Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/712

 LEOPOLD II.— LESLIE.

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LEOPOLD II. (Lkopold-Loxtis- Phtlippe-Mabib- Victor), King of the Belgians^ son of the late King Leopold I., upon whose death, which occurred Dec. 10, 1865, he suc- ceeded to the throne as Leopold II., was born at Brussels, April 9, 1835, and married, August 22, 1853, the Archduchess Maria of Austria, by whom he has had three children — two daughters and one son, the Duke of Brabant, who died in Jan., 1869, at the age of ten. In 1855, in company with the Duchess of Brabant, he made a lengthened tour through Europe, Egypt, and Asia Minor. As Duke of Brabant, he took a prominent part in several important discussions in the Senate, especially in that relating to the establishment of a maritime service between Antwerp and the Levant. His Majesty has visited this coun- try very frequently. His "silver wedding '* was celebrated with great rejoicings in Aug., 1878.

LEOPOLD, Prince. (See Al- bany, DXTKB OF.)

LEPSIUS, Karl Bichard, orien- talist, born at Naumberg, Dec. 20, 1813, studied philology at Leipsic, Gbttingen, and BerUn, under the direction of Bopp. After receiving his doctor's degree in 1833, he re- paired to Paris, furnished with letters of recommendation from Von Humboldt, and in 1834 gained the Volney prize for his memoir, guistic Besearches,'' published at Leipsic, in 1842. This treatise was followed by two important ones, printed in the Transactions of the Academy of Berlin: — "Report on the Semitic, Indian, ancient Per- sian, ancient Egyptian, and Ethi- opic Alphabets," and "On the Origin of the Noiins of Number in the Indo-Germanic, Semitic and Coptic Languages.'' In 1835 he went to Italy to make researches in various libraries, and at Home gained the friendship of Bunsen. In 1837 he published his celebrated 'Letter to M. BoBellini on the
 * ' Palaeography applied to Lin-

Hieroglyphic Alphabet," which was followed by " Memoirs on the Archi- tecture and Monuments of the Egyptians." Since that time Lep- sius has confined his researches and studies almost exclusively to lan- guages and Egyptian antiquities. In 1838 he was sent to England by the Archaeological Institute, where, meeting with Bunsen, the project was formed of an expedition to Egypt, which had the sanction of the King of Prussia. This expedi- tion, which comprised English and German men of science as well as artists, left England in Sept., 1842. Favoured by the protection of Mehemet Ali, it histed four years, and produced the happiest results. On his return to Germany, in 184G, Lepsius was nominated Titular Pro- fessor at Berlin, and a member of the Academy of Sciences. He has since occupied himself in publishing the fruits of his researches on the history, geography, chronology, the arts, language, literatiire, and reli- gion of the Egyptians. " Monu- ments of Egypt and Ethiopia" appeared in 1853-57; "The Uni- versal Linguistic Alpliabet " in 1855 ; and " Standard Alphabet for reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems" (Lond. and Berlin), in 1863. He has pub- lished a work on the Nile, which has been translated into English.

LESLIE, Georoe Dunlop, E.A., the youngest son of the late Charles Eobert Leslie, R.A., was born at 12, Pineapple Place, St. John's Wood, London, July 2, 1835, and educated at the Mercers' School in the City. From his father he re- ceived, of course, a great deal of instruction in art; and the pure and tender feeling, as well as the simplicity and method, which dis- tinguish so many works of the father, seem to be reflected in the productions of the son. Young Leslie was, however, placed by his father at Mr. F. Cary's School of Art, Bloomsbury, whence he was admitted a student in the Life