688
divided the people of New York into two well-defined factions. In
general the small shop-keepers, small farmers, sailors, poor traders and
artisans were arrayed against the patroons, rich fur-traders, merchants,
lawyers and crown officers. The former were led by Leisler, the latter
by Peter Schuyler (1657-1724), Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644-1707), Stephen
van Cortlandt (1643-1700), William Nicolls (1657-1723) and other
representatives of the aristocratic Hudson Valley families. The
"Leislerians" pretended greater loyalty to the Protestant succession.
When news of the imprisonment of Gov. Andros in Massachusetts was
received, they took possession on the 31st of May 1689 of Fort James (at
the southern end of Manhattan Island), renamed it Fort William and
announced their determination to hold it until the arrival of a governor
commissioned by the new sovereigns. The aristocrats also favoured the
Revolution, but preferred to continue the government under authority
from James II. rather than risk the danger of an interregnum.
Lieutenant-Governor Francis Nicholson sailed for England on the 24th of
June, a committee of safety was organized by the popular party, and
Leisler was appointed commander-in-chief. Under authority of a letter
from the home government addressed to Nicholson, "or in his absence, to
such as for the time being takes care for preserving the peace and
administering the laws in His Majesty's province of New York," he
assumed the title of lieutenant-governor in December 1689, appointed a
council and took charge of the government of the entire province. He
summoned the first Intercolonial Congress in America, which met in New
York on the 1st of May 1690 to plan concerted action against the French
and Indians. Colonel Henry Sloughter was commissioned governor of the
province on the 2nd of September 1689 but did not reach New York until
the 19th of March 1691. In the meantime Major Richard Ingoldsby and two
companies of soldiers had landed (January 28, 1691) and demanded
possession of the fort. Leisler refused to surrender it, and after some
controversy an attack was made on the 17th of March in which two
soldiers were killed and several wounded. When Sloughter arrived two
days later Leisler hastened to give over to him the fort and other
evidences of authority. He and his son-in-law, Jacob Milborne, were
charged with treason for refusing to submit to Ingoldsby, were
convicted, and on the 16th of May 1691 were executed. There has been
much controversy among historians with regard both to the facts and to
the significance of Leisler's brief career as ruler in New York.
See J. R. Brodhead, _History of the State of New York_ (vol. 2, New
York, 1871). For the documents connected with the controversy see E.
B. O'Callaghan, _Documentary History of the State of New York_ (vol.
2, Albany, 1850).
LEISNIG, a town in the kingdom of Saxony, prettily situated on the
Freiberger Mulde, 7 m. S. of Grimma by the railway from Leipzig to
Dresden via Döbeln. Pop. (1905) 8147. On a high rock above the town lies
the old castle of Mildenstein, now utilized as administrative offices.
The industries include the manufacture of cloth, furniture, boots,
buttons, cigars, beer, machinery and chemicals. Leisnig is a place of
considerable antiquity. About 1080 it passed into the possession of the
counts of Groitzsch, but was purchased in 1157 by the emperor Frederick
I., who committed it to the charge of counts. It fell to Meissen in
1365, and later to Saxony.
LEITH, a municipal and police burgh, and seaport, county of Midlothian,
Scotland. Pop. (1901) 77,439. It is situated on the south shore of the
Firth of Forth, 1½ m. N.N.E. of Edinburgh, of which it is the port and
with which it is connected by Leith Walk, practically a continuous
street. It has stations on the North British and Caledonian railways,
and a branch line (N.B.R.) to Portobello. Lying at the mouth of the
Water of Leith, which is crossed by several bridges and divides it into
the parishes of North and South Leith, it stretches for 3¼ m. along the
shore of the Firth from Seafield in the east to near Granton in the
west. There is tramway communication with Edinburgh and Newhaven.
The town is a thriving centre of trade and commerce. St Mary's in
Kirkgate, the parish church of South Leith, was founded in 1483, and was
originally cruciform but, as restored in 1852, consists of an aisled
nave and north-western tower. Here David Lindsay (1531-1613), its
minister, James VI.'s chaplain and afterwards bishop of Ross, preached
before the king the thanksgiving sermon on the Gowrie conspiracy (1600).
