LEECIT, JOHN. 



LKFEBVRE, FRANCOIS-JOSEPH. 



of the first so-called historical nereis, a somewhat lachrymose tale of 

 the adventures and calamities of a supposed daughter of Mary of 

 Scotland, by a marriage with the Earl or Leicester, which contains at 

 little of history either in the facta of the tale or in the depicting of 

 the manner* of the are, ai in any resemblance to the characters of the 

 personage* introduced, but which obtained a considerable share of 

 popularity from the attempts at pathos and sentiment with which it 

 is full In 1787 (be published ' The Hermit's Tale,' a poem ; in 1796 

 Aluieyda, Queen of Granada,' a tragedy, which was successfully per- 

 formed. Mm. Siddons sustaining the principal character. In 1804 was 

 published in six volumes, a novel entitled ' The Life of a Lover,' which 

 is taid to have been her earliest production, the effort of her girlish 

 years, and is certainly one of her weakest writings. Her liust work was 

 a comedy, performed at Dairy Lane Theatre iu 1804, called 'Assigna- 

 tion,' which was condemned on the first night, and was never published. 

 Her chief claim to notice, like that of her sister, rests on the ' Canter- 

 bury Tale*,' of which she furnished two, ' The Young Lady's Tale,' 

 and ' The Clergyman's Talc,' which occupy a volume and a half of the 

 five volumes to which the series extended ; and the introductiou to 

 the whole. These tales are certainly superior to her novels, but they 

 are not equal on the whole to those of her sister. 



Harriot's first appearance as an author was in 1 786, when 'The 

 Errors of Innocence,' a novel in five volumes, was published ; this 

 was followed in 1787 by a comedy, ' The New Peerage ; or, Our Eyes 

 may deceive us,' ' Clara Lennox,' a novel in two volumes, in 1797, 

 and ' The Mysterious Marriage, or the Heirship of Rosalva,' a play, in 

 1798: all have been forgotten. The 'Canterbury Tales 'were pub- 

 lished in successive volume*, the first iu 1797, the fifth and last in 

 1805 ; they were so immediately popular that second editions of the 

 first two volumes were published in 1799. They consist of twelve 

 tale*, of which one, ' The German's Tale Kruitzner,' furnished Lord 

 Byron with the idea and some of the materials for his tragedy of 

 ' Werner,' and he says of the tale that he had formed a " high esti- 

 mate of the singular power of mind and conception which it dcvolopes." 

 It is undoubtedly the most powerfully interesting of the whole, con- 

 tains the most definitely drawn characters, and a well-developed plot. 

 Several of the other tales however show a considerable knowledge of 

 the human mind, are unexceptionably moral, generally pleasing, and 

 are narrated in a simple and unaffected style. 



LEECH, JOHN, was born in London and educated at the Charter- 

 house. The pages of ' Punch ' have rendered the name of Leech one 

 of the best known and most highly-prized among English caricaturists. 

 Week after week and year after year has his pencil there given an 

 enduring shape to some one or other of the current follies. From the 

 paterfamilias (whom he especially delights iu following into his domestic 

 retirement or watching in his recreations) to the most juvenile of the 

 riinir generation, Mr. Leech has suffered no member of the ' domestic 

 circle ' to escape his keen pencil. The sober citizen immortal '.Mr. 

 Briggs ; ' the fast young man ; young ladies whether fast or moderate 



with as little reticence and evidently from as extensive an experience 

 as though narrated by the ever-memorable Caudle. This is perhaps 

 the peculiarity of Leech as a pictorial humourist, that he has made 

 common every-day household life and ordinary home characters the 

 chief subject of his pencil : and that he has done it pleasantly, 

 without cynicism, and in the spirit of a good- tempered laughing 

 satirist one might almost say philosopher: and further, that it has 

 almost invariably been a folly at which he has despatched his shaft. 

 As works of art the sketches of Mr. Leech (taking of course into 

 account the rapidity with which they were thrown off and the purpose 

 for which they were made) are of a high order. They exhibit rare powers 

 of observation, and remaikable facility of execution ; gnat skill in 

 drawing (though often drawn carelessly enough, sometimes perhaps 

 from baste, and sometimes it may be from choice) ; and a singular 

 aptnees in rendering expression, or (what is no less difficult to express 

 happily) the absence of expression. The artist-like power with which 

 be sketches in with a few rude-looking scratches a landscape back- 

 ground is equally admirable, and so in fact is the cleverness with 

 which the accompaniments whether the sketch be of an ' interior,' 

 or an out-door scene, are made to assist the story. 



Mr. Leech has illustrated several of Albert Smith's tales, the ' Comic 

 History of England,' &c., and published under his own name, 'The 

 Rising Generation, a series of Twelve Drawings on Stone,' fol., 1848 ; 

 and ' Picture* of Life and Character : from the Collection of Mr. 

 Punch ; 500 woodcuts,' oblong fol., 1854 this last being probably 

 the moft remarkable collection (even as to mere quantity) of humor- 

 ous sketches ever publuhed by so young a man. 



LEFEBVRE, FRANCOIS-JOSEPH, Duke of Danzig, and Marshal 

 of France, was born of humble parents, at Ruffach, iu Upper Alsace, 

 on the 25th of October 1765. He was designed for the ecclesiastical 

 profession, but having lost his father, he enlisted, when eighteen years 

 of age, as a private soldier in the regiment of French guards. He 

 had attained the rank of serjeant-major when, on the breaking out of 

 the French revolution, that regiment wsa dissolved. He continued 

 to serve however, and in 1792 be became a captain of his regiment. 

