LEBWIN, LEBUINUS, or LIAFWINE, Saint (fl. 756), born of English parents, received the tonsure in youth, and, after being ordained priest, determined to follow in the steps of Willibrord and Boniface, and go as a missionary to the Germans. He arrived at Utrecht shortly after the death of Boniface (d. 756), and was received by Gregory, the third bishop of the city, who gave him as a companion one of Willibrord's disciples named Marcellinus or Marchelm. Having taken up his abode by the river Yssel, in the borderland between the Franks and the Saxons, where he lodged with a widow named Abachahild, he preached with success in Overyssel, and built two oratories or churches, one apparently at Wilp or Velp, near Deventer, and another with a house to the east of the river. Opposition arose; the heathen Saxons declared that he dealt in magic, and burnt his church and house. He resolved to appear at their national assembly held at Marklo, near the Weser, and probably in the district of Hoya. There he stayed with a noble named Folchert, who tried to persuade him not to venture into the assembly. Nevertheless, he clothed himself in his priestly vestments, and taking a crucifix in one hand, and the gospels in the other, he appeared before the assembled Saxons when they were engaged in sacrificing to their idols. He made an oration, in which he is said to have warned them that if they did not desist from their idolatry a king would be sent to punish them. Enraged at his words, they prepared to slay him with stakes which they tore from the thickets and sharpened, but he escaped from them. Then an old noble named Buto addressed the assembly, and, urging that Lebwin's escape proved him a messenger from God, persuaded his fellow-countrymen to decree that no one should hurt him. After this Lebwin went on with his work undisturbed, leading a life of holiness and self-mortification until his death on 12 Nov. When he was dead, his oratory at Velp was burnt by the heathen. It was rebuilt at Deventer, and his body was discovered and deposited there. The great collegiate church at Deventer is dedicated to his memory.
[The chief authority for Lebwin's life is the Vita S. Lebuini of Hucbald (918–76), printed in Mon. Hist. Germ. ii. 361 sq. (Pertz), and by Surius, vi. 277–86, who also gives the Ecloga et Sermo of Radbod, bishop of Utrecht, concerning Lebwin, ib. p. 839; Hucbald's work is freely translated in Cressy's Church Hist. of Brittany, xxiv. c. 7; Acta SS., O.S.B., sæc. iv. pp. 21, 36; Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 257 n. (Hardy); Butler's Lives of the Saints, xi. 226 sq.; Dict. Chr. Biog., art. ‘Lebuinus’ (2).]
LE CAPELAIN, JOHN (1814?–1848), painter, a native of Jersey, was born there about 1814, and acquired a knowledge of drawing. About 1882 he came to London and practised as a water-colour painter. He had a peculiar trick of painting which gave his drawings a misty and foggy effect. A 'Coast Scene' in this manner is in the print room at the British Museum. After the queen's visit to Jersey, a volume of drawings by Le Capelain of scenery in the island was presented to her. This led to his receiving a commission from the queen to paint pictures of the Isle of Wight. While engaged on these he developed rapid consumption, of which he died at Jersey in 1848. His drawings are technically clever, and were popular in his day. A collection of them is preserved in the museum at Jersey.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; manuscript notes in the Percy Catalogue of Water-colour Drawings, print room, Brit. Mus.]
LE CÈNE, CHARLES (1647?–1703), Huguenot refugee, born 'about' 1647 at Caen, Normandy, of well-to-do parents, studied theology at Sedan from 1667 to 1669, and afterwards resided at the universities of Geneva (August 1669 to November 1670) and Saumur (1670 to March 1672). In 1672 he received ordination as a protestant minister at Caen, and 'shortly' after received a call to the church of Honfleur. While there he married a lady of some fortune, formed a considerable library, and began a new French translation of the Bible, at which he worked throughout his life. His ministry at Honfleur ceased by his own request on 2 Sept. 1682, and in the following year he officiated temporarily at Charenton. His settlement at Charenton was opposed on account of his Socinian tenets; but at the end of a year of temporary ministry he seems to have been granted a certificate attesting his orthodoxy. His son Michel (followed by Haag) states that he attempted to press his claim to remain permanently at Charenton, and carried the case from the consistory of Paris to the synod, before which the quarrel remained undecided at the date of the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Gousset (Considerations) is probably more accurate in asserting that Le Cène, after preaching at Charenton, failed to receive a call to Orleans, owing to the unsatisfactory testimony given him by the consistory. He