John Logan, the hymn-writer and reputed author of "The Ode to the
Cuckoo," was minister for thirteen years; and in its graveyard lies the
Rev. John Home, author of _Douglas_, a native of Leith. Near it in
Constitution Street is St James's Episcopal church (1862-1869), in the
Early English style by Sir Gilbert Scott, with an apsidal chancel and a
spire 160 ft. high. The parish church of North Leith, in Madeira Street,
with a spire 158 ft. high, is one of the best livings in the Established
Church of Scotland. St Thomas's, at the head of Shirra Brae, in the
Gothic style, was built in 1843 by Sir John Gladstone of Fasque,
who--prior to his removal to Liverpool, where his son, W. E. Gladstone,
was born--had been a merchant in Leith. The public buildings are wholly
modern, the principal being of classic design. They include the custom
house (1812) in the Grecian style; Trinity House (1817), also Grecian,
containing Sir Henry Raeburn's portrait of Admiral Lord Duncan, David
Scott's "Vasco da Gama Rounding the Cape" and other paintings; the
markets (1818); the town hall (1828), with an Ionic façade on
Constitution Street and a Doric porch on Charlotte Street; the corn
exchange (1862) in the Roman style; the assembly rooms; exchange
buildings; the public institute (1867) and Victoria public baths (1899).
Trinity House was founded in 1555 as a home for old and disabled
sailors, but on the decline of its revenues it became the licensing
authority for pilots, its humane office being partly fulfilled by the
sailors' home, established about 1840 in a building adjoining the Signal
Tower, and rehoused in a handsome structure in the Scottish Baronial
style in 1883-1884. Other charitable institutions include the hospital,
John Watt's hospital and the smallpox hospital. The high school, built
in 1806, for many years a familiar object on the west margin of the
Links, gave way to the academy, a handsome and commodious structure, to
which are drafted senior pupils from the numerous board schools for free
education in the higher branches. Here also is accommodated the
technical college. Secondary instruction is given also in Craighall Road
school. A bronze statue of Robert Burns was unveiled in 1898. Leith
Links, one of the homes of golf in Scotland, is a popular resort, on
Lochend Road are situated Hawkhill recreation grounds, and Lochend Loch
is used for skating and curling. There are small links at Newhaven, and
in Trinity are Starbank Park and Cargilfield playing ground. The east
pier (1177 yds. long) and the west pier (1041 yds.) are favourite
promenades. The waterway between them is the entrance to the harbour.
Leith cemetery is situated at Seafield and the Eastern cemetery in
Easter Road.
The oldest industry is shipbuilding, which dates from 1313. Here in 1511
James IV. built the "St Michael," "ane verrie monstruous great ship,
whilk tuik sae meikle timber that schee waisted all the woodis in Fyfe,
except Falkland wood, besides the timber that cam out of Norroway."
Other important industries are engineering, sugar-refining (established
1757), meat-preserving, flour-milling, sailcloth-making, soap-boiling,
rope and twine-making, tanning, chemical manures-making, wood-sawing,
hosiery, biscuit-baking, brewing, distilling and lime-juice making. Of
the old trade of glass-making, which began in 1682, scarcely a trace
survives. As a distributing centre, Leith occupies a prominent place. It
is the headquarters of the whisky business in Great Britain, and stores
also large quantities of wine from Spain, Portugal and France. This
pre-eminence is due to its excellent dock and harbour accommodation and
capacious warehouses. The two old docks (1801-1807) cover 10½ acres;
Victoria Dock (1852) 5 acres; Albert Dock (1863-1869) 10¾ acres;
Edinburgh Dock (1874-1881) 16(2/3) acres; and the New Dock (1892-1901)
60 acres. There are several dry docks, of which the Prince of Wales
Graving Dock (1858), the largest, measures 370 ft. by 60 ft. Space can
always be had for more dock room by reclaiming the east sands, where in
the 17th and 18th centuries Leith Races were held, the theme of a
humorous descriptive poem by Robert Fergusson. Apart from coasting trade
there are constant sailings to the leading European ports, the United
States and the British colonies. In 1908 the tonnage of ships entering
the harbour was (including coastwise trade) 1,975,457; that of ships
clearing the harbour 1,993,227. The number of vessels registered at the
port was 213 (net tonnage 146,799). The value of imports was
£12,883,890, of exports £5,377,188. In summer there are frequent
excursions to the Bass Rock and the Isle of May, North Berwick, Elie,
Aberdour, Alloa and Stirling. Leith Fort, built in North Leith in 1779
for the defence of the harbour, is now the headquarters of the Royal
Artillery in Scotland. Leith is the head of a fishery district. The
town, which is governed by a provost, bailies and council, unites with
Musselburgh and Portobello to send one member to parliament.
