LEEDS, THOMAS OSBORNE, DUKE OF, English statesman, son of a Yorkshire baronet, after the Restoration entered Parliament as member for York and supporter of King and Church; his advance was rapid till he was Lord High Treasurer and Earl of Danby in 1674; constantly intriguing, he was impeached by the Commons in 1678, and kept for five years in the Tower without trial; returning to public life he opposed James II.’s policy regarding the Church, and joined in the movement which set William of Orange on the English throne; appointed President of the Council, he was again guilty of corrupt practices; he became Duke of Leeds in 1694, but in 1695 was impeached a second time, and though he again escaped condemnation he never regained power (1631-1712).
LEEUWENHOEK, ANTON VAN, an early microscopist, born at Delft; the instrument he used was of his own construction, but it was the means of his arriving at important discoveries, one of the most so that of capillary circulation; stoutly opposed the theory of spontaneous generation (1632-1673).
LEFORT, FRANCOIS JACOB, Russian officer, born in Geneva, son of a merchant; after serving in France and Holland, in 1675 entered the service and gained the favour of Peter the Great, organised the army on the French model, laid the foundation of a navy, and died commander-in-chief both of the land forces and the navy (1656-1699).
LEFT, THE, the opposition in a Continental Legislative Assembly, as sitting on the left of the chair; also the liberal section of a philosophical school.
LEGALISM, adherence to the strict letter of the law often in disregard of the spirit and even in defiance of it.
LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD, poet, journalist, and critic, born in Liverpool, of a Guernsey family; has been connected with and contributed to several London journals; is author of “My Lady’s Sonnets,” “George Meredith: some Characteristics,” “The Religion of a Literary Man,” &c.; is successful as a lecturer as well as a litterateur; b. 1866.
LEGATE, the title of the Pope’s representative or ambassador; in medieval times this office was attached to certain bishoprics, and the bishops were styled legati nati; besides these there were legati a latere, generally cardinals, and legati missi, or nuncios specially appointed; legates used to claim full papal jurisdiction within their provinces, which caused many disputes; now they are ambassadors for spiritual purposes at Roman Catholic Courts—Vienna, Muenich, Madrid, Lisbon, and Paris—and do not interfere with the authority of the bishops.
LEGENDRE, ADRIEN MARIE, brilliant French mathematician, contemporary of Lagrange and Laplace, born at Toulouse; obtained the professorship of Mathematics in the Military School at Paris, and was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1783; he was one of the commissioners to determine the length of the metre, and held many posts under the Republic and the Empire; among many works his best known is the “Elements of Geometry” (1794), translated into English by Carlyle (1752-1833).