 Iu that capacity he was enabled to render sonic valuable assistance 



to the unfortunate family of the dethroned King Louis XVI., and on 

 two occasions he gallantly interposed in their behalf, and, at the 

 peril of his life, rescued them from an infuriated populace. II is 

 subsequent rise in the army was without precedent rapid, even at 

 that period: on the 3rd of September 1793, he became adjutant- 

 general ; on the 2nd of December, in the same year, he was a general 

 of brigade ; and on the 10th of January 1794, he rose to the rank of 

 general of division. While serving with the army of the Moselle, 

 he distinguished himself at the combat of Lambach, and iu the battle 

 of Giesberg. During the whole of the campaign in Germany and 

 the Netherlands, under Pichegru, Moreau, Heche, and Jourdan, ho 

 made himself conspicuous for his skill and courage. In 1796, when 

 the French army under General KMber bad passed the Rhine [KLKIIEK], 

 the Austrians, finding themselves compelled to retire from Uckerath, 

 had intrenched themselves, twenty thousand strong, on the heights 

 which surround the small town of Altenkirchen. Their formidable 

 position was attacked on the 4th of June by Kldber, who formed his 

 army into two divisions, the first of which, the advanced-guard, ho 

 placed under Lefcbvre. The brunt therefore of the assault ; 

 that division, which boldly charged the enemy at the point of the 

 bayonet, and, in spite of a most vigorous resistance, compelled them 

 to retire in disorder, leaving behind them four standards, twi-lv 

 pieces of cannon, and about three thousand prisoners. On the 25th of 

 March 1799, was fought the memorable battle of Stockach, in \vlii, h 

 Lefebvre acquired fresh renown ; with only eight thousand men he 

 resisted, for many hours, the attack of thirty thousand Austrians. 



At the time when Bonaparte was placing himself at the head of 

 affairs, the Directory, who supposed Lefebvre devoted to their cause, 

 appointed him to the command of the guards of the Legislative 

 Assembly ; but, on the morning of the 18th Brumairo (October 14), 

 he attended the meeting of officers at Bonaparte's private residence, 

 and cordially co-operated in their proceedings. Ho was also instru- 

 ments! in extricating Lucicn Bonaparte from his dangerous position 

 in the stormy meeting of the Council of Five Hundred at St. Cloud. 

 [BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON I. ; BONAPARTE, LUCIEN.] These important 

 services were rewarded by the command of the seventeenth military 

 division, whose head-quarters were at Paris. In 1804 he was raised 

 to the dignity of a Mar.-hal of the Empire. He accompanied Napoleon 

 the following year in the Austrian campaign, and iu 1806 took an 

 active part at the battle of Jena, where, though at that time upwards 

 of fifty years of age, he fought on foot at the head of the guards. 



In 1&07 he was sent with an army of sixteen thousand men to 

 invest Danzig, which was garrisoned by twenty thousand troops, 

 besides a numerous militia, and the investment was completed on the 

 14th of March. A body of twelve thousand Russians were advancing 

 to the relief of the besieged, and Lefebvre was compelled to divide 

 his force, and to detach a portion of them to oppose the Russians. 

 On the 15th of May a severe action took place between them and the 

 French, when the latter, seconded by the troops of Marshal Launea 

 and General Oudinot, who had been sent by the emperor to their 

 assistance, successfully repelled nine Russian regiments, and a part of 

 the Prussian garrison by whom they had been joined. On the 'Jlst 

 of May, preparations having been made for a general assault, the 

 Prussian commander General Kalkreuth offered to accept terms of 

 capitulation, and Lefebvre willingly accorded favourable terms. A 

 few days after these events, Napoleon, who was desirous of reviving 

 the high nobility iu France, and to give additional lustre and mote 

 munificent rewards to the twenty-four grand dignitaries whom ho 

 had lately created, made Lefebvre Duke of Danzig. The siege of 

 Danzig indeed was one of the most brilliant triumphs of the Pn 

 campaign, and consequently well fitted to give an honourable title, 

 to the general who had conducted it. Eight hundred pieces of cannon 

 and immense magazines fell into the hands of the conquerors, and the 

 capture of this important fortress not only secured the left flank and 

 roar of Napoleon's army, but left to Prussia only the stronghold of 

 Pillau aluiig the whole coast of the Baltic. 



In 1808 Lefebvre joined the Peninsular expedition, and was appointed 

 to the command of the fifth corps of the French army. On leaving, 

 the emperor had given him directions to keep the Spaniards in check 

 till his arrival ; but when employed iu the province of Biscay, finding 

 that the enemy were seriously harassing the flanks of his army, he 

 gave them battle, and on the 1st of November triumphantly entered 

 the town of Bilbao. His conduct however on that occasion appears 

 to have given displeasure to Napoleon, as it interfered with his plan 

 of operations. lie was afterwards present at the battle of Tudela, 

 where he had the command of the cavalry. [LANNES.] Iu the German 

 campaign of 1809 he rendered himself conspicuous as a brave soldier 

 and an excellent tactician, at the battles of Eckmuhl and Wagram, 

 and in the dangerous warfare among the passes of the Tyrol He was 

 also with Napoleon in the disastrous expedition to Russia, and had 

 the command of the old guard, which was however seldom called 

 into action ; but during the retreat he showed considerable military 

 skill, and, for the most port, accompanied his corps on foot, sharing 

 every suffering and exposing himself to every danger iu common with 

 the private soldiers. 



During the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 he appears faithfully to 

 have adhered to the declining fortunes of his master ; and after the 

 battle of Leipzig, when the remnants of the French, army were called 



