444 



LEOPARD LEOPOLD. 



but now also common in America. The leave* are 

 all radical ami nmeinate. or japped on the margin, 

 ami from this circumstance has been derived its 

 French name dent tie lion or lion's tootli, of which 

 the Kntrlish appellation is a corruption. The stems 

 are hollow, and l>ear single, large, yellow flowers, 



c.'iiM-tn:-: '! :i ivnmnes of floret*, each of which i< 



succeeded hy a naked seed, bearing, on a long 

 pedicle, n luft of radiated down. By means of this 

 tuft, the seed, when detached, is kept suspended in 

 the air, and transported, by the winds, to a distance. 

 In this respect, however, it does not differ from most 

 of the composites. The whole plant is full of a milky 

 and bitter juice ; notwithsta inline which, it is in 

 common use as an early vegetable. The roots, 

 when roasted, are said to form a good substitute for 

 coffee, and are used for that purpose in some parts 

 of Germany. 



LEOPARD (fells Icopardu*). This beautiful but 

 savage animal is spread as widely over the countries 

 of the continent as the lion , and, throughout this 

 extent, he varies but little, and that merely in mag- 

 nitude, in the size and form of his markings, and the 

 intensity of their colouring; but he is every where 

 the same as to form and structure, as well as in 

 character and disposition. His ground colour is a 

 yellowish fawn, which becomes paler on the sides, 

 and is lost in the pure white of the under part of the 

 body. The Ivnck, head, neck, limbs, and under sur- 

 face of the body, are marked with black spots, of 

 different sizes, and placed in an irregular manner, 

 whilst the sides are covered by numerous distinct 

 roses, formed by the congregation of smaller spots, 

 placed in a circular form. In general appearance, 

 Ihis animal is fierce, and is, in fact, equally savage 

 a ul dastardly with the rest of the cat kind. His 

 usual prey is antelopes, monkeys, and the smaller 

 quadrupeds. He always avoids man, except when 

 closely pursued, when he offers an obstinate resist- 

 ance. Occasionally, however, the lone traveller has 

 fallen a victim to these ferocious and sanguinary 

 animals. When they attack a flock of sheep, the 

 slaughter they commit is almost incredible. Kolbe 

 states that two leopards, a male and female, and three 

 young ones, entered a sheepfold at the cape of Good 

 Hope; the old animals killed nearly a hundred sheep; 

 when they were satiated, they fed their young, and, 

 each seizing a whole carcass, attempted to move off, 

 but they were waylaid, and killed. The Negroes 

 take them in pitfalls, slightly covered over with 

 hurdles, on which a piece of meat is placed as a bait. 

 From the extraordinary flexibility of the limbs of 

 this animal, he is enabled to ascend trees, in which 

 he usually takes refuge when pursued. When taken 

 young, he can be tamed to a certain degree. Ac- 

 cording to travellers in Africa, the flesh of the leopard 

 is excellent, resembling veal. The skins are valuable, 

 selling, in Europe, at from 5 to 10. 



Hunting -leopard (F. jubata), or cheetah, as it is 

 termed in India, is about the size of a greyhound, 

 with a narrow chest and long legs, of a thin make in 

 the Ixxly and limbs, apparently calculated rather for 

 speed than strength. In fact, this animal forms a 

 sort of connecting link between the feline and canine 

 groups. He is of a pale yellow colour on the upper 

 part, white underneath, and covered all over with 

 very small irregular spots. He has a slight mane, 

 extending along the back of the neck and upper 

 part of the back. He is capable of being perfectly 

 tamed, and is employed, in the East, for the chase of 

 antelopes. He is carried to the field in a cart, in 

 which he is kept chained and hoodwinked, till 

 brought within view of a herd, when he is released, 

 and the hoods removed. The animal steals gradu- 

 ally towards his prey, till he has attained a proper 



distance, when, with five or six surprising bounds, 

 he springs upon it. If, however, he is unsuccessful 

 in his attack, lie does not attempt to renew it, but 

 returns with u mortified air, to his keeper. 



