posed indeed by himself, but purporting to be genuine Greek originals, and as such generally accepted. In 1822 he went to Rome, and became acquainted with Niebuhr, then Prussian minister at the pontifical court, who recognized with astonishment in a shy, insignificant young man, the erudite author of an admired work. Leopardi loathed his life at Recanati, and through Niebuhr he was now offered a chair of philosophy in Berlin; this he declined on the score of ill health. The same friend then endeavoured to interest Cardinal Gonsalvi in his favour, but preferment in that quarter was hindered by a refusal on his part to take orders. Most justly did he refuse; for apparently even before this sojourn in Rome he had exchanged his early pious impressions for total incredulity concerning all religion, whether revealed or natural. His intimate friend, Giordani, reported to have been a benedictine seceded from the rule of his order, probably in this regard exercised a baneful influence on his mind, as their intercourse was tenderly affectionate. This infidelity, tainting Leopardi's finest works, was, however, united with pure morals, a loving heart, and an exalted intellect. He was a true poet. For beauty, note amongst his Canzoni the one on "Primo Amore," and those grand opening lines commencing "O patria mia;" for satiric humour read the exquisitely comic passage from his "Paralipomeni della Batrachomyomachia," where a distinction is laid down between "king of mice" and "king of mousedom." In the "Bruto Minore" he appears to have embodied many of his own sentiments; in the "Operette Morali," first published complete in Milan in 1827, there is an epitaph which may probably sum up under a feigned name his estimate of his own career. His death at the house of his faithful friend Ranieri was but the natural conclusion of his life of incurable sickness and suffering, resulting probably from original malformation. Gioberti, in the prefatory remarks to his Gesuito Moderna, informs us that at the last a priest was called in and blessed the dying Leopardi; but that the story of his having confessed to a jesuit, and avowed some bias towards joining the followers of S. Ignatius, is false.—C. G. R.
LEOPOLD I., Emperor of Germany, the son of Ferdinand III. and of Mary Anne of Spain, was born in 1640. He was elected king of Hungary in 1655, king of Bohemia in 1656, and was chosen emperor in 1658, after a keen contest with Louis XIV. of France. The reign of this weak and bigoted prince was productive of protracted and bloody wars, and forms the most tragic page in the annals of Hungary. A war with the Turks, which had been raging for some years before he ascended the throne, was brought to a conclusion by the signal victory which the imperial general Montecuccoli gained over the grand vizier at St. Gothard, near Neuhausel, 1st of August, 1664. Instead of following up this success, however, Leopold, to the surprise of all Europe, concluded with the Porte a hasty truce of twenty years. His object seems to have been to suppress the Hungarian protestants and other seceders from the Church of Rome. In direct violation of his coronation oath, he introduced foreign troops into the country without the consent of the diet, and harrassed the people by numerous illegal and unconstitutional acts. Many of the leading magnates entered into an association in 1668 to save the nation from ruin, but their plot was prematurely discovered; some of their leaders were seized; others were decoyed to Vienna, where they were put to death in flagrant violation both of law and justice. The protestants were subjected to severe persecutions; their property was confiscated, and many of them were sold as galley slaves. Reduced to despair, they rose up in arms in 1678 under the leadership of the intrepid Emeric Tekeli, son of one of the murdered nobles. Louis XIV. promised them assistance and concluded a treaty with them, which, however, he failed to perform. The only ally left to the Hungarians was the Porte, who sent an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men to attack Vienna in 1683, but as is well known, the celebrated John Sobieski routed the Turks and compelled them to raise the siege. The court of Vienna now let loose its vengeance on the Hungarians. A scaffold was erected in Eperies, and for nine months patriots of all classes were dragged in crowds to open butchery, till the executioners were weary of their horrid task. These "butcheries of Eperies" were concluded by an enactment, declaring the crown of Hungary to be no longer elective, but hereditary in the Austrian family. The great victory gained by Prince Eugene in 1697 near Zenta, at length brought the war with Turkey to a close, and peace was concluded at Carlowitz in 1699. Meanwhile Leopold had been engaged in a succession of fierce wars with France. The first of these was terminated by the treaty of Nimeguen in 1679, and the second by the peace of Ryswick in 1697. The war of the "Spanish succession," to which Leopold's son laid claim, broke out in 1701, and nearly all Europe was embroiled in the bloody fray. Austria united with England, Holland, the elector of Brandenburg (who at this juncture was recognized as king of Prussia), and the minor German potentates, in resisting the ambitious designs of France. Leopold behaved with characteristic selfishness and sluggishness in the prosecution of hostilities, and the fortune of war was at first unpropitious to the allies. But the genius of Marlborough turned the scale, and the splendid victory of Blenheim in 1704 humbled the pride of France. Leopold, however, did not live to profit by these successes. He died in 1705, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Joseph. Leopold was a dull, weak, and bigoted prince, selfish, faithless, ungrateful, and cruel, like the greater part of the heads of the Hapsburg family. He was well versed, however, in theology, philosophy, mathematics, and jurisprudence.—J. T.
