LESBOS LESLIE. 



447 



Asiatic coast. According to tradition, Lesbos, son 

 of Lapithas, and grandson of .iEolus, by the advice 

 of an oracle, led a colony to this island, espoused 

 Methymna, daughter of Macareus, and received with 

 her the dominion of half of the island, to which he 

 gave the name of Lesbos, it having been previously 

 called Jsa, and Pclasgia, from the Pelasgians. The 

 island contained forests of beech, cypress, and fir 

 trees. It yielded marble of a common quality, and 

 the plains abounded in grain. Warm springs were 

 also found; agates and precious stones. The most 

 profitable production was wine, which was preferred, 

 in many countries, to all the other Greek wines. 

 To the present day, the oil and figs of Lesbos are 

 accounted the best in the Archipelago. The island 

 formerly contained nine cities, for the most part in a 

 flourishing condition; among them, Mitylene, Pyrrha, 

 Methymna, Arisba, Eressus, and Antissa : at present, 

 120 villages are enumerated. Lesbos was originally 

 inhabited by ^Eolians, who formed a powerful de- 

 mocracy from an insignificant monarchy. They 

 afterwards made great conquests on the continent 

 and former territory of Troy, and even resisted the 

 Athenians themselves. Lesbos was next disturbed 

 by the Samians, and, afterwards, by the Persians, to 

 whom it was finally obliged to submit. After the 

 battle of Mycale, it shook off the Persian yoke, and 

 became the ally of Athens. During the Pelopon- 

 nesian war, it separated, more than once, from Athens, 

 but was always reduced to obedience. A distinguished 

 citizen of Mitylene, exasperated that several rich 

 inhabitants had refused his sons their daughters in 

 marriage, publicly accused the city of an intention 

 to conclude a league with the Lacedaemonians, by 

 which false accusation he induced the Athenians to 

 send a fleet against Lesbos. The nearest cities, 

 Methymna excepted, armed in defence of their 

 capital, but were overpowered, the walls of Mitylene 

 demolished, and a thousand of the richest inhabi- 

 tants put to death. The territory of Methymna 

 alone was spared. The island itself was divided 

 into 3000 parts, of which 300 were devoted to the 

 service of the gods, and the rest divided among 

 the Athenians, by whom they were rented to the 

 ancient proprietors. The cities of Lesbos, never- 

 theless, soon rebelled again. The Lesbians were, 

 moreover, notorious for their dissolute manners, and 

 the whole island was regarded as the abode of 

 pleasure and licentiousness. At the same time, 

 they had the reputation of the highest refinement, 

 and of the most distinguished intellectual cultiva- 

 tion. Poetry and music made great progress there. 

 The Lesbian school of music was celebrated, and 

 is said to have had the following origin : When 

 Orpheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes, his 

 head and lyre were thrown into the river Hebrus, 

 and both were cast, by the waves, on the shore of 

 Methymna. Meanwhile, harmonious sounds were 

 emitted by the mouth of Orpheus, accompanied by 

 the lyre, which was moved by the breath of the 

 wind. The Methymnians therefore buried the head, 

 and suspended the lyre in the temple of A polio. In 

 return, the talent of music was conferred on them 

 by this deity. In reality, Lesbos produced musi- 

 cians superior to all the other musicians of Greece. 

 Among these, the most distinguished were Arion 

 of Methymna, and Terpander of Antissa. Alceeus 

 and Sappho were esteemed the first in* lyric poetry. 

 Pittacus (one of the seven wise men), the philoso- 

 phers Theophrastus and Theophanes (the bosom 

 friend of the great Pompey), and the historians 

 Hellanicus, Myrtilus, &c., were also natives of this 

 island. It was often chosen as a place of residence 

 by distinguished foreigners. Epicurus and Aristotle 

 taught there. 



LESLIE, SIR JOHN, professor of natural philoso- 

 phy in the university of Edinburgh, and distinguished 

 by his valuable writings and discoveries, was born 

 at the kirk-town of Largo, in Fife, on the 16th of 

 April, 1766. His father, Robert Leslie, by profes- 

 sion a joiner and cabinet-maker, was a much respected 

 and worthy man, and seems, in point of education 

 and general attainments, to have been superior to 

 the majority of persons in his station at that period. 

 When very young, he was sent to a woman's school 

 in the village, but remained only a short time there. 

 Afterwards he was placed under a Mr Thomson at 

 Lundin Mill, with whom he learned to write ; and 

 lastly he went to Leven school, and began to learn 

 Latin ; but being a weakly boy, and unable to walk 

 so far, he was obliged after about six weeks to give 

 up attendance. He received, while at home, some 

 lessons in mathematics from his elder brother 

 Alexander, and soon began to show a surprising 

 aptitude for that branch of science ; but to Latin 

 he took a strong dislike, and could not be induced 

 to resume the study of it till after his first year at 

 college. His extraordinary proficiency in geomet- 

 rical exercises, joined to a consideration of the 

 unfavourable circumstances under which he had 

 acquired it, brought him at an early period under 

 the notice of professors Robinson and Stewart, of 

 the university of Edinburgh. He was sent to the 

 university of St Andrews in 1779. and at the first 

 distribution of prizes, attracted some attention by his 

 proficiency, which was the means of introducing him 

 to the patronage of the earl of Kinnoul. Being 

 destined for the church, he went through the 

 regular routine of instructions for six sessions at 

 St Andrews, and then removed to Edinburgh, in 

 company with James, (now Sir James) Ivory. At 

 the university of Edinburgh Mr Leslie studied three 

 years, during which time he was introduced to Dr 

 Adam Smith, and employed by that eminent man in 

 assisting the studies of his nephew, afterwards lord 

 Reston. 



In 1788, he went to Virginia, as tutor to two 

 young college friends ; and after spending more 

 than a year in America, returned to Edinburgh. 

 In January, 1790, he proceeded to London, carrying 

 with him some recommendatory letters from Dr 

 Smith. His first intention was to deliver lectures 

 on natural philosophy ; but being disappointed in 

 his views, he found it expedient to commence 

 writing for periodical works, as the readiest means 

 of obtaining subsistence. About three months after 

 his arrival in London, he made an agreement with 

 Mr Murray, the bookseller, to translate Buflbn's 

 Natural History of Birds, which was published in 

 1793, in nine octavo volumes. The sum he received 

 for it laid the foundation of that pecuniary indepen- 

 dence which, unlike many other men of genius, his 

 prudent habits fortunately enabled him early to 

 attain. During the progress of the translation, he 

 fulfilled an engagement with the Messrs Wedgewood 

 of Etruria in Staffordshire, to superintend their 

 studies ; he left them in 1792. In 1794, Mr Leslie 

 spent a short time in Holland; and, in 1790, lie 

 made the tour of Germany and Switzerland with Mr 

 Thomas Wedgewood. About this period, he stood 

 candidate for a chair at St Andrews, and subse- 

 quently, for that of natural philosophy at Glasgow, 

 but without success. He invented that beautiful 

 instrument the Differential Thermometer about the 

 year 1800. The results of his inquiries into the 

 nature and laws of heat, in which he \vas so much 

 aided by this exquisite instrument, were published to 

 the world in 1804, in his celebrated " Essay on the 

 Nature and Propagation of Heat." The work was 

 honoured, in the following year, by the council ol 



