LESLIE- LESSING. 



Ihc Royal So- : .ety, with the Ruin font Meiliils. In 

 COBiequeiu-e of ihe translation of professor Playfair 

 from the chair of mathematics to Uiat of natural 

 philosophy in tlie university of Edinburgh, the 

 former berame vacant, and Mr Leslie appeared as a 

 candidate. A party in the Scottish church, inspired 

 by a jealousy of his liberal principles in politics, 

 accompanied by a desire of advancing one of their 

 own number, opposed his election, on the ground of 

 \\hat they deemed an infidel note in his essay on 

 I e:it ; but after a keen contest, Mr Leslie was suc- 

 ttmtm, 



Through Die assistance of one of his ingenious 

 contrivances his hygrometer he arrived in 1810 at 

 the discovery of that singularly beautiful process of 

 artificial congelation, which enabled him to convert 

 water and mercury into ice. 



In 1809, Mr Leslie published his Elements of 

 Geometry, which immediately became a class-book, 

 and has since gone through four editions. He also 

 published, in 1813, an "Account of Experiments 

 and Instruments depending on the relation of Air to 

 Heat and Moisture." In 1817, he produced his 

 " Philosophy of Arithmetic, exhibiting a Progres- 

 sive view of the Theory and Progress of Calcula- 

 tion," a small octavo; and, in 1821, his "Geome- 

 trical Analysis, and Geometry of Curve Lines, being 

 volume second of a Course of Mathematics, and 

 designed as an Introduction to the study of Natural 

 Philosophy." In 1822, he published " Elements of 

 Natural Philosophy,'' for the use of his class re- 

 printed in 1829 and of which only one volume 

 appeared. " Rudiments of Geometry," a small 

 octavo, published 1828, and designed for popular 

 use, was his last separate work. Besides these 

 separate works, he wrote many admirable articles 

 in the Edinburgh Review, three profound treatises 

 in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal, a few in the 

 Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 and several very valuable articles on different 

 branches of physics in the Supplement to the Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica. In 1819, on the death of 

 professor Playfair, whose promotion had formerly 

 made room for him in the chair of mathematics, he 

 was elevated to the professorship of natural philo- 

 sophy, by which his powers were of course, brought 

 into a far wider field of display and of usefulness, 

 than they had been for the preceding fourteen years. 

 Among the preliminary treatises of the seventh 

 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which 

 began to be published in 1830, he wrote a " Dis- 

 course on the History of Mathematical and Physical 

 Science, during the eighteenth century," which may 

 be described as one of the most agreeable and mas- 

 terly of all his compositions. 



The income enjoyed by Mr Leslie was for many 

 years so much above his necessities, that he was 

 able, by careful management, to realise a fortune 

 not far short of ten thousand pounds. Part of this 

 he expended, in his latter years, upon the purchase 

 and decoration of a mansion called Coates, near his 

 native village, where he spent all the intervals al- 

 lowed by his college duties. Early in the year 

 1832, at the recommendation of the lord chancellor 

 (Brougham), he was invested with a knighthood of 

 the Guelphic order, at the same time that Messrs 

 Herschel, C. Bell, Ivory, Brewster, South, and 

 Harris Nicolas, received a similar honour. Sir 

 John Leslie was not destined long to enjoy the 

 well-merited honour. In the end of October, 

 while superintending some of the improvements 

 about his much-loved place, he incautiously ex- 

 posed himself to wet, the consequence of which was 

 a severe cold. He neglected his ailment, and was 

 speedily seized with erysipelas in one of his legs. 



On Wednesday, October 31st, he again exposed 

 himself in his grounds, and from that day, (he 

 malady advanced very rapidly. On the evening of 

 Saturday, November 3, 1832, he breathed his last. 



LESPINASSE. See Espinasse. 



LESSING, GOTTHOLD I'.i-HRAiM, one of the most 

 distinguished German authors, who contributed more 

 than any other individual to the regeneration of 

 German literature, and whose language is a model of 

 German prose, was remarkable for the versatility of 

 his genius. Lessing was born January 22, 1729, at 

 Kamentz, a town in Upper Lusatia. His father, a 

 strict Lutheran clergyman, gave him his first religi- 

 ous instruction. In 1741, Lessing was sent to the 

 school at Meissen, where he studied Greek, Latin, 

 and mathematics with great success. In 1746, he 

 entered the university of Leipsic, but could never be 

 induced to devote himself to a strict routine of pre- 

 scribed study. Here he became acquainted with 

 several young men, afterwards distinguished in litera- 

 ture; and, in connexion with a friend named Weisse, 

 he translated the Hannibal of Marivanx, and pre- 

 pared for the stage a dramatic performance begun 

 while he was at school. This was brought forward 

 by a stage directress named Neuber, with whom he 

 was acquainted. Actors were at that time consider- 

 ed as vagabonds, and his father, much distressed at 

 his son's mode of life, ordered him to return home. 

 Here he wrote his Anacreontics, though wine and 

 love were little akin to the sobriety of his situation. 

 In 1750, Lessing went to Berlin, where he contribut- 

 ed to several periodicals, and attracted some attention 

 by his correspondence with Voltaire, occasioned by 

 Richier, Voltaire's amanuensis, having shown him a 

 copy of Voltaire's Vie de Charles XII., before it was 

 published. In compliance with the anxious wishes 

 of his parents, he then went to Wittenberg, and ap- 

 plied himself, with his younger brother, very dili- 

 gently to his studies. At this time, he translated 

 Huarte's (q. v.) Trial of Wits, and wrote a critique 

 on Klopstock's Messiah. In 1753, he returned to 

 Berlin, and wrote the learned articles in Voss's Ga- 

 zette. In 1755, he wrote his tragedy of Sarah Samp- 

 son, at Potsdam. In the same year, he set out on a 

 tour, with Mr Winkler, a merchant ; but, in conse- 

 quence of the breaking out of the seven years' war, 

 they only proceeded to Holland. In 1757, in con- 

 nexion with Nicolai and Mendelssohn, he edited the 

 Library of Belles-Lettres. He also began his Vir- 

 ginia, which was subsequently completed under the 

 name of Emilia Galeotti, and is much the most ela- 

 borately finished of his works. In 1760, Lessing 

 became a member of the royal academy of sciences 

 at Berlin, and soon after became secretary to general 

 Tauenzien, in Breslau, wrote Minna von Barnhelm, 

 a military comedy, and his Laocoon, or On the Limits 

 of Poetry and Painting, and began deeper researches 

 into philosophical and theological subjects, though, 

 at the same time, he followed his inclination for 

 games of hazard more than previously. In 1765, he 

 once more returned to Berlin, to devote himself 

 solely to the sciences ; but, unaccustomed to so se- 

 dentary a life, he is said to have formed the plan of 

 putting himself at the head of a company of strolling 

 players. We shall not therefore be surprised to find 

 him, in 1767, in Hamburg, whither the proprietors 

 of the theatre had inviled him on very favourable 

 terms. Whfle there, he wrote his Dramaturgic; but 

 a misunderstanding with his employers, and the in- 

 docility of the actors, rendered his residence at 

 Hamburg disagreeable. At the same time began 

 his dispute, or it may more properly be called quar- 

 rel, with Klotz. Dissatisfied with his situation, he 

 now determined to go to Italy, when an advantage- 

 ous offer of the place of librarian at Wolfenbiltiel 



