Chapter VI: Act 1903: ). It is to be noted, however, that in these states the mere (3)

In 1575 Queen Elizabeth visited the earl at Kenilworth, where she was entertained for some days with great magnificence. The picturesque account of the event given by Sir Walter Scott has made every one familiar with the general character of the scene. Next year Walter, earl of Essex, died in Ireland, and Leicester's subsequent marriage with his widow again gave rise to very serious imputations against him. For report said that he had had two children by her during her husband's absence in Ireland, and, as the feud between the two earls was notorious, Leicester's many enemies easily suggested that he had poisoned his rival. This marriage, at all events, tended to Leicester's discredit and was kept secret at first; but it was revealed to the queen in 1579 by Simier, an emissary of the duke of Alençon, to whose projected match with Elizabeth the earl seemed to be the principal obstacle. The queen showed great displeasure at the news, and had some thought, it is said, of committing Leicester to the Tower, but was dissuaded from doing so by his rival the earl of Sussex. He had not, indeed, favoured the Alençon marriage, but otherwise he had sought to promote a league with France against Spain. He and Burleigh had listened to proposals from France for the conquest and division of Flanders, and they were in the secret about the capture of Brill. When Alençon actually arrived, indeed, in August 1579, Dudley being in disgrace, showed himself for a time anti-French; but he soon returned to his former policy. He encouraged Drake's piratical expeditions against the Spaniards and had a share in the booty brought home. In February 1582 he, with a number of other noblemen and gentlemen, escorted the duke of Alençon on his return to Antwerp to be invested with the government of the Low Countries. In 1584 he inaugurated an association for the protection of Queen Elizabeth against conspirators. About this time there issued from the press the famous pamphlet, supposed to have been the work of Parsons the Jesuit, entitled _Leicester's Commonwealth_, which was intended to suggest that the English constitution was subverted and the government handed over to one who was at heart an atheist and a traitor, besides being a man of infamous life and morals. The book was ordered to be suppressed by letters from the privy council, in which it was declared that the charges against the earl were to the queen's certain knowledge untrue; nevertheless they produced a very strong impression, and were believed in by some who had no sympathy with Jesuits long after Leicester's death. In 1585 he was appointed commander of an expedition to the Low Countries in aid of the revolted provinces, and sailed with a fleet of fifty ships to Flushing, where he was received with great enthusiasm. In January following he was invested with the government of the provinces, but immediately received a strong reprimand from the queen for taking upon himself a function which she had not authorized. Both he and the states general were obliged to apologize; but the latter protested that they had no intention of giving him absolute control of their affairs, and that it would be extremely dangerous to them to revoke the appointment. Leicester accordingly was allowed to retain his dignity; but the incident was inauspicious, nor did affairs prosper greatly under his management. The most brilliant achievement of the war was the action at Zutphen, in which his nephew Sir Philip Sidney was slain. But complaints were made by the states general of the conduct of the whole campaign. He returned to England for a time, and went back in 1587, when he made an abortive effort to raise the siege of Sluys. Disagreements increasing between him and the states, he was recalled by the queen, from whom he met with a very good reception; and he continued in such favour that in the following summer (the year being that of the Armada, 1588) he was appointed lieutenant-general of the army mustered at Tilbury to resist Spanish invasion. After the crisis was past he was returning homewards from the court to Kenilworth, when he was attacked by a sudden illness and died at his house at Cornbury in Oxfordshire, on the 4th September.

Such are the main facts of Leicester's life. Of his character it is more difficult to speak with confidence, but some features of it are indisputable. Being in person tall and remarkably handsome, he improved these advantages by a very ingratiating manner. A man of no small ability and still more ambition, he was nevertheless vain, and presumed at times upon his influence with the queen to a degree that brought upon him a sharp rebuff. Yet Elizabeth stood by him. That she was ever really in love with him, as modern writers have supposed, is extremely questionable; but she saw in him some valuable qualities which marked him as the fitting recipient of high favours. He was a man of princely tastes, especially in architecture. At court he became latterly the leader of the Puritan party. and his letters were pervaded by expressions of religious feeling which it is hard to believe were insincere. Of the darker suspicions against him it is enough to say that much was certainly reported beyond the truth; but there remain some facts sufficiently disagreeable, and others, perhaps, sufficiently mysterious, to make a just estimate of the man a rather perplexing problem.

No special biography of Leicester has yet been written except in
biographical dictionaries and encyclopaedias. A general account of him
will be found in the Memoirs of the Sidneys prefixed to Collins's
_Letters and Memorials of State_; but the fullest yet published is Mr
Sidney Lee's article in the _Dictionary of National Biography_
(London, 1888) where the sources are given. Leicester's career has to
be made out from documents and state papers, especially from the
Hatfield MSS. and Major Hume's _Calendar_ of documents from the
Spanish archives bearing on the history of Queen Elizabeth. This last
is the most recent source. Of others the principal are Digges's
_Compleat Ambassador_ (1655), John Nichols's _Progresses of Queen
Elizabeth_ and the _Leycester Correspondence_ edited by J. Bruce for
the Camden Society. The death of Dudley's first wife has been a
fruitful source of literary controversy. The most recent addition to
the evidences, which considerably alters their complexion, will be
found in the _English Historical Review_, xiii. 83, giving the full
text (in English) of De Quadra's letter of Sept. 11, 1560, on which so
much has been built. (J. Ga.)

LEICESTER, ROBERT SIDNEY, EARL OF (1563-1626), second son of Sir Henry 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.