Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/158

* LEOPAKD. 140 LEOPARD MOTH. the authorities referred to under Lion and TiGEK. LEOPABD. In heraldry (q.v.), the lion rep- resented passHiit gardant. LEOPARD CAT. A rare and little known cat (/'(/is liciiijukiisis) of Nortliern India, the Jlalay IVniusuia, Sumatra, and Java, which is about two-thirds the size of the leopard. Its coloration resembles that of the leopard, but there are four louffitudinal spots or stripes on the forehead, continued backward in lines to the shoulders, and thence traceable in broken lines along the back. All the other spots are rather large, and show a tendency to fall into rows. 'J'he limits and allinilics. as well as the habits of this animal, are lilllc understood. Consult Mi- vart, The Cat (New York, 1892). LEOPARD CATFISH, or SuRA^^. See Cat- fish. LEOPARD FROG (so called from the spotted coloration). The common spotted gi-een frog of North America {Hiinii i-ircxviii.^) — the most wide- ly distributed of all American frogs, and found from Athabasca Lake to Southern Guatemala, excejrt on the coast of California. It is the 'shad' frog of Xew England. See Frog. LEOPARDI, la'6-piir'de, (Jiacomo, Count ( 171KS-1S37). An Italian poet, born at Reeanati, June 20, 1708, of an old noble family then im- poverished. Leopardi's childhood was a sad and loveless one. and from a very tender age he gave himself up with such energy to the study of the classics and of tliree or four modern languages, that he greatly imjiaired his health, delicate from early youth, and brought (m those chronic ail- ments that embittered all his later life. In 1817 'he began his correspondence with Pictro Giordani, and to this same year belongs his first love affair, which inspired his first poems (// prima amorc, Spcnto il diunio raf/'iio, and fo qui rafiando). A prey to an overpowering melancholy, he made an imsuccessful attempt to escape from his father's house in 1810. In 1822, however, he ob- tained leave to go to Rome, and then began a period of constant wandering to and fro, during vhich the poet, a prey to unceasing physical tor- ments, found life to be a scries of disencliant- ments. Sojourning in Rome. Jlilan, Bologna, Flor- ence, Pisa, and at intervals in Reeanati, he finally ■went to Naples, where he died, .June 14, 1837. Scantiness of money hampered him always, and his bodily infirmities prevented him from accept- ing the independent position which he might have ac!ii<'ved. when his rejuite as a philologist prompted the statesman and scholar Runsen to ofier him a imiversity professorship in Germany. A deep student of Greek and T^atin, and cfinver- sant also with French, Spanisli, and English, Leopardi produced philological works notable for the time, but now, with the exception of the commentary on Petrarch, rather antiquated. In his earlier years he wrote Greek and Latin with nuich more ease and precision than Italian, and it was only by a systematic study of the style of Italian classics that he later acquired skill in handling his native langiiage. There are Iwo periods recognizable in Leopardi's lyric activity. In the first of these, which extends from about 18)6 to 1824. and embraces some twenty-two compositions approved by the author, his pes- simism is first formed and developed, and he rests more particularly under the influence of the Latin classics; in the second period, which, after a couple of years given up to writing in prose, begins in 1820 and occupies the rest of his life, he carries bis pessimism still further, and ends by alhrming the universality of sulVering. A feature of tliis later poetic manner is a rather fre(|uent imitation of Petrarch. As to metrical structure, Leopardi was most inclined to the use of blank verse (vcrsi sciolti), but in some of his best pieces he even employed internal rhyme ; in general, his rhyme schemes are of an intricate nature. Of his various prose works the author gave his final approval only to the Opcntle jiionili and a few of the yol(iari::zamcnti, the former being original works of a pliilosopliic nature, and the latter his translations from the Greek. There appeared posthumously the prose Pensieri. His critical powers are best illustrated in his Crestomu::ia italiaiia, containing selected • passages from the most representative Italian writers of every century. For a knowledge of the inner man, nothing is more important tlian the Epistolnrio, a collection of his letters extending from 1812 to a few days before his death, familiar in their style and notably sincere in tone. Consult editions of the poems. AW Italia and Sul monumento di Dante (Rome. 1810); that of the Ad Angela Mai (Bologna, 1820) ; the Canzoiii del conte (liaeomo Leopardi (ib., 1824) ; the Versidel conte (liaeomo Leopardi (ib.. 1820) ; the Conti Giaeomo Leopardi (Florence. 1831); the commentary by A. Straccali (2d ed., ib., 1895). The most complete editions are those of (i. Chiarini (Florence, 188(5) and of G. Mestica (ib., 1880). Tiie first edition of the Epistolario was that of Florence. 1849; consult the .5th ed. by G. Piergili. Florence, 1802. The best edi- tions of the Opcrette morali (first published at Milan, 1827) are those of G. Chiarini (Legliorn. 1870) and G. Mestica (Florence, 1889) . Consult the connnentaries by N. Zingarelli (Naples. 180;')) and I. Delia Giovanna (Florence, 1805). Bio- graphical and critical treatises are: G. I. Mon- tanari, Bior/rafia del conte fliacomo Leopardi (Rome, 1838) ; Saint-Beuve. Portraits contem- porains, vol. iv. ; C. Rosa. Delia vita e dellr opere di (liaeomo Leopardi (Ancona, 1880) ; A. Ranieri, f>elte anni di sodalizio eon (liaeomo Leopardi (Naples. 1880) ; C. A. Traversi. Htiidi sn Giaeomo Leopardi (ib., 1887) : L. Cappelletti. liihlio- fira/ia Leopardiana (2d ed., Parma. 1882) ; F. De Sanctis. Snaai eritiei and ori aaqqi eritici (Naples, 1868," 1879); T, Delia Giovanna, La ration poetica dei Canti di Giaeomo Leopardi (Verona, 1892) : G. A. Cesareo, Suove riccrche HU Ciaromo Leopardi (Turin. 1803). LEOPARD LIZARD. See Collared Lizard. LEOPARD MOTH. A moth (Zeuzera pif- riiia), of European origin, famous for the damage which its larva does by boring into the limbs and branches of forest and shade trees. It has been accidentally introduced into the United States, and has been established in the vi- cinity of New York City. It belongs to the family Cossida^. the larva- of all of which are wood-borers. The female has a wing-expanse of two inches, and is white in color spotted with black. The eggs are laid in groups attached to the bark, and the larvae bore into the branches, either killing them or weakening them so that they readily break in a high wind.