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 Society of Jesus 12 Nov. 1712, and taught literature at Sora and Ancona. He passed through his theological course at the Collegio Romano, and subsequently delivered lectures on the Greek language in that institution. In 1728 he taught philosophy in the Illyrian College of Loreto. He was professed of the four vows 2 Feb. 1728–9, and being sent to the Scottish mission, laboured in Aberdeenshire. In 1734 he returned to Italy and taught in the colleges of Ancona and Tivoli. He came back to England in 1738 at the request of Lord Petre, who desired to have the services of an ecclesiastic who was versed in antiquarian lore. He was associated with the English province of the society, and in 1751 was a missioner in the ‘College of the Holy Apostles,’ which comprised Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire. Returning to Rome in 1744 he was prefect of studies in the Scots College till 1746, was professor of moral theology for two years in the English College (1746–8), and in 1749 was associated with the learned jesuit Emanuel de Azevedo in preparing the ‘Thesaurus Liturgicus’ for publication. He fixed his residence in the Collegio Romano, where he died on 27 March 1758, after having published a mere fragment of the projected ‘Thesaurus,’ viz. ‘Missale mixtum secundum Regulam Beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes,’ with a preface, notes, and appendix, 2 vols., Rome, 1755, 4to; reprinted under the editorship of J.P. Migne, Paris, 1850, 8vo. This was a reprint of the Mozarabic Missal printed at Toledo in 1500 by order of Cardinal Ximenes. ‘Lesley's preface and notes,’ says M. Lefebre in the ‘Biographie Universelle,’ ‘are invaluable to those who desire to trace the origin of the Mozarabic rite and its variations.’ He is said to have left in manuscript: 
 * 1) ‘Notes on the Mozarabic Breviary.’
 * 2) ‘Notes on a Greek Medal struck by the inhabitants of Smyrna.’
 * 3) ‘Iter Litterarium.’
 * 4) Two collections of inscriptions, viz. ‘Lapides Tiburtini’ and ‘Lapides Britannici.’
 * 5) ‘Refutation of Dr. Conyers Middleton's “Pagan and Modern Rome compared,”’ an uncompleted work.
 * 6) Notes on Father John Tempest's ‘Letters from Palestine.’
 * 7) ‘De præstantia veterum lapidum,’ in imitation of the work of Spanheim.
 * 8) ‘De præstantia numismatum.’
 * 9) ‘De Legionibus,’ an important work, in which he distinguished, by means of inscriptions, all the grades of the Roman army.

LESLEY, WILLIAM ALOYSIUS, D.D. (1641–1704), jesuit, born in Aberdeenshire in 1641, entered the Society of Jesus at Rome at the age of twenty-five, being then a doctor of divinity. For some time he taught philosophy at Perugia, and on 10 Feb. 1673–4 he was appointed superior of the Scots College at Rome, which he governed for nine years. On his petition, in conjunction with his cousin William Lesley, agent at Rome for the Scottish clergy, the festival of St. Margaret, which previously had been celebrated in Scotland only, was inserted in the Roman breviary and missal. During the last ten years of his life Lesley served the mission in Scotland, where he died on 26 March 1704.

He published ‘Vita di S. Margherita, Regina di Scozia, raccolta da diversi autori,’ Rome, 1675, 1691, and 1718, 12mo, pp. 105.



LESLIE. [See also and .]

LESLIE, ALEXANDER, first (1580?–1661), general, was born, according to Macfarlane the antiquary, at Coupar-Angus, in the house of Leonard Leslie, who was abbot there from 1563 to 1605 (manuscript in Advocates' Library, Edinburgh). His father was George Leslie, captain of the castle of Blair in Athole, a scion of the Leslies of Balquhain; his mother, whose surname was Stewart, and whose christian name is variously given as Ann and Margaret, is doubtfully said to have been a daughter of the laird of Ballechin. David, second earl of Wemyss, who was engaged in the covenanting war under Leslie, noted in his diary the current story that she was ‘a wench in Rannoch’ (manuscript preserved at Wemyss Castle). He was born out of wedlock, but after the death of his wife Captain George Leslie married his former love in order to legitimate his eldest son (, Hist. Records of the Family of Leslie, iii. 356).

Leslie is said to have been over eighty on his death in 1661 (, Memoirs, p. 25), and must have therefore been born about 1580. His education was probably scanty. Lord Hailes pointed out the print-like form of his