L E I 



701 



LEI 



LM*r. The following is the result of the population returns 

 *>'" in the year 1811 : 



. 30,019 



Families inhabiting them, ..... 31,480 



Houses building ......... 21.' 



^ uninhabited ........ 630 



Families principally employed in agriculture, 11,700 



in trade and manufactures, . . 17.!i;T 



- not included in UK above, . . 2,7 J3 



*Uka, ........... 73.S66 



. . . 77,053 



Total 



In the year 1801, 



150,419 

 130.-J82 



80,337 



1 Baptism in 36, 1 Burial in 57, 1 Marriage in 1 30. 



LEIGHTOX, ROBERT, was the eldest son of Alex- 

 ander Leighton, a native of Scotland, but a minister in 

 England, whose publications in support of the puritani- 

 cal tenets, drew upon him the vengeance of Bishop 

 Laud, and subjected him (besides die indignity of hav- 

 ing his ears cut, and; his nose slit,) to a cruel imprison- 

 ment for the space of eleven years. His son Robert 

 was, from his youdi, distinguished by the most humble 



. and at the same time by the most promising ta- 

 lent*. He was sent to cornp!c;e hi- education in Scot- 

 land, where he made considerable progress in die learn- 

 ed languages ; and afterwards spent some years on the 

 continent, where he acquired a ready use of die French 

 tongue. L'pon his return to Scotland, he was ordain- 

 ed minister of Newbottle, in die neighbourhood of 



nirgli, where he devoted him>clf to his clerical 

 studies and pastoral duties, without taking much con- 

 cern in die political and theological contentions which 

 so much prevailed in those days. In lo't.8, he declared 

 his approbation of tin- meii-urc* in favour of the king, 

 but was protected by th<- Earl of Lothian from the vio- 

 lence of the opposite party ; and, when censured at the 

 meeting* or ynod for neglecting to preach the duties 

 of the tones, is said to liave replied, " If all die brethren 

 have preached to die dmes, may not one poor brother 

 eh about eternity." 



ding it ii widi all his moderation, to 



avoid sharing in trie disputes of that period, he resigned 

 1 widulrew to a private station ; but ;is 

 soon after called from liis retirement to preside over die 

 college of Edinburgh, an office which he discharged, 

 for the space of ten yean, with great fidelity and ap- 

 probation. During die terms of vacation, he made fre- 

 quent excursion* to London, where he had opportuni- 

 ties of observing all die eminent men of Cromwell's 

 court ; and occasionally also visited die Netherlands, 

 where be seems to have found among die Jansenists a 

 greater congeniality of views on his favourite idea, of 

 reviving din purity ami simplicity of die primitive ages 

 oft! -c!i. He seems to have considered 



die government as a matter of compa- 



ratU' ;nd as not very strictly defined in 



sacred scripture ; but may be supposed to have been 

 mnprvs'icd by hi* father's sufferings with a feeling of 

 aver- r dian of attachment. t<> the constitution 



of UK- English hierarchy: . nd. when die measure of 

 g Episcopacy into Scotl.ind was adopted, he 

 certainly mewed great reluctance to accept the promo- 

 tion which was pressed upon him. Having at length 

 (chiefly, it is said, thmugh the persuaeion of 

 his brother, >.r i.li.-ha Leightou,) he in, v choice of 



tune, a small di- vr-c. and pixir revenue, to which, 



' iini'Ty of die ch.i|H 1-ni, il was annexed. 



He appeari from the beginning, to have augured little 



good from the measure in which he concurred ; and Leightou, 

 remarked upon the feasting- and jollity, which attended Robert, 

 the consecration of himseli' and his associates, " that it "" 

 had not sueh an appearance of seriousness and piety, as 

 became the new modelling of a church." He was soon 

 farther discouraged, by finding no support in his conci- 

 liatory plans of union with the Presbyterians, or in his 

 Christian views of promoting sober piety and orderly 

 worship among all denominations, which he regarded 

 as more important than the mere form of government. 

 His colleagues discovered no disposition to co-operate 

 in lu's schemes, or to propose any other scheme of their 

 own but compulsion ; and " before they reached Edin- 

 burgh, they were (as he said to Bishop Burnet) as 

 weary of him as he was of them." He left them at 

 Morpeth, and refused to join in the pompous entrance 

 which they made into the metropolis. He declined also 

 taking his seat in the first session of parliament which 

 followed their arrival ; and indeed never appeared in 

 that assembly, except when some measure came before 

 them relative to religion or the church. He particu- 

 larly exerted himseli' to procure liberty for the Presby- 

 terian ministers, to take the oath of allegiance with the 

 explication which they tendered ; and when he found 

 that he could not concur in the oppressive measures 

 which were pursued, he repaired to court in 1665, when 

 he laid his sentiments on the matter before the king, and 

 requested leave to resign his bishopric. This proposal 

 of resignation was refused ; but Charles promised to 

 direct a change of measures ; and is said to have been 

 more friendly to Leighton's views than any of his coun- 

 sellors. The good bishop in the mean time devoted 

 himself to the business of his own diocese, in which he 

 gave an example of personal piety and professional du- 

 ty, which all parties might have done well to imitate. 

 1 le regularly went round his district every year, preach- 

 ing and catechizing from parish to parish, and labour- 

 ing to raise his clergy to a liigher sense of spiritual 

 matters. He lived in a very private manner, and gave 

 all his income to die poor, except what was requisite 

 for his personal expences. In the hope of bringing 

 about a general accommodation, and in consequence of 

 promises of assistance from the court, he was persuaded, 

 in 1670, to become Archbishop of Glasgow, where he 

 exerted himself to the utmost to reconcile the contend- 

 ing parties. But at length perceiving that he gained 

 nothing upon the Presbyterians except their esteem, and 

 that he was suspected, and even hated by the Episco- 

 pal leaders, he resigned his charge in 1673, and retired 

 to a private residence in Sussex. But, though he re- 

 signed his preferment, he did not relax his professional 

 labours; but divided his time between studious retire- 

 ment, and the clerical offices of preaching or reading 

 prayers in the adjoining parishes. He retained to the 

 last an appearance of greater youthfulness and strength, 

 both of mind and body, than is usual in advanced years. 

 At the age of 70 his hair was still black, and his mo- 

 tions lively ; and his quickness of thought, power of 

 memory, and spirit of devotion, in no respect impaired. 

 But on a visit to London in 1084', he was suddenly 

 seized with a pleurisy, of which he died in a few hours, 

 at the Bell inn, in Warwick Lane. " He was account- 

 ed a saint," says Bishop Burnet, " from his youth up. 

 He had a great quickness of piu-ts, a lively apprehen- 

 sion, widi a charming vivacity of thought :uid expres- 

 sion. He had the greatest command of the purest La- 

 tin dial ever I knew in any .man. He was a master 

 both of Greek and Hebrew, and of the whole compass 

 of dieological learning, chiefly in the study of the Scrip- 

 tures. Uut that which excelled all the rest was, he was 



