most plausible presentation ever made of the older form of the patriarchal theory of the origin of government. In the dialogue, which is humorously described as ‘A Battle Royal between Three Cocks of the Game,’ Higden and Hoadly are very cleverly played off against each other, and Hottentot, who stands for man in the supposed state of nature, against both. It was also while at White Waltham that Leslie published the ‘Vindication of the Short and Easy Method with the Deists,’ and ‘The Truth of Christianity demonstrated,’ which are dated ‘from my Tusculum, All Saints, 1710.’ He remained there disguised in regimentals until April 1711, when he made his escape to St. Germains, whither he brought a memorial on the state of parties in England and the prospects of the Jacobite cause, which he represented as extremely favourable if an army were at once landed in Scotland. He also advised the Pretender not to dissemble his religion, but to profess himself open to conviction (Secretan, Life of Robert Nelson, p. 71; Macpherson, Orig. Papers, ii. 210).
Leslie afterwards returned to England, where he passed under the alias of Mr. White, and published ‘Natural Reflections upon the Present Debates about Peace and War, in Two Letters to a Member of Parliament from his Steward in the Country,’ dated respectively December 1711 and March 1711–1712, an argument for peace. He was also supposed to be the author of an address to the queen presented by William Gordon in December 1712, in which she was congratulated upon the security which the change of ministry had brought to the principle of hereditary right (Boyer, Polit. State, iv. 337). In August 1713 he repaired to Bar-le-Duc by the invitation of the Pretender, who gave him a place in his household, and promised to listen to his arguments in favour of the Anglican church, a promise which, according to Bolingbroke, he did not keep (Letter to Sir William Windham, 2nd edit., 1760, p. 154). Leslie, however, continued to be active in his interest, and, when the expediency of requiring his expulsion from Lorraine and of setting a price upon his head was discussed in parliament, published ‘A Letter to a Member of Parliament in London,’ dated 23 April 1714, in which he gave the Pretender an excellent character and represented him as ready, in the event of his restoration, to make certain concessions to the Anglican church. He also published two other manifestoes in his favour, viz. a letter to Burnet on his sermon before George I of 31 Oct. 1714 (‘Mr. Lesley to the Lord Bishop of Sarum,’ dated New-year's day, 1715), and a letter to the Anglican clergy, entitled ‘The Church of England's Advice to her Children, and to all Kings, Princes, and Potentates,’ dated 26 April 1715.
Leslie also published while at Bar-le-Duc ‘The Case Stated between the Church of Rome and the Church of England,’ London, 1713. This tract has been attributed to Nathaniel Spinckes [q. v.], but internal evidence—the argument is substantially the same as that of the ‘Dissertation on Private Judgment and Authority’—points to Leslie as the author. It was examined by an unknown writer, who signed himself ‘A. C.’ in ‘The Case Restated,’ to which Leslie rejoined, under the pseudonym of ‘Philalethes,’ in ‘The Case Truly Stated; wherein “The Case Restated” is fully considered,’ London, 1714, 8vo. After the suppression of the rebellion Leslie accompanied the Pretender to Avignon and Rome. His last effort in his interest was to procure from him and circulate among the Anglican clergy a letter pledging him, in the event of his restoration, to maintain inviolate the rights and privileges of the church of England. His last publications were two letters relating to the controversy on the usages initiated by Jeremy Collier [q. v.], viz. ‘A Letter from Mr. Leslie to his Friend against Alterations or Additions to the Liturgy of the Church of England,’ London, 1718, 4to, and ‘A Letter from the Reverend Mr. Charles Leslie concerning the New Separation’ (addressed to Mr. B., i.e. William Bowyer [q. v.]), London, 1719, 4to. In the autumn of 1721 he returned to Ireland, and died at Glaslough on 13 April 1722. He was interred in Glaslough churchyard.
Leslie married, soon after his ordination, Jane, daughter of Richard Griffith, dean of Ross, by whom he had two sons, Robert, who succeeded to the Glaslough estate, and Henry. Leslie wrote an easy and lively style, had some learning and wit, and more scurrility, and was adroit at logical fence. He was a most unsparing controversialist. Swift, while professing abhorrence of his political principles, warmly praised his services to the Anglican church. Johnson declared him the only reasoner among the nonjurors, and ‘a reasoner who was not to be reasoned against’ (Swift, Works, ed. Scott, iv. 347–8; Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. Birkbeck Hill, iv. 287).
A collective edition of Leslie's ‘Theological Works,’ published by subscription in 1721 (London, 2 vols. fol.), was reprinted, with a brief sketch of his life and an engraving of his portrait by Vertue, at Oxford in 1832, 7 vols. 8vo. A reprint of the ‘Rehearsal,’ with ‘Cassandra’ and some other miscellanea, and an engraving of the portrait by
