LEW 



714 



LEW 



Letters 



Lcuwen- 

 hoek. 



of modern times. An edition of his works has been 

 published at Berlin, in thirty volumes 8vo. See Lexi- 

 con dcutscher Dichter vnd Prosaisten, by Jordens ; and 

 Denkwurdigh aus dem Leben ausgezeichn. Teutschcn d. 

 achtzctmt. Jahrh. (x) 



LETTERS. See ALPHABET, HIEROGLYPHICS, and 

 PRINTING. 



LEUCTRA, now LEFTRA, or LEFCA, the name of a 

 town of Greece, celebrated by the battle fought there 

 between the Thebans and the Spartans. Dr. Clarke 

 informs us, that the traces yet remaining of its an- 

 cient monuments are like those of a considerable ci- 

 ty. The ground is covered for a considerable space 

 with huge fragments of marble and stone, among 

 which the inhabitants have long laboured to introduce 

 the plough. " .We saw them employed," says Dr. 

 Clarke, " in breaking a huge bas<i\'!ief, and labouring 

 hard to remove the foundationc of ancient edifices ; but 

 the remains of the trophies, temples, and walls of Leuc- 

 tra, will resist their utmost unremitted efforts for a 

 long time to come." See Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. 

 p. 89, 90.; and GREECE, vol. x. p. 471. 



LEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN, a Dutch philo- 

 sopher, who has been universally celebrated for the 

 number and importance of his microscopical observa- 

 tions and discoveries. He was born at Delft in Hol- 

 land, in the year 1632, and does not seem to have had 

 the benefit of a learned education. Leuwenhoek was 

 first recommended to the Royal Society by Dr. De 

 Graaf, as a person who had made several microscopi- 

 cal discoveries by means of glasses contrived by him- 

 self, and surpassing even those of the celebrated Eu- 

 stachio Divini. His first communication was sent to 

 the Royal Society by Dr. De Graaf, in 1673, and is en- 

 titled, Some Observations made by a Microscope contriv- 

 ed by M. Leuwenhoek in Holland. His communications 

 to the Royal Society became frequent and important, 

 and amounted altogether to about 112 papers. He pub- 

 lished also about 26 papers in the Memoirs of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences. These papers were all collected into 

 four quarto volumes, and published at Leyden in 1722, 

 under the title of Antonii a Leumenhoek Opera omnia seu 

 Arcana Natural ope exactissimorum Microscopiorum de- 

 tecta, experimentis variis comprobata, 



Leuwenhoek was elected a fellow of the Royal So- 

 ciety of London in the year 1680. He was made a 

 corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Paris in 1697, and received similar honours from al- 

 most all the learned academies in Europe. 



When Queen Mary was in Holland, she paid a visit 

 to Leuwenhoek, and was much delighted with his curio- 

 sities. He presented her with two of his microscopes, 

 in testimony of his esteem. The success which attend- 

 ed Leuwenhoek's observations, seem to have arisen 

 wholly from his having paid the most minute attention 

 to the grinding and polishing of single lenses, which 

 he always used in preference to the compound micros- 

 cope. 



M. Leuwenhoek died at Delft in 1723, and bequeath- 

 ed to the Royal Society a small Indian cabinet, in the 

 drawers of which were thirteen little boxes, or cases, 

 each containing two microscopes handsomely fitted up 

 in silver; of which, not only the lenses, but all the ap- 

 paratus, were made with his own hands. Each micro- 

 scope had an object placed before it ; and the whole 

 was accompanied with a description of the objects, in 

 his own hand-writing. A fuller account ot these will be 

 found in the Philosophical Transactions for 1723, vol. 

 xxxiii. p. 446. 



LEVEL and LEVELLING. See NAVIGATION In- 

 land, but particularly SURVEYING. 



LEVEN, LOCH. See KINROSS-SHINE. * , 



LEVEN, a village in the parish of Scoonie, and 

 county of Fife, lies on the western extremity of Largo 

 bay, at the junction of the river Leven with the frith 

 of Forth, about nine miles north-east from Kirkaldy. 

 It consists of two streets running parallel to each other, 

 and several bye-lanes, which, owing to their being nar- 

 row and badly paved, are in general very dirty. In the 

 neighbourhood, particularly on the estate of Durie, are 

 several rich seams of coal, which, however, are not at 

 present wrought. These formerly employed a consi- 

 derable number of ships in conveying their contents to 

 Holland ; but this trade has for many years been dis- 

 continued, and the shipping belonging to this place 

 has, in consequence, been greatly reduced. There are 

 at present only two brigs and sever?! sloops. The 

 harbour, which is entirely a natural one, and formed 

 by the mouth of the Leven, is capable of admitting 

 vessels of about 200 tons, and of affording secure shelter 

 to a considerable fleet ; but it is miner difficult to take, 

 especially when the wind is adverse. The river Leven 

 issues from the east end of the loch of the same name, 

 and runs a rapid course of nearly fourteen miles. The 

 fall in that distance is above 300 feet, and it is thus 

 peculiarly adapted for public works. In 1813, there 

 were on this river ten spinning mills, two paper mills, 

 two iron founderies, seven bleachfields, and twenty-eight 

 corn and other mills, giving employment to about 6000 

 persons, and whose buildings and machinery were esti- 

 mated at 176,220. The salmon-fishery here, which 

 was formerly of some importance, is now very unpro- 

 ductive, owing, it is said, to the deleterious ingredients 

 brought down by the river from the bleachfields, &c. 

 The fairs held at this place were formerly frequented 

 by merchants from distant parts of the country ; and 

 linen cloth, to a very considerable amount, was annual- 

 ly brought here for sale from all quarters of the coun- 

 try. These fairs, however, have now dwindled into 

 petty markets for toys and sweetmeats. Adjoining the 

 town are a mill for spinning flax, an iron-foundery, a 

 brick and tile work, and a- pottery for coarse earthen 

 ware. The population of Leven amounts to 1 132 : and 

 its inhabitants are chiefly employed in the manufacture 

 of coarse linen and sail cloth, (p) 



LEVER. See MECHANICS. 



LEW-CHEW ISLANDS. See Loo-Cnoo hlands. 



LEWES is a burgh and market town of England, in 

 the county of Sussex. It is beautifully situated on a 

 declivity, washed by the Ouse, and surrounded on eve- 

 ry side, but the west, with an amphitheatre of high 

 hills which form part of the South Downs. The town 

 is remarkably clean, and the streets, which are dispo- 

 sed irregularly, are in general spacious and well 1 light- 

 ed. Lewes had formerly twelve parish churches, which 

 are now reduced to six; namely, St. Peter's and St. 

 Mary Westout, formerly two parishes, but now gene- 

 rally called St. Anne's; St. Michael in Foro, St. John 

 sub Castro. All Siints, St. John Baptist South-over, 

 and St. Thomas in the Cliffe. The most remarkable of 

 these is St. John sub Castro, which is situated in the 

 middle of the oval camp, and contains some curious in- 

 scriptions and monuments. St. John's South-over is a 

 large church, close to the gate of the priory. St. 

 Anne's, at the top of the High Street, is a new brick 

 edifice, with stone rustic quoins, built on the site of 

 the old church, which was taken down in 1805. St. 

 Michael in Foro was rebuilt in 1755, and has a neat 



Levtl 



II 

 Lewes.*- 