Leith figures as Inverleith in the foundation charter of Holyrood
Abbey (1128). In 1329 Robert I. granted the harbour to the magistrates
of Edinburgh, who did not always use their power wisely. They forbade,
for example, the building of streets wide enough to admit a cart, a
regulation that accounted for the number of narrow wynds and alleys in
the town. Had the overlords been more considerate incorporation with
Edinburgh would not have been so bitterly resisted. Several of the
quaint bits of ancient Leith yet remain, and the appearance of the
shore as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries, and even at a later
date, was picturesque in the extreme. During the centuries of strife
between Scotland and England its situation exposed the port to attack
both by sea and land. At least twice (in 1313 and 1410) its shipping
was burned by the English, who also sacked the town in 1544--when the
1st earl of Hertford destroyed the first wooden pier--and 1547. In the
troublous times that followed the death of James V., Leith became the
stronghold of the Roman Catholic and French party from 1548 to 1560,
Mary of Guise, queen regent, not deeming herself secure in Edinburgh.
In 1549 the town was walled and fortified by Montalembert, sicur
d'Essé, the commander of the French troops, and endured an ineffectual
siege in 1560 by the Scots and their English allies. A house in
Coalhill is thought to be the "handsome and spacious edifice" erected
for her privy council by Mary of Guise. D'Essé's wall, pierced by six
gates, was partly dismantled on the death of the queen regent, but
although rebuilt in 1571, not a trace of it exists. The old tolbooth,
in which William Maitland of Lethington, Queen Mary's secretary,
poisoned himself in 1573, to avoid execution for adhering to Mary's
cause, was demolished in 1819. Charles I. is said to have received the
first tidings of the Irish rebellion while playing golf on the links
in 1641. Cromwell in his Scottish campaign built the Citadel in 1650
and the mounds on the links, known as "Giant's Brae" and "Lady Fife's
Brae," were thrown up by the Protector as batteries. In 1698 the
sailing of the first Darien expedition created great excitement. In
1715 William Mackintosh of Borlum (1662-1743) and his force of
Jacobite Highlanders captured the Citadel, of which only the name of
Citadel Street and the archway in Couper Street have preserved the
memory.
A mile S.E. of the links lies the ancient village of RESTALRIG, the
home of the Logans, from whom the superiority of Leith was purchased
in 1553 by the queen regent. Sir Robert Logan (d. 1606) was alleged to
have been one of the Gowrie conspirators and to have arranged to
imprison the king in Fast Castle. This charge, however, was not made
until three years after his death, when his bones were exhumed for
trial. He was then found guilty of high treason and sentence of
forfeiture pronounced; but there is reason to suspect that the whole
case was trumped up. The old church escaped demolition at the
Reformation and even the fine east window was saved. In the vaults
repose Sir Robert and other Logans, besides several of the lords
Balmerino, and Lord Brougham's father lies in the kirkyard. The well
of St Triduana, which was reputed to possess wonderful curative
powers, vanished when the North British railway was constructed.
LEITMERITZ (Czech, _Litomerice_), a town and episcopal see of Bohemia,
45 m. N. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 13,075, mostly German. It lies
on the right bank of the Elbe, which becomes here navigable for steamers
and is spanned by an iron bridge 1700 ft. in length. The fine cathedral,
founded in 1057, was built in 1671 and contains some valuable paintings.
The library of the episcopal palace, built between 1694 and 1701,
possesses the oldest maps of Bohemia made in 1518 by Nicolaus Claudianus
of Jung-Bunzlau. Of the other churches that of All Saints dates from the
13th century. The town-hall, with its remarkable bell tower, dates from
the 15th century. Leitmeritz is situated in the midst of a very fertile
country, called the "Bohemian Paradise," which produces great quantities
of corn, fruit, hops and wines. The beer brewed here enjoys a high
reputation. On the opposite bank of the river, where the Eger discharges
itself into the Elbe, lies Theresienstadt (pop. 7046), an important
garrison town. It was formerly an important fortress, erected in 1780 by
the emperor Joseph II. and named after his mother Maria Theresa, but the
fortress was dismantled in 1882.
