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 284 LE CLERO LE CONTE He has also painted "The Marble-players," " Young America," and " The Itinerants." LE CLERC, Jean, a Protestant theologian, of French descent, born in Geneva, March 19, 1657, died in Amsterdam, Jan. 8, 1736. His ancestors had taken refuge in Geneva, and he was educated under the care of his father, Etienne Le Clerc (1599-1676), and in 1679 was admitted to the ministry, after which he studied at Saumur. In 1682 he preached for some time in London, and subsequently went to Holland. His theological opinions leading to his exclusion from the Walloon church, he be- came in 1684 professor of literature, philosophy, and Hebrew at the college of the Remonstrants in Amsterdam, and afterward of ecclesiastical history. In 1728 a stroke of paralysis obliged him to retire. He had a protracted contro- versy with Bayle, chiefly on account of the strictures of the latter upon Cudworth's u In- tellectual System of the Universe." He was a man of great erudition, and exerted a wide in- fluence upon the theological opinions of his time. Among his works are: Bibliotheque universelle et historique (26 vols., Amsterdam, 1686-'93), in the first 10 volumes of which La Croze assisted him; Bibliotheque choisie, &c. (28 vols., 1703-'13); Bibliotheque an- cienne et moderne (28 vols., 1714-'27), the last volumes of which are by Bernard, and a 29th volume was published in 1730 ; Vie du cardinal Richelieu (2 vols., 1694; often re- published) ; Commentarii Philologici et Para- phrasis in Vetus Testamentum (4 vols., 1690- 1731); ATS Critica (2 vols., 1696; enlarged ed., 3 vols., 1731); and Parrhasania, a series of disquisitions vindicating his opinions (1699 ; enlarged ed., 2 vols., 1701 ; English transla- tion, 1700). He also published an autobiogra- phy, Johannis Clerici Vita et Opera (Amster- dam, 1711; English translation, 1712). LECLERC, Sebastien, a French engraver, born in Metz, Sept. 26, 1637, died in Paris, Oct. 25, 1714. He became proficient in the art of de- sign under the tuition of his father, a gold- smith, and was for some time a geographical engineer, but finally devoted himself to engra- ving. Colbert placed him at the Gobelins with a pension of 1,800 francs. He was elected to the academy of painting, and was professor of perspective from 1672 to 1702, when he retired on a small pension. He formed his style upon that of Lebrun, improving it, however, by a careful study of Raphael. His published designs include nearly 4,000 subjects, all executed with remarkable correctness and elegance. Among his publications are valuable treatises on ge- ometry, architecture, and perspective. One of his ten children, LAURENT JOSSE LECLERC (1677-1736), was a professor of divinity, and a writer of some merit. LECLERC, Victor Emmanuel, a French general, born at Pontoise, March 17, 1772, died near Santo Domingo, Nov. 2, 1802. He enlisted in the army in 1791, and distinguished himself during the siege of Toulon and in the Italian campaigns, where he commanded the cavalry at Rivoli as brigadier general. He aided in the establishment of the consulate, for which he was made general of division and received several important commands. In 1801 Napo- leon appointed him captain general of Santo Domingo, to enforce the decree for the resto- ration of slavery, and Leclerc reached Samana early in 1802, with his wife (Napoleon's sister Pauline), and with a large fleet and a force of more than 30,000 men. He combated the ne- groes with various success till May 1, when a truce was concluded, during which Toussaint 1'Ouverture was sent as prisoner to France. The infuriated blacks renewed hostilities un- der Dessalines, while the French army was decimated by yellow fever, to which Leclerc succumbed. He was succeeded in command by Rochambeau. Pauline accompanied her husband's remains to France. Their only child died in 1804, a year after her second mar- riage with Prince Borghese. LECOMPTON, a township of Douglas co., Kansas, on the S. bank of the Kansas river, 10 m. N. W. of Lawrence; pop. in 1870, 971. It is the seat of Lane university, under the control of the United Brethren, which was es- tablished in 1865, and in 1873 had 2 professors and 81 students. Lecompton was the terri- torial capital, and was prominent in the dis- turbances between the friends and opponents of slavery prior to the admission of the state. (See KANSAS.) LE CONTE. I. John, an American naturalist, born near Shrewsbury, N. J., Feb. 22, 1784, died in Philadelphia, Nov. 21, 1860. He en- tered the corps of United States engineers in 1813, and was early employed in various im- portant surveys and fortifications. He always manifested a taste for the natural sciences, to which he contributed many important papers in the departments of botany and zoology. His principal publications are: "Monographs of the North American Species of Utricularia, Gratiola, and Ruellia" (in the "Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History," vol. i.) ; " Observations of the North American Species of Viola" (ibid., vol. ii.) ; "Descrip- tions of the Species of North American Tor- toises" (ibid., vol. iii.); >"A Monography of North American Histeroides" (Boston "Jour- nal of Natural History," vol. v.); and "De- scriptions of Three New Species of Arvicola, with Remarks upon other North American Rodents " (" Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," vol. vi.). II. John Lawrence, an American naturalist, son of the preceding, born in New York, May 13, 1825. He graduated at the New York college of physicians and surgeons in 1846, and while a student made several scientific journeys the western states. He has since travelled ex- tensively in North and Central America, for the purpose of scientific investigation, and has contributed many memoirs to the transactions of scientific societies and to journals, mostly