Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/62

LEAGUE OF THE PKINCES. of Weimar to make it the ba^-is of a German union under the leadership of Prussia was un- suecessful. Consult Ranke, Die (Iculschen Miichtc uml (III- I'iir.stcnhund (2d od., heipzii;. ISTt'i).

LEAGUE OF THE PUBLIC WEAL (Fr. I.i'liic till bicn public). An alliance of the great Freneh nobles against Louis XL. formed in HUo under the leadership of Charles. Count of Cha- rolais (Charles the Bold of Uurgundy). The ostensitdo object of the nobles was to put an end to the tyrannical government of Louis XI.; but in fact tlicir olijeets were purely selfisli. their only aim being to regain the old extensive feu- dal jirivileges, which had enabled them to defy even the royal po«er. They gained a victory over Louis XI. on July 16, 14G5. at llontriu'ry. and in October, in the I'eacc of Conllans. the King was forced to make great concessions. l?ut the ad- vantage gained by the noldes was of short ilura- tion, for the crafty monarch succeeded in crush- ing them individually, and made the royal power supreme in France. See I"r.xcf;; Loiis XI.

LEAKE, Sir Joiix (1056-1720). An English admiral. We was born at Kotlierhithc. Surrey, England: early entered the navy, and distin- guished himself under his father in 1('>73 in the action between Sir Edward Spragg and Van Tromp. and afterwards, wlien appointed captain, convoyed victualers into Londonderry, tlius com- pelling the enemy to raise the siege. In 1702 be was promoted to the rank of commodore, and, in command of a squadron, destroyed the French settlements at Xcwfoundland, restoring the is- land to the English. For tlicsc services he was made on his return rear-admiral, and soon after- wards vice-admiral of the blue, and knighted. In 1704 he displayed great skill and galbuitry in relieving CJibraltar when on the point of being taken by 500 Spaniards who had clindied uj) the rock. Soon after he was made vice-admiral of the white, and again, in 1705. relieved Gibraltar by destroying the French squadron. In 1706 he relieved Barcelona when reduced to great ex- tremity by the Spaniards and French, obliging King Philip to raise the siege. In the .same year he commanded the fleet which captured Alicante, Cartagena, and the island of Jlajorca. He was now made admiral of the white and commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet. In 1708 he reduced Sardinia and Minorca. In 1709 he was made rear-admiral of Great Britain. The same year he was appointed Lord of the Admiralty, and continued high in olTice till the death of (Juccn Anne. He was several times a member of Parliament for Rochester. On the accession of George I. he was superseded on a pension of £600 a year. He died at Greenwich, on August 21, 1720.' The Life of fiir .John Leake. by Stephen Martin Leake, his nephew, was pri- vately printed in London (1750).

LEAKE, William Martin (1777-1860). A British officer and archaeologist, bom in Lon- don. He was educated at the Royal ililitary Academy at Woolwich, received a commission as second lieutenant in the artillery serv'ice. and in 1704 was ordered to the West Indies. Here he remained for four years, and in 1700 was sent as captain to instruct the Swiss in artillery practice. Leaving Constantinople in ISOO to join the Turks, who were then fighting the French in Egypt, he traveled through Asia Minor, Jaffa, and Egypt, and even traversed the desert, but arrived only after the capitulation had lieen signed. In 1801 he made a careful survey of Upper Egypt, and in 1804 traveled through the greater part of Turkey and Greece, surveying the coasts and fortresses and making collections, which are now in the British Museum. After undertaking extensive explorations in the Orient for the British Government (1808-1.3), he retired in 182."! with the grade of lieutenant-colonel. His principal works are: licscarclics in Greeee (1814); The Topography of Athens (1821|: tluunuil of a Tour in Asia Minor, with Compara- lire I'ciiiurks on the Ancient and Modern Geo/t- raphif of that Country (1824): Travels in tiic Morea (1830); Trarcls in Northern Greece (1835); and Numismatica HeUenica (1854). Consult Marsden, Brief Memoir of the Life and M'rilings of W. M. Leake (London, 1864).

LEAMINGTON, lem'mg-ton. A fashionable watering-place in Warwickshire, England, on the I^eam, a tributary of the Avon, about two mile* from Warwick (ilap: England. E 4). Leaming- ton is of modern growth and owes its importance to its mineral waters, saline, sulpluirous. and chalybeate. It has a proprietary college, erected in 1847 in the Tudor style. In the centre of tlic town is a pump-room, a handsome structure. The manufacture of cooking-ranges is an impor- tant industry. The town owns the Spa baths. open-air baths, water-supply, gas. tramways, and cemeteries, and maintains free libraries, tech- nical schools, and beautiful public gardens and parks. Population, in 1801, 26,000; in 1001, 26,850. Consult Guide to and History of Leam- ington (London and New York, 1888).

LEANDER, le-rm'dcr. See Hero.

LEANDER, la-iin'der, RiCHABD. The pseudo- nym of the German surgeon and author Richard von Volkmann (q.v.).

LEAN'DER, Saint (e.550-e.601). Arch-bishop of Seville. He was born at Cartagena. Spain, and became a monk. His zeal in convert- ing the son and successor of King Lcovigild was punished by banishment. He betook himself to Constantinople, and there formed a lasting friendship with Gregory, afterwards Pojie (Jregorv the Great (500-004)." About 584 Leander was made Archbishop of Seville, and in 500 Ciregory sent him the pallium, and also dedicated to him his Mornlia in Johum. Leander's most important achievement was the conversion of the West Goths from Arianism to Catholic Christianity.

LEANING TOWER. A tower which overhangs its base on one side. The most celebrated example is the Campanile of Pisa, which has an obliquity of 13 feet in a height of 179. It was begun by the architect Bonannus of Pisa in 1174, continvicd by William of Innsbruck and others. and completed in 1350. It is built in the Romanesque style, to correspond with the cathedral, and is surrounded by open arcades of columns. Other well-known examples are in Bologna, the Torre Asonelli (1109), and the Torre Gariscnda (1110), both built of brick, the latter well known through a passage in Dante's Inferno. The fallen Campanile of Venice also leaned slightly; there are other examples at Pisa. Ravenna, and elsewhere in Xorthern Italy, and a few in other parts of Eutope. It is a disputed question as to whether the slant of these towers is accidental. That of Pisa shows an increased