Leitmeritz was originally the castle of a royal count and is first
mentioned, in 993, in the foundation charter of the convent of St
Margaret near Prague. In 1248 it received a town charter, and was
governed by the laws of Magdeburg until the time of Ferdinand I.,
having a special court of jurisdiction over all the royal towns where
this law obtained. The town reached its highest degree of prosperity
under Charles IV., who bestowed upon it large tracts of forest,
agricultural land and vineyards. In the Hussite wars, after its
capture by the utraquist, Leitmeritz remained true to "the Chalice,"
shared also in the revolt against Ferdinand I., and suffered in
consequence. It was still more unfortunate during the Thirty Years'
War, in the course of which most of the Protestant inhabitants left
it; the property of the Bohemian refugees being given to German
immigrants. The present bishopric was established in 1655.
LEITNER, GOTTLIEB WILHELM (1840-1899), Anglo-Hungarian orientalist, was
born at Budapest in 1840. He was the son of a physician, and was
educated at Malta Protestant college. At the age of fifteen he acted as
an interpreter in the Crimean War. He entered King's College, London, in
1858, and in 1861 was appointed professor of Arabic and Mahommedan law.
He became principal of the government college at Lahore in 1864, and
there originated the term "Dardistan" for a portion of the mountains on
the north-west frontier, which was subsequently recognized to be a
purely artificial distinction. He collected much valuable information on
Graeco-Buddhist art and the origins of Indian art. He spoke, read and
wrote twenty-five languages. He founded an oriental institute at Woking,
and for some years edited the _Asiatic Quarterly Review_. He died at
Bonn in 1899.
See J. H. Stocqueler, _Life and Labours of Dr Leitner_ (1875).
LEITRIM, a county of Ireland in the province of Connaught, bounded N.W.
by Donegal Bay, N.E. by Fermanagh, E. by Cavan, S.E. by Longford, S.W.
by Roscommon and W. by Sligo. The area is 392,381 acres, or about 613
sq. m. The northern portion of the county consists of an elevated
tableland, of which the highest summits belong to the Truskmore Hills,
reaching 1712 ft.; with Benbo, 1365 ft. and Lackagh, 1446 ft. In the
southern part the country is comparatively level, and is generally
richly wooded. The county touches the south coast of Donegal Bay, but
the coast-line is only about 3 m. The principal river is the Shannon,
which, issuing from Lough Allen, forms the south-western boundary of the
county with Roscommon. The Bonnet rises in the north-west and flows to
Lough Gill, and the streams of Drones and Duff separate Leitrim from
Donegal and Sligo. Besides Lough Allen, which has an area of 8900 acres,
the other principal lakes in the county are Lough Macnean, Lough Scur,
Lough Garadice and Lough Melvin. The scenery of the north is wild and
attractive, while in the neighbourhood of the Shannon it is of great
beauty. Lough Melvin and the coast rivers afford rod fishing, the lough
being noted for its gillaroo trout.
This varied county has in general a floor of Carboniferous Limestone,
which forms finely scarped hills as it reaches the sea in Donegal Bay.
The underlying sandstone appears at Lough Melvin, and again on the
margin of a Silurian area in the extreme south. The Upper Carboniferous
series, dipping gently southward, form mountainous country round Lough
Allen, where the name of Slieve Anierin records the abundance of
clay-ironstone beneath the coal seams. The sandstones and shales of this
series scarp boldly towards the valley of the Bonnet, across which
rises, in picturesque contrast, the heather-clad ridge of ancient gneiss
which forms, in Benbo, the north-east end of the Ox Mountains. The
ironstone was smelted in the upland at Creevelea down to 1859, and the
coal is worked in a few thin seams.
The climate is moist and unsuitable for grain crops. On the higher
districts the soil is stiff and cold, and, though abounding in stones,
retentive of moisture, but in the valleys there are some fertile
districts. Lime, marl and similar manures are abundant, and on the coast
seaweed is plentiful. The proportion of tillage to pasture is roughly as
1 to 3. Potatoes are grown, but oats, the principal grain crop, are
scanty. The live stock consists chiefly of cattle, pigs and poultry.
Coarse linens for domestic purposes are manufactured and coarse pottery
is also made. The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties railway,
connecting Sligo with Enniskillen, crosses the northern part of the
county, by way of Manor Hamilton; the Mullingar and Sligo line of the
Midland Great Western touches the south-western boundary of the county,
with a station at Carrick-on-Shannon; while connecting with this line at
Dromod is the Cavan and Leitrim railway to Ballinamore and Arigna, and
to Belturbet in county Cavan.