LEOPOLD II., Emperor of Germany, was the son of the Emperor Francis I. and the Empress Maria Theresa, and was born in 1747. He became archduke of Tuscany in 1765, and took up his residence at Florence. His wise and vigorous administration was productive of the most beneficial effects on the welfare of his subjects. He set himself with great zeal to reform the abuses which had crept into the courts of justice; promulgated a new criminal code; moderated the severity of legal penalties, but made them prompt and certain; abolished torture and capital punishments, the employment of spies and secret denunciations, feudal rights, and the oppressive exactions and immunities of the nobles; freed commerce from restrictions and monopolies; diminished the taxes, yet increased the public revenue; paid off a great part of the national debt; constructed roads and canals; drained the Val de Chiana and part of the Maremme; established penitentiaries; improved prisons and hospitals; encouraged arts and education; founded schools and colleges; and reformed the universities of Pisa and Siena. He set himself with no less energy to reform the monastic system, and improve the discipline of the clergy throughout his dominions. In 1782 he abolished the inquisition in Tuscany; placed the monasteries and nunneries under the superintendence of the bishops; and strenuously supported Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, in his efforts to reform these institutions, to suppress the superstitious use of images and relics, indulgences, the invocation of saints and other erroneous practices, and to encourage the reading of the Bible, the preaching of the gospel, and the use of a liturgy in the vernacular language of the people. These proceedings excited great indignation at Rome, and led to a long and angry controversy with the papal court. But Leopold held to his point and successfully vindicated his sovereign rights. On the death of his brother Joseph, in 1790, Leopold succeeded both to the imperial crown and to the Austrian dominions. The rash, premature, and arbitrary innovations of Joseph had excited a strong feeling of discontent throughout every province of the empire, and had also estranged most of the great powers of Europe. But the new emperor, by a judicious mixture of firmness and conciliation, succeeded in appeasing his subjects and gaining the goodwill of foreign courts. He suppressed the revolt in the Netherlands; pacified the Hungarians by restoring their ancient privileges, and concluded a peace with the Ottoman Porte. The disturbed state of France was now exciting great uneasiness among the neighbouring states; and Leopold, in conjunction with the king of Prussia, prepared to check the spread of French revolutionary proselytism, and issued the famous declaration of Pilnitz, menacing France with invasion. In the midst of these projects and cares, Leopold suddenly died 1st March, 1792, in the forty-fourth year of his age. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Francis II.—J. T.
LEOPOLD, Duke of Austria, the son of Henry Jochsamirgatt, owes his notoriety in England to his ungenerous capture of Richard Cœur de Lion, travelling home in disguise from the first crusade. The fiery Norman had not only outraged the flag of Leopold at Acre, but had dethroned the king of Cyprus, his brother-in-law. Leopold was born in 1157; and at twenty years of age, succeeding his father in the duchy, he made peace with King Bela of Hungary by giving up to him Geyssa, Bela's brother, who, as a pretender to the Hungarian throne, had long been a refugee at the Austrian court. In Bohemia he assisted in
