LAZZARINI, Gregorio, Venetian painter, was born at Venice about 1654, and studied under F. Rosa. He lived at a time when the Venetian school had sunk into mannerism; but aiming at a more natural style, he secured the admiration of his contemporaries to such an extent, that Carlo Maratti declined in his favour the commission to paint a grand picture of the triumphs of the Doge Francesco Morosini for the hall of the Scrutinio in the ducal palace. His altar-piece of San Lorenzo Giustiniani, in San Pietro in Castello, is said by Zanetti to be the finest Venetian oil fainting of the century. He died in 1740 according to Zanetti, but Longhi says in 1730.—J. T—e.
LEA, William. See Lee.
LEACH, William Elford, a distinguished naturalist, born in 1790. From an early period he showed a great love for natural history; and after studying medicine in London, he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he graduated. He soon relinquished his profession, however, and the rest of his days were devoted to the study of zoology. In 1813 he was appointed curator of the zoological department of the British museum. The artificial system of Linnæus was at that time the prevailing one throughout Europe, and Leach has the merit of being one of the first to introduce into England the natural arrangement of animals, which on the continent had now begun to take the place of that of Linnæus. He began his labours at the British museum with the greatest zeal. These extended to all parts of zoology, though his chief attention was directed to the Invertebrata. His incessant labours, and the fatigue attending these studies injured his health as well as his reason, and in 1821 he was compelled to retire from his curatorship at the British museum. A long suspension of his studies and a residence abroad restored, in a great measure, his mental faculties, though he never recovered perfect health. He died of cholera in 1836.—W. B—d.
LEAD or LEDDE, Jane, mystical writer, a spiritual disciple of Jacob Böhmen, and precursor of Swedenborg, published towards the close of the seventeenth century some singular treatises, in which claims were made to a direct knowledge of the other world and to personal commune with its inhabitants. Among her works is—"The wonders of God's creation manifested in the variety of eight worlds as they were made known experimentally to the writer," dated 1695, and in which her views of the supernatural are pretty fully unfolded.—F. E.
LEAKE, John, an English physician, was born in Cumberland. He studied medicine in London, improved himself by visiting foreign schools, and finally settled down in practice in the metropolis. He chiefly practised as an accoucheur, and enjoyed a considerable share of reputation. Having purchased a piece of ground, he published a plan for instituting the Westminster lying-in-hospital. As soon as the building was erected, he liberally assigned over to the governors all his right in the premises. He died in 1792. He was the author of several works upon obstetricy.—W. B—d.
LEAKE, Sir John, a distinguished English admiral, son of Richard Leake, was born at Rotherhithe, Surrey, in 1656. He was trained to the naval service by his father, and was with him at the memorable conflict with the Dutch under Van Tromp in 1673. He was subsequently for some time in the merchant service, and made two or three voyages to the Mediterranean, but ultimately returned to the royal navy. He was made master-gunner of the Neptune in 1675, and held that situation until 1688, when he was appointed to the Drake fireship. He performed various services in Ireland, and was appointed to the command of the Eagle of sixteen guns. At the Revolution he attached himself to the prince of Orange, and gave important assistance in raising the famous siege of Londonderry. He distinguished himself by his remarkable bravery and skill at the battle of La Hogue, on 19th May, 1692, and was actively employed at sea until the peace of Ryswick in 1697. In 1701 he was appointed to the command of the Britannia; and in the following year, having been made commodore of a squadron, he expelled the French from Newfoundland and restored the whole island to the British. In 1703 he was knighted and made vice-admiral of the white. He assisted Sir George Rooke in the reduction of Gibraltar; and on two subsequent occasions distinguished himself by relieving that important fortress when besieged by the French and the Spaniards. He defeated a French fleet under Baron Louis de Pointes in 1705; and afterwards reduced Barcelona, Alicante, Ivica, and Majorca, and relieved Barcelona when closely invested by the French, who abandoned the siege, leaving behind them their baggage, artillery, and wounded. On his return home he was made vice-admiral, and received the thanks of the queen and parliament. On the death of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Sir John was made admiral of the white and commander of the fleet. In 1708 he was elected member for Rochester, and in 1709 was appointed one of the lords of the admiralty, but declined the place of first lord. In 1712 he was appointed commander of the expedition to take possession of Dunkirk. On the accession of George I. Sir John retired into private life, and died August 1, 1720.—J. T.