The population (78,618 in 1891; 69,343 in 1901) decreases owing to
emigration, the decrease being one of the most serious shown by any
Irish county. It includes nearly 90% of Roman Catholics. The only towns
are Carrick-on-Shannon (pop. 1118) and Manor Hamilton (993). The county
is divided into five baronies. It is within the Connaught circuit, and
assizes are held at Carrick-on-Shannon, and quarter sessions at
Ballinamore, Carrick-on-Shannon and Manor Hamilton. It is in the
Protestant diocese of Kilmore, and the Roman Catholic dioceses of Ardagh
and Kilmore. In the Irish House of Commons two members were returned for
the county and two for the boroughs of Carrick-on-Shannon and Jamestown,
but at the Union the boroughs were disfranchised. The county divisions
are termed the North and South, each returning one member.
With the territory which afterwards became the county Cavan, Leitrim
formed part of Brenny or Breffny, which was divided into two
principalities, of which Leitrim, under the name of Hy Bruin-Brenny,
formed the western. Being for a long time in the possession of the
O'Rourkes, descendants of Roderick, king of Ireland, it was also called
Brenny O'Rourke. This family long maintained its independence; even in
1579, when the other existing counties of Connaught were created, the
creation of Leitrim was deferred, and did not take place until 1583.
Large confiscations were made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.,
in the Cromwellian period, and after the Revolution of 1688.
There are "druidical" remains near Fenagh and at Letterfyan, and
important monastic ruins at Creevelea near the Bonnet, with several
antique monuments, and in the parish of Fenagh. There was a flourishing
Franciscan friary at Jamestown. The abbeys of Mohill, Annaduff and
Drumlease are converted into parish churches. Among the more notable old
castles are Manor Hamilton Castle, originally very extensive, but now in
ruins, and Castle John on an island in Lough Scur. There is a small
village named Leitrim about 4 m. N. of Carrick-on-Shannon, which was
once of enough importance to give its name to a barony and to the
county, and is said to have been the seat of an early bishopric.
LEIXÕES, a seaport and harbour of refuge of northern Portugal; in 41° 9´
10´´ N., 8° 40´ 35´´ W., 3 m. N. of the mouth of the Douro. Leixões is
included in the parish of Matozinhos (pop. 1900, 7690) and constitutes
the main port of the city of Oporto (q.v.), with which it is connected
by an electric tramway. The harbour, of artificial construction, has an
area of over 220 acres, and admits vessels of any size, the depth at the
entrance being nearly 50 ft. The transference of cargo to and from ships
lying in the Leixões basin is effected entirely by means of lighters
from Oporto. In addition to wine, &c., from Oporto, large numbers of
emigrants to South America are taken on board here. The trade of the
port is mainly in British hands, and large numbers of British ships call
at Leixões on the voyage between Lisbon and Liverpool, London or
Southampton.
LEJEUNE, LOUIS FRANÇOIS, BARON (1776-1848), French general, painter, and
lithographer, was born at Versailles. As aide-de-camp to General
Berthier he took an active part in many of the Napoleonic campaigns,
which he made the subjects of an important series of battle-pictures.
The vogue he enjoyed is due to the truth and vigour of his work, which
was generally executed from sketches and studies made on the
battlefield. When his battle-pictures were shown at the Egyptian Hall in
London, a rail had to be put up to protect them from the eager crowds of
sightseers. Among his chief works are "The Entry of Charles X. into
Paris, 6 June 1825" at Versailles; "Episode of the Prussian War, October
1807" at Douai Museum; "Marengo" (1801); "Lodi," "Thabor," "Aboukir"
(1804); "The Pyramids" (1806); "Passage of the Rhine in 1795" (1824),
and "Moskawa" (1812). The German campaign of 1806 brought him to Munich,
where he visited the workshop of Senefelder, the inventor of
lithography. Lejeune was so fascinated by the possibilities of the new
method that he then and there made the drawing on stone of his famous
"Cossack" (printed by C. and T. Senefelder, 1806). Whilst he was taking
his dinner, and with his horses harnessed and waiting to take him back
to Paris, one hundred proofs were printed, one of which he subsequently
submitted to Napoleon. The introduction of lithography into France was
greatly due to the efforts of Lejeune. Many of his battle-pictures were
engraved by Coiny and Bovinet.
See Fournier-Sarlovèze, _Le Général Lejeune_ (Paris, _Libraire de
l'art_).