LEOPOLD I., German emperor, second son of 

 the emperor Ferdinand III. and Mary Anne of 

 Spain, born 1C40, was chosen, in 1655, king of 

 Hungary ; in 16o8, king of Bohemia ; and, in 11)59, 

 emperor of Germany. On ascending the throne, he 

 was obliged to promise to aflbrd Spain no assistance 

 against France. The Turks liad then defeated the 

 imperial army, and desolated Moravia, because the 

 emperor had aided the prince of Transylvania, 

 Ragotsky, who had ceased to pay an annual tribute 

 to the Ottoman Porte. Montecuctili, Leopold's 

 general, supported by 6000 select French troops, 

 under Coligny and Feuillade, defeated the Turks, 

 August I, at St Gothard; but, instead of improving 

 this victory, the cabinet of Vienna concluded a truce 

 for twenty years, and Ragotsky remained tributary to 

 the Porte. Hungary was to be totally subjugated ; but 

 the nobles of this country attempted to throw off the 

 Austrian supremacy, and to choose a king from their 

 own nation. This undertaking cost Zrini, Frangi- 

 pani, Nadasti, and other Hungarians, their lives. 

 Tekeli (see Tekeli) now placed himself at the head 

 of the malcontents, and was chosen king of Hungary 

 by the Turks, for an annual tribute of 40,000 

 zechins. Tekeli called the Turks into the German 

 empire ; with an army of 200,000 men, they cap- 

 tured the island of Schutt, and laid siege to Vienna, 

 in 1683. Just as the city was on the point of surren- 

 dering, John Sobiesky hastened to its relief. The 

 Turks were attacked in their intrenchments, and 

 suffered a total defeat. A panic terror seized the 

 grand vizier, Kara Mustapha : he fled, and left his 

 camp to the victor. This defeat was followed by 

 others, and the imperialists recovered all the lost 

 cities. Leopold caused the Hungarian insurgents, 

 whom he looked upon as the cause of all the dangers 

 which menaced Germany, to be severely punished. 

 Hungary, which had been an elective monarchy, 

 was declared, at the diet of Presburg, in 1687, here- 

 ditary in the Austrian male line, and Joseph, the 

 eldest son of the emperor, was crowned as king of 

 Hungary, without any previous election. Transyl- 

 vania submitted, without reserve, to the Austrian 

 house. Leopold waged three wars with France, 

 which he declared wars of the empire. The first, in 

 1672, in connexion with Spain and Brandenburg, 

 to assist the Dutch, attacked by the French and 

 British, was unsuccessful on the part of the emperor 

 and empire, and was terminated by the peace of 

 Nimeguen, February 5, 1679. The second war had 

 its origin in the league formed at Augsburg, in 1686, 

 with Holland and Spain against France. In this 

 war, the Palatinate was terribly devastated by the 

 French. The German arms were generally success- 

 ful, and, by the peace of Ryswick, October 30, 1C97, 

 France restored all that it had torn from Germany 

 since 1 680, besides relinquishing to Germany, Brisach, 

 Friburg, Kehl, Philipsburg, and several smaller 

 fortresses. The duke of Lorraine, a near relation of 

 the king, recovered his territories, from which his 

 family had been expelled, in 1670, by Louis XIV. 

 The third war was undertaken by Leopold, in 1702, 

 in order to procure the succession to the throne of 

 Spain for his second son, Charles ; but he died in the 

 course of this war, May 5, 1705. His eldest son, 

 Joseph, already crowned Roman king, in 1 690, pro. 

 secuted the war with great vigour. (Respecting the 

 great commotions in Hungary, in the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century, see Rapotsky.) As the 

 youngest son of Ferdinand III., Leopold had been 

 educated for the church, and his reign was marked 