LEAKE, Richard, one of England's fighting mariners, who earned for himself the title of "master gunner of England." When the Royal Prince, in Admiral Rooke's engagement with Van Tromp in 1673, was reduced almost to a wreck—her masts gone and nearly four hundred of her crew killed or wounded—a signal was made to the ship to strike, the admiral supposing that she had done enough. Leake, attacked anew on both sides, said that the ship should never strike as long as he was alive, and with his two sons made a defence that won his title. He brought his ship into the Medway. He introduced the method of firing mortars still in use.—P. E. D.
LEAKE, Stephen Martyn, Garter king-at-arms in 1754, and author of a work on British coins, was the nephew and biographer of Admiral Leake, whose property he inherited. He was born in 1702. By slow degrees he rose to the highest office in the Herald college, and was always a zealous partisan of the privileges of that institution. He strongly recommended the revival of heralds' visitations in the several counties of England, and published his reasons for granting commissions for that purpose in 1744. He also published fifty of the statutes of the order of the garter. His "Nummi Britannici Historia" passed through three editions, the last and best of which appeared in 1793. Leake died in 1773.—R. H.
LEAKE, William Martin, Lieut.-colonel, LL.D., F.R.S., an eminent contributor to Hellenic archæology, was born in 1777, and entering the royal military academy at Woolwich, received a commission in the artillery. Sent by the British government on a mission to the East at the time of the French occupation of Egypt, Colonel Leake started in January, 1800, from Constantinople to Egypt, through Asia Minor—a journey of which the topographical and archæological results were not published till 1824, the date of the appearance of his "Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor." Subsequently, and up to the year 1810, he explored the Morea and Northern Greece. His "Travels in the Morea" were first published in 1830, and the "Travels in Northern Greece"—an account of four journeys during the years 1804-9—so late as 1835. Very careful explorations, aided by a most minute knowledge of the classics, bestow the highest value on these works, as on Colonel Leake's "Topography of Athens," 1821—second edition, 1841. "When these journeys were undertaken," wrote Colonel Leake himself, in the preface to his "Travels in the Morea," "the Peloponnesus had been very little explored, and no description of it had been made public, except those by Wheler and Chandler of some small portions adjacent to the sea-coast. The real topography of the interior was unknown, and the map of ancient Greece was formed only by inference from its historians and geographers." While making these journeys, which have added so much to our knowledge of the topography of ancient Greece, Colonel Leake discharged successfully delicate diplomatic duties. His conference with Ali Pacha in November, 1807, on the beach near the ancient aqueduct of Nicopolis (there is an interesting description of the scene in the "Travels in Northern Greece"), led to the peace of 1808 with the Porte. Before the appearance of the works already mentioned, Colonel Leake published, after his return to England, "Researches in Greece, part i., containing Remarks on the Modern Languages of Greece," 1814. In 1826 he published "A Historical Outline of the Greek Revolution," strongly in favour of the Greek cause; and a quarter of a century afterwards he displayed his old enthusiasm for modern Hellas in an indignant pamphlet—"Greece at the end of Twenty-three Years' Protection," 1851. A paper on the "Demoi of Attica," which he road before the Royal Society of Literature in 1829, was added to the second edition of his "Topography of Athens," both the editions of which have been translated into German. One of his most elaborate publications is his "Numismata Hellenica," 1854, a selected catalogue of Greek coins, with descriptions and notes,
