LEAR, EDWARD (1812-1888).—­Artist and miscellaneous author, b. in London, and settled in Rome as a landscape painter.  He was an indefatigable traveller, and wrote accounts, finely illustrated, of his journeys in Italy, Greece, and Corsica.  His best known works are, however, his Book of Nonsense (1840) (full of wit and good sense), More Nonsense Rhymes (1871), and Laughable Lyrics (1876).  L. had also a remarkable faculty for depicting birds.

LECKY, WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE (1838-1903).—­Historian, the s. of a landed gentleman of Carlow, was b. near Dublin, and ed. at Cheltenham and Trinity Coll., Dublin.  Originally intended for the Church, he devoted himself to a literary career.  His first work of importance was Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland (1861) (essays on Swift, Flood, Grattan, and O’Connell).  The study of Buckle’s History of Civilisation to some extent determined the direction of his own writings, and resulted in the production of two important works, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (1865), and History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (1869), both remarkable for learning, clearness, and impartiality.  Both, however, gave rise to considerable controversy and criticism.  His principal work is The History of England in the Eighteenth Century (1878-90).  Characterised by the same sterling qualities as his preceding books, it deals with a subject more generally interesting, and has had a wide acceptance.  His view of the American war, and the controversies which led to it, is more favourable to the English position than that of some earlier historians.  Other works are Democracy and Liberty (1896), and The Map of Life (1899).  Though of warm Irish sympathies, L. was strongly opposed to Home Rule.  He sat in Parliament for his Univ. from 1895 until his death.  He received many academical distinctions, and was a Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, and one of the original members of the Order of Merit.

LEE, NATHANIEL (1653?-1692).—­Dramatist, s. of a clergyman at Hatfield, was ed. at Westminster School and Camb.  After leaving the Univ. he went to London, and joined the stage both as actor and author.  He was taken up by Rochester and others of the same dissolute set, led a loose life, and drank himself into Bedlam, where he spent four years.  After his recovery he lived mainly upon charity, and met his death from a fall under the effects of a carouse.  His tragedies, which, with much bombast and frequent untrained flights of imagination, have occasional fire and tenderness, are generally based on classical subjects.  The principal are The Rival Queens, Theodosius, and Mithridates.  He also wrote a few comedies, and collaborated with Dryden in an adaptation of Oedipus, and in The Duke of Guise.