of Weimar to make it the ba^-is of a German union under the leadership of Prussia was un- suecessful. Consult Ranke, Die (Iculschen Miichtc uml (III- I'iir.stcnhund (2d od., heipzii;. ISTt'i).
LEAGUE OF THE PUBLIC WEAL (Fr.
I.i'liic till bicn public). An alliance of the great
Freneh nobles against Louis XL. formed in HUo
under the leadership of Charles. Count of Cha-
rolais (Charles the Bold of Uurgundy). The
ostensitdo object of the nobles was to put an end
to the tyrannical government of Louis XI.; but
in fact tlicir olijeets were purely selfisli. their
only aim being to regain the old extensive feu-
dal jirivileges, which had enabled them to defy
even the royal po«er. They gained a victory over
Louis XI. on July 16, 14G5. at llontriu'ry. and in
October, in the I'eacc of Conllans. the King was
forced to make great concessions. l?ut the ad-
vantage gained by the noldes was of short ilura-
tion, for the crafty monarch succeeded in crush-
ing them individually, and made the royal power
supreme in France. See I"r.xcf;; Loiis XI.
LEAKE, Sir Joiix (1056-1720). An English
admiral. We was born at Kotlierhithc. Surrey,
England: early entered the navy, and distin-
guished himself under his father in 1('>73 in the
action between Sir Edward Spragg and Van
Tromp. and afterwards, wlien appointed captain,
convoyed victualers into Londonderry, tlius com-
pelling the enemy to raise the siege. In 1702 be
was promoted to the rank of commodore, and,
in command of a squadron, destroyed the French
settlements at Xcwfoundland, restoring the is-
land to the English. For tlicsc services he was
made on his return rear-admiral, and soon after-
wards vice-admiral of the blue, and knighted.
In 1704 he displayed great skill and galbuitry in
relieving CJibraltar when on the point of being
taken by 500 Spaniards who had clindied uj) the
rock. Soon after he was made vice-admiral of
the white, and again, in 1705. relieved Gibraltar
by destroying the French squadron. In 1706
he relieved Barcelona when reduced to great ex-
tremity by the Spaniards and French, obliging
King Philip to raise the siege. In the .same
year he commanded the fleet which captured
Alicante, Cartagena, and the island of Jlajorca.
He was now made admiral of the white and
commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet.
In 1708 he reduced Sardinia and Minorca. In
1709 he was made rear-admiral of Great Britain.
The same year he was appointed Lord of the
Admiralty, and continued high in olTice till the
death of (Juccn Anne. He was several times a
member of Parliament for Rochester. On the
accession of George I. he was superseded on a
pension of £600 a year. He died at Greenwich,
on August 21, 1720.' The Life of fiir .John Leake.
by Stephen Martin Leake, his nephew, was pri-
vately printed in London (1750).
LEAKE, William Martin (1777-1860). A
British officer and archaeologist, bom in Lon-
don. He was educated at the Royal ililitary
Academy at Woolwich, received a commission as
second lieutenant in the artillery serv'ice. and
in 1704 was ordered to the West Indies. Here
he remained for four years, and in 1700 was
sent as captain to instruct the Swiss in artillery
practice. Leaving Constantinople in ISOO to
join the Turks, who were then fighting the
French in Egypt, he traveled through Asia
Minor, Jaffa, and Egypt, and even traversed the
desert, but arrived only after the capitulation had
lieen signed. In 1801 he made a careful survey
of Upper Egypt, and in 1804 traveled through
the greater part of Turkey and Greece, surveying
the coasts and fortresses and making collections,
which are now in the British Museum. After
undertaking extensive explorations in the Orient
for the British Government (1808-1.3), he retired
in 182."! with the grade of lieutenant-colonel.
His principal works are: licscarclics in Greeee
(1814); The Topography of Athens (1821|:
tluunuil of a Tour in Asia Minor, with Compara-
lire I'ciiiurks on the Ancient and Modern Geo/t-
raphif of that Country (1824): Travels in tiic
Morea (1830); Trarcls in Northern Greece
(1835); and Numismatica HeUenica (1854).
Consult Marsden, Brief Memoir of the Life and
M'rilings of W. M. Leake (London, 1864).
LEAMINGTON, lem'mg-ton. A fashionable
watering-place in Warwickshire, England, on the
I^eam, a tributary of the Avon, about two mile*
from Warwick (ilap: England. E 4). Leaming-
ton is of modern growth and owes its importance
to its mineral waters, saline, sulpluirous. and
chalybeate. It has a proprietary college, erected
in 1847 in the Tudor style. In the centre of tlic
town is a pump-room, a handsome structure.
The manufacture of cooking-ranges is an impor-
tant industry. The town owns the Spa baths.
open-air baths, water-supply, gas. tramways,
and cemeteries, and maintains free libraries, tech-
nical schools, and beautiful public gardens and
parks. Population, in 1801, 26,000; in 1001,
26,850. Consult Guide to and History of Leam-
ington (London and New York, 1888).
LEANDER, le-rm'dcr. See Hero.
LEANDER, la-iin'der, RiCHABD. The pseudo-
nym of the German surgeon and author Richard
von Volkmann (q.v.).
LEAN'DER, Saint (e.550-e.601). Arch-bishop of Seville. He was born at Cartagena. Spain, and became a monk. His zeal in convert-
ing the son and successor of King Lcovigild was punished by banishment. He betook himself to Constantinople, and there formed a lasting friendship with Gregory, afterwards Pojie (Jregorv the
Great (500-004)." About 584 Leander was made
Archbishop of Seville, and in 500 Ciregory sent
him the pallium, and also dedicated to him his
Mornlia in Johum. Leander's most important
achievement was the conversion of the West
Goths from Arianism to Catholic Christianity.
LEANING TOWER. A tower which overhangs its base on one side. The most celebrated example is the Campanile of Pisa, which has an obliquity of 13 feet in a height of 179. It was begun by the architect Bonannus of Pisa in 1174, continvicd by William of Innsbruck and others. and completed in 1350. It is built in the Romanesque style, to correspond with the cathedral, and is surrounded by open arcades of columns. Other well-known examples are in Bologna, the Torre Asonelli (1109), and the Torre Gariscnda (1110), both built of brick, the latter well known through a passage in Dante's Inferno. The fallen Campanile of Venice also leaned slightly; there are other examples at Pisa. Ravenna, and elsewhere in Xorthern Italy, and a few in other parts of Eutope. It is a disputed question as to whether the slant of these towers is accidental. That of Pisa shows an increased
