Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/221

 series of the tracts written by Mainwaring and Leycester on this subject were reprinted by the Chetham Society from the collection at Peover, under the editorship of William Beamont (3 pts. 1869).

Leycester left a large collection of unpublished manuscripts, which are now at Tabley House, Cheshire, in the possession of his descendant Lord de Tabley; they have been calendared by the Historical Manuscripts Commission (1st Rep. Appendix, pp. 46–50). Among them is a treatise entitled ‘Prolegomena Historica de Musica P. L.,’ which could only have been written by an accomplished musician. Mention may also be made of a theological dissertation ‘On the Soul of Man,’ dated 1653, which is accompanied by a long correspondence upon the subject between Leycester and his old college tutor, Samuel Shipton, rector of Alderley, Cheshire.

An engraving from a miniature of Leycester at Nether Tabley is given in Ormerod's ‘Cheshire,’ vol. i. p. liv.; another from a portrait, probably by Lely, is prefixed to pt. i. of the Chetham Society's edition of the ‘Amicia Tracts.’



LEYDEN, JOHN, M.D. (1775–1811), physician and poet, son of John Leyden and Isabella Scott, was born on 8 Sept. 1775 at Denholm, in the parish of Cavers, Roxburghshire. He received some elementary schooling at Kirktown, and from 1790 to 1797 he was a student at Edinburgh University, greatly distinguishing himself as a scholar and reading very widely (Life of Scott, i. 324). In the vacations he studied natural science and the Scandinavian and modern languages, besides Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. His professional pursuits included both philosophy and theology, and he gave some attention to medicine. He practised public speaking at the University Literary Society. Among his associates were Brougham, Sydney Smith, Jeffrey, Horner, and Thomas Brown. From 1796 to 1798 he was tutor to the sons of Mr. Campbell, Fairfield, Edinburgh, accompanying them in 1797–8 to St. Andrews, where he was licensed as a preacher. His pulpit appearances were not successful (Constable and his Correspondents, i. 194).

Leyden as a student had made the acquaintance of Anderson, editor of the ‘British Poets,’ through whom he contributed to the ‘Edinburgh Literary Magazine.’ He was one of the first to welcome the ‘Pleasures of Hope’ (, Life of Campbell, iii. 253), although subsequently he and Campbell had a ridiculous quarrel with some amusing consequences (Life of Scott, vi. 326). In 1799 he came to know Richard Heber, then studying Scottish literature in Edinburgh. About the same time Leyden published ‘A Historical and Philosophical Sketch of the Discoveries and Settlements of the Europeans in Northern and Western Africa at the close of the Eighteenth Century,’ which was enlarged to two volumes by Hugh Murray, 1817. To Lewis's ‘Tales of Wonder,’ 1801, he contributed ‘The Elf King,’ a ballad, and on the combined recommendation of Heber and Anderson he edited for Constable the ‘Complaynt of Scotland,’ with an elaborate preliminary dissertation and an excellent glossary. Although not free from error the work gave a wholesome stimulus to the study of early Scottish literature (see Dr. Murray's edition of the Complaynt, Early English Text Society). Heber introduced him (1801) to Scott, whom he materially helped with the earlier volumes of the ‘Border Minstrelsy’ (1802), contributing five poems to vol. i. and material for the learned disquisition on fairies to vol. ii. (ib. i. 326). About the same time he made the acquaintance of Ritson, but their mutual sympathy was limited. While accompanying two Germans in 1800 to the Scottish highlands and the Hebrides, he investigated the Ossianic question, and recovered from Beattie at Aberdeen the anonymous poem ‘Albania,’ which he published along with Wilson's ‘Clyde’ in his ‘Scottish Descriptive Poems,’ 1802. The poem lacks symmetry, but has descriptive and patriotic passages of great power and beauty. For six months in 1802 he edited the third series of the ‘Scots Magazine,’ contributing himself both prose and verse. In several of his miscellaneous lyrics Leyden shows his best poetic quality.

Meanwhile, in default of a church appointment, Leyden was thinking of emulating Mungo Park's example as an African discoverer, when the Right Hon. William Dundas secured for him the post of assistant-surgeon at Madras. His previous medical studies enabled him in six months to take at St. Andrews a nominal M.D. degree. For some months he zealously studied oriental languages, prepared for publication his ‘Scenes of Infancy,’ and passed a pleasant time in London with Heber and George Ellis. He reached Madras on 19 Aug. 1803.

At first Leyden had charge of the Madras general hospital. In January 1804, as sur-