Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/72

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Lepipre
66
Le Quesne

Meanwhile the prince had been created (24 May 1881) Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow, and had taken his seat in the House of Lords (24 June). He spent the following autumn at Frankfort, where he made the acquaintance of Princess Helen Frederica Augusta, daughter of H.S.H. George Victor, prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, to whom (the queen having given her consent, 29 Nov.) he was married in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on 27 April 1882. His allowance was now raised to 25,000l., provision being also made for a jointure for the princess of 6,000l. in the event of her widowhood. The prince and princess resided at Claremont, the prince, so far as his health permitted, continuing his exertions in the cause of education, though his public appearances were fewer than formerly. One of the latest of them was the laying of the foundation-stone of the new buildings of the Birkbeck Institute (23 April 1883). In the spring of 1884 his health compelled a visit to the south of France. At first he seemed to be benefited by the change, but a fall in a clubhouse at Cannes led to an attack of epilepsy, of which he died at the Villa Nevada on 28 March. The funeral took place in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on 6 April. He left a daughter (Princess Alexander of Teck); a posthumous son, born 19 July, became Duke of Saxe-Coburg in 1900.

The prince was K.G., K.T., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., D.C.L. of the university of Durham, a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, an elder brother of Trinity House, a freeman of the city of London, and a freemason. He was also honorary colonel of the third battalion Seaforth Highlanders, and a member of various foreign orders.

A portrait by Carl Sohn, jun., belongs to the Duchess of Albany. Sir James Linton painted a picture of the duke's marriage, which is now at Windsor.

[Obituary and other notices in the Times, Morning Post, Ann. Register; Academy, xxv. 242; Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, 2nd ser.; Journal of the Society of Arts, 1879 et seq.; Hansard Parl. Deb. 3rd ser. ccxxi. 268, 645, 978; Warre's Life and Speeches of H.R.H. Prince Leopold (1884); Martin's Life of the Prince Consort; Foster's Alumni Oxonienses, and Burke's Peerage.]

J. M. R.

LEPIPRE (LE PIPER), FRANCIS (d. 1698), artist, son of Noel Lepipre, belonged to a family of some importance in Flanders, which had, however, settled in England, and owned property at Canterbury. His father made a large fortune as a merchant, and gave Lepipre a liberal education, but he showed a genius for art, and devoted himself to drawing. Having no need to earn his livelihood, he drew for his amusement, selecting subjects of a humorous or comical nature. His memory was so good that he could draw exact likenesses of any one whom he had only passed in the street. He was of a genial nature, fond of the bottle and good living, and a great favourite among his friends. Some of his best drawings were made for taverns, such as the Mitre in Stocks Market and the Bell in Westminster. Lepipre travelled much on the continent, and his close study of the works of the great painters rendered him an excellent draughtsman. He once extended his travels as far as Cairo in Egypt. He drew landscapes and humorous compositions and caricatures, and frequently etched subjects on silver plates for his friends, who used them as lids to their tobacco-boxes. Lepipre painted twelve small pictures of scenes in ‘Hudibras,’ which are very similar to the set engraved by William Hogarth [q. v.] Some of the heads in Sir Paul Rycaut's ‘History of the Turks’ were drawn by Lepipre and engraved by W. Elder. There are a few humorous drawings by him in the print room at the British Museum. Lepipre inherited some fortune at the death of his father, but at one time found himself considerably reduced in circumstances, and temporarily worked for Isaac Beckett the mezzotint-engraver. Late in life he took to modelling in wax, executing bas-reliefs in this manner with some success. After his mother's death he inherited further property, and indulged in free living again. A fever was the result, and through medical inexperience it proved fatal. He died unmarried in Aldermanbury in 1698, and was buried in St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey. Two portraits of Lepipre were engraved in mezzotint, one being ascribed to E. Luttrell; others were engraved for various editions of Walpole's ‘Anecdotes of Painting.’ He also was the central figure of a group painted by Isaac Fuller [q. v.] His brother, Peter Lepipre, was a merchant in London, and owned most of his brother's drawings. He married Sarah, daughter of Sir Gabriel Roberts, by whom he had a large family.

[De Piles's Lives of the Painters; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum; Nichols's Anecdotes of Hogarth; family papers of A. H. Frere, esq.]

L. C.

LE QUESNE, CHARLES (1811–1856), a writer on the constitutional history of Jersey, a native of Jersey, was eldest son of Nicholas Le Quesne, a jurat of the Royal Court. From early youth he showed a strong predilection for the study of political economy, and his first publication was a series of