LEICESTER 



3374 



LEIPZIG 



zig, Jena and Altdorf. In 1667 he entered the 

 service of the Elector of Mainz, then the most 

 powerful man in the country; in 1676 became 

 the librarian of the Duke of Brunswick-Liine- 

 burg, a post he occupied until his death. He 

 prepared a history of the House of Brunswick, 

 took an active part in negotiations for uniting 

 the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, 

 and was the chief founder and first president 

 of the Society of Sciences, afterwards the Ber- 

 lin Academy. He also prepared for Peter the 

 Great the plan of the famous Academy of 

 Saint Petersburg. In 1712 he was made impe- 

 rial Privy Councilor and Baron of the Empire. 

 His last days were spent in poverty and neg- 

 lect; it was only in later times that his genius 

 came to be fully appreciated. The writings of 

 Leibnitz covered a wide field, including phil- 

 osophy, theology, law, mathematics, history and 

 politics. 



LEICESTER, les' ter, noted for the manu- 

 facture of plain and fancy hosiery and of boots 

 and shoes, is the capital of Leicestershire, Eng- 

 land. It is situated on the Soar River, ninety- 

 seven miles northwest of London. Tradition 

 traces its founding to King Lear. Its present 

 name comes from the Anglo-Saxon Leirceastre, 

 meaning fortress of the Leire, as the River Soar 

 originally was called. Because of its central 

 position, its transportation facilities, by rail 

 as well as by water, and the development of 

 its industries, Leicester has had a very rapid 

 growth. The city is well built and contains 

 a town hall, adorned with many carvings, a 

 relic of Henry VII 's time, new municipal build- 

 ings, schools of music and art, and the other 

 public buildings which every modern city now 

 boasts. One of the ornaments of the city is a 

 memorial clock tower, erected in 1868 in honor 

 of Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leices- 

 ter, and three other lesser-known personages 

 connected with the district. Population, 1911, 

 227,240. 



LEICESTER, ROBERT DUDLEY, Earl of (1532- 

 1588), fifth son of the Duke of Northumber- 

 land, companion of Edward VI and Princess 

 Elizabeth. On Elizabeth's accession to the 

 throne he was held in high favor, and by many 

 was regarded as her lover. In 1550 he married 

 Amy Robsart, and was thought to have been 

 an accessory to her murder ten years later. 

 He was created Earl of Leicester and Privy 

 Councilor by Elizabeth, and for a time it was 

 rumored that the marriage of the Queen and 

 Leicester was a certainty. There was great 

 opposition in official circles to such an alliance, 



and Elizabeth publicly renounced any intention 

 of marrying him. No one knew whether such 

 a union had definitely been decided upon. He 

 offended Elizabeth deeply by his marriage to 

 the Countess of Essex in 1578. See ELIZABETH. 



LEIF ERICSON, life er'iksun. See ERIC 

 THE RED. 



LEIGHTON, la' tun, FREDERICK, Lord (1830- 

 1896), an English painter, sculptor and scholar, 

 whose art and life were always inspired by 

 the loftiest ideals. He was bora at Scarbor- 

 ough, and from early youth was granted every 

 opportunity to perfect himself in the art which 

 he loved. He first won recognition, in 1855, 

 with his painting Cimabue's Madonna Carried 

 in Triumph through Florence. During the next 

 five years Leighton lived in Paris and then took 

 up his residence in London. He received a 

 medal of honor for sculpture at the Paris Expo- 

 sition in 1889, and the universities of Cam- 

 bridge, Oxford and Edinburgh conferred honor- 

 ary degrees upon him. 



In 1878 he became president of the Royal 

 Academy, and during his tenure of that high 

 office the institution enjoyed a material pros- 

 perity and social influence attained under 

 none of his predecessors. He was created Lord 

 Leighton the very day before his death. His 

 most noted sculptural pieces are Athlete 

 Strangling a Python and Sluggard. His paint- 

 ings are numerous, each characterized by glow- 

 ing color and purity and grace of form. The 

 Music Lesson, The Bath of Psyche, Captive 

 Andromache and Ball Players are but a few of 

 the paintings bequeathed to an 'admiring pos- 

 terity. In the New York Metropolitan Mu- 

 seum are his Lachrymae, Lucia and An Oda- 

 lisque. 



LEIPZIG, lipe'sik, one of the most prosper- 

 ous and enterprising commercial and educa- 

 tional centers of Germany. It possesses the 

 second largest German university, was the head- 

 quarters of the supreme courts of the empire, 

 and is one of the most prominent literary and 

 musical centers of Europe. In the trades of 

 bookselling and publishing, it occupies first 

 place in Germany, and in normal times sur- 

 passes London and Paris in the number and 

 value of its book sales. Over 500 houses are 

 engaged in the book trade, and about 270 

 newspapers and periodicals are published. The 

 Baedekers, those indispensable guide books to 

 travelers, are printed there. Wood carving 

 and paper making are also important indus- 

 tries. The city is a world market for furs, and 

 it manufactures much leather. 



