LEAMINGTON LEOPOLD. 



611 



the hills afford have occasioned the concourse of 

 miners, and the establishment of this and the 

 neighbouring village of Wanlockhead. 



According to common report, the lead mines 

 were discovered by a German of the name of Bui- 

 mer, when searching for gold in the banks of the 

 adjoining rivulets. This account is extremely 

 probable ; for the numerous hillocks on the banks 

 of the streams which discharge themselves into the 

 Clyde and Nith, bear evident indications of having 

 been thoroughly searched for that precious metal : 

 even so much so that those miners who at present 

 amuse themselves during their leisure hours, in 

 searching for gold, cannot find a spot that has not 

 previously been explored. 



The method of searching for gold adopted at 

 Leadhills is as follows : the surface of the rock is 

 laid bare; the earth, sand, &c., in its crevices, are 

 collected, riddled, and washed. The water carries 

 away the earthy particles, and leaves those mate- 

 rials which are of greater specific gravity than 

 itself, as flint, quartz, and what gold there may be. 

 The proceeds from one puddle, as it is called, are 

 generally, at the most, not more than a few parti- 

 cles, not larger than the point of a pin ; but a man 

 in six hours, at an average, may collect about four 

 pennyworth of gold. Some pieces, however, have 

 been found as large as a pea, or small bean. These 

 gold mines, however, were once productive ; for 

 history informs us that in the reign of James V. 

 of Scotland, three hundred men were employed in 

 them ; and when that monarch, in a hunting ex- 

 cursion in the adjacent moors, dined in Crawford 

 castle, each of his retainers, for dessert after din- 

 ner, was presented, on a wooden platter, with a 

 few bonnets crowns, as the produce of the soil. 

 These pieces were coined from gold obtained in 

 the mines of Glengonar, the rivulet upon which 

 Leadhills is now built. 



Lead, however, for centuries, has formed the 

 mineral riches of these mines. The vein has more 

 than once expanded to the enormous width of 

 fourteen feet ; but seldom exceeds more than 

 four and a half feet, and this was considered by 

 the miners as a very good lead. At present the 

 crip, or annual number of bars, (of 144 pounds 

 each,) amounts to 10,000 in Leadhills, and to 

 about 8000 in Wanlockhead ; whereas at one pe- 

 riod 35,000 were made at the former, and 15,000 

 at the latter. 



The population of the village of Leadhills is 

 upwards of 1200. Of these 300 are working 

 miners, smelters, washers and labourers ; the rest 

 consist of women, children, and old men. The 

 miners here have been long noted for intelligence. 

 So early as 1741 a library was established among 

 them by Mr James Stirling their overseer, and it 

 now numbers above 2000 volumes. They possess 

 other advantages, in only working six hours in the 

 twenty-four, and being allowed by their landlords, 

 the earl of Hopeton and duke of Buccleugh, as 

 much land as they can work with the spade. 

 Allan Ramsay was a native of Leadhills. 



LEAMINGTON; a village in Warwickshire, 

 which, since the beginning of the present century, 

 has become a fashionable watering place. The 

 mineral waters to be found here are valued on ac- 

 count of their efficacy in the cure of cutaneous 

 diseases, glandular obstructions, bilious and dys- 

 peptic complaints, &c., for which they are used 

 both internally and externally. The original spa 

 contains a large proportion of common salt, be- 



sides sulphate of soda, muriate of magnesia, and 

 sulphate of lime ; and there are also chalybeate and 

 sulphureous springs, the latter of which being 

 chiefly Hsed externally. A bridge over the river 

 Lenin connects the new town with the original 

 village, and on both sides of the river are many 

 houses well built and elegantly furnished for visi- 

 tors. Population of parish of Leamington in 

 1841 12,864. 



LEIGH. There are a number of parishes and 

 chapelries in England with this name, the most im- 

 portant of which is that of West Leigh in the 

 county of Lancaster. It is situated conveniently 

 for water communication, and is one of the busy 

 districts of Lancashire manufactures. It includes 

 the townships of West Leigh and Pennington. 

 Muslins, cambrics, calicoes, and fustians, are the 

 principal articles here manufactured ; several new 

 commercial establishments have taken place in and 

 near the town of late years; and the numerous 

 population of the parish appears to have been 

 greatly augmented. Here are coal-mines, and like- 

 wise lime-pits, which furnish a valuable kind of 

 limestone, the lime from which has the property 

 of hardening under water. Leigh was the resi- 

 dence of Thomas Highs, the inventor of the water- 

 frame, which served as the basis of Arkwright's 

 improvements in cotton -spinning. Population in 

 1841, 6838. 



LEOMINSTER; a town in Herefordshire, si- 

 tuated on the river Wye, 137 miles W.N.W. from 

 London. The buildings in the outskirts of the 

 town are very indifferent, and many of the streets 

 are narrow and inconvenient; but the High street 

 is spacious, and contains many modern edifices of 

 a respectable appearance ; and the situation of the 

 place as a thoroughfare on the great road from 

 London to South Wales has occasioned the erec- 

 tion of several good inns. The town -hall, or, as 

 it is commonly called the butter-cross, is a singular 

 structure of plaster and timber-work, erected in 

 1633, by John Abel, a noted architect of that 

 period. It stands on twelve oak pillars, with a 

 kind of Ionic capital, and sustained by stone pedestals 

 the brackets and spandrels above tne arches, and 

 the upper parts of the building are profusely orna- 

 mented with carving. The principal manufactures 

 carried on here formerly were those of woollen 

 cloth, hats, and gloves ; but the last-mentioned is 

 declining, and the others have almost disappeared ; 

 among the existing branches of industry are flax- 

 dressing, rope-making, tanning, malting, and nail- 

 making. Population of the burgh and parish in 

 1841. 4916. 



LEOPOLD, CHARLES WILLIAM, Secretary of 

 State in Sweden, and member of various learned 

 societies, was born at Stockholm, on the 2nd of 

 April, 1756. His father was comptroller of the 

 customs there, but as his income was very limited, 

 he had not the means of giving that education to 

 his son which the latter was anxious for. He was 

 indebted to the kindness of a learned French 

 teacher, who had remarked his good disposition, 

 and took pains to instruct him in French, so suc- 

 cessfully that in no long time he knew it as thor- 

 oughly as he did his mother tongue. This first 

 part of his education had a material influence on 

 his future studies, as well as on his fortune through 

 life. In 1773 he entered the university of Upsal, 

 where he published a Latin Thesis, De oriyine 

 idearum moralium. In 177''' he published an ode 

 on the birth of the prince roynl, Gustavus Adol- 



