410 L E & 
offices in the government of the ftates of the church, he 
became, in 1661, auditor of prince Alexander Pico, duke 
of Mifandola. He was made provoft of the church of that 
city in 1681, and died in 1694. He was one of the few 
poets who remained uninfected with the bad tafte of the 
poetry of that age, and imitated the more natural and 
eafy ltyle of the earlier writers. The work by which he 
is molt known is entitled, La Cicceide, a very Angular per¬ 
formance, the foie objedt of which is to throw ridicule 
upon a perfon whom he calls Don Ciccio, and who was 
Buonventura Arrighini, formerly his colleague in the rota 
at Macerata. In a vaft number of fonnets and other 
pieces of verfe, he exhibits him in every poffible light, fa- 
tirical and ludicrpus, from the cradle to the grave; and 
has purfued his delign with a flow of verfification, an in¬ 
genuity of turn, and a copioufnefs of fancy, which is 
truly furprifing, and which ought to have been employed 
on a better fubjedt. There is much indecency, and fome 
profanenefs, in this work, which caufed it to be put in 
the prohibited lilt. In the fecond edition fome of the 
profaner fonnets were omitted. Bayle. 
LAZ'ZI, J. The Saxons divided the people of the land 
into three ranks ; the firft they called Edilingi, which were 
fuch as are now nobility ; the fecond were termed Frilingi, 
from friling , fignifying that he was born a freeman, or of 
parents not fubjedt to any fervitude, which are the pre¬ 
sent gentry; and the third and laft were called Lazzi, as 
born to labour, and being of a more fervile ftate than our 
fervants, becaufe they could not depart from their fervice 
•without the leave of the lord ; but were fixed to the land 
where born, and in the nature of Haves ; hence the word 
lazzi, or lazy, fignifies thofe of a fervile condition. Nithar- 
dus de Saxonibus, lib. 24. It is remarkable that the lower 
clafs of people, at Naples, are called Lazaroni. 
LEA,/! [ley, Sax. a fallow ; leag, Sax. a pafture.] Cul¬ 
tivated ground. Obfolete. —The lowing herds wind llowly 
o’er the lea. Gray. 
Ceres, tnoft bounteous lady, thy rich leas 
Q f wheat, rye, barley, fetches, oats, and peafe. Skahefpearc. 
Her fallow leas 
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory. 
Doth root upon. Shakefpeare. 
The furface of water: 
As when two warlike brigantines at fea. 
With murd’rous weapons arm’d to cruell fight. 
Doe meete together on the watry lea. Spenfcr. 
LEA, f. A quantity of yarn, fo called ; and at Kid- 
derminfter it is to contain 200 threads on a reel four yards 
about. 22 £? 23 Car. II. c. 8. 
LEA, a river of England, which rifes out of Leagrave 
Marfti, near Luton, in the fouth of Bedfordftiire, and, 
flowing obliquely to the eaftern fide of the county, walhes 
the towns of Hertford and Ware, from the former of which 
it is navigable to the Thames. It collects in its courfe 
all the ftreams of the northern and eaftern parts of the 
county, divides part of it from Eftex, and is the boundary 
between that county and Middlefex. From this river a 
fliort canal has, within thefe few years, been cut to the 
Thames, near Limehoufe. 
LEA, a village in Gloucefterfliire, two miles from Mit- 
chel-Dean : the church is a chapel-of-eafe to Linton in 
Hereford (hire. 
LEA, a village in Lincolnfliire, two miles from Gainf- 
borough. 
LEACH, or Lech, a river of England, in the county of 
Gloucefter, which runs into the Thames near Leachlade. 
LEACH-BRINE,/. A word ufed by the Englifli falt- 
workers to exprefs the brine which runs out from the fait, 
when it ftands in the balket to drain, immediately after 
being taken out of the pan ; and alfo the liquor left in 
the pan, when no more fait will (hoot. This is alfo called 
the mother-brine, and bittern. In the German falt-works 
they throw this liquor away; but, in our brine-felt works 
LEA 
in Chefhire, they preferve it, and add it to the next boft- 
ing ; and, in the Newcaftle and other fea-water falt-works* 
they lave it for the making the bitter purging fait called 
Epfom-falt. 
LE'ACIILADE, or Lech'lade, in Gloucefterfliire, h 
market-town, bounded by the lands of Fairford, which is 
four miles diftant; Hatherope, fix ; Southrope, three ; Lit¬ 
tle Farringdon, Berks, one ; divided by the river Ifis from 
Eaton; Haftings, Berks, near Helmfcott, Oxon, two; 
Bufcott, Berks, one ; Inglefham, Berks and Wilts, two 5 
by the river Ifis, and by lands of Kelmsford, Gloucefter- 
fhire, five miles. k The church is a handfome ftrufture ; 
the living, a vicarage endowed ; Lawrence Bathurft, efq. 
in the year 1672, gave the great tithes to the vicarage for 
ever, which, with the houfe and premifes, are worth up¬ 
wards of three hundred pounds per annum, and have been 
let for four hundred. Leachlade is governed by a con- 
ftable; is feventy-fix miles from London; a poft-town ; 
and the turnpike-road from London to Gloucefter and 
Briftol lies through it. Great quantities of cheefe and 
other goods are brought to the wharfs here, and conveyed 
thence to London, &c. down the rivers Ifis and Thames, 
in barges of from thirty to feventy tons burthen. 
A communication between the Severn and Thames by 
a canal was completed in 1783, which joins the river Ifis 
near this town, by which large quantities of coal are 
brought here, and the country for many miles round is 
fupplied from hence with that neceflary article, which, 
before the opening of the faid canal, was fold at thirty-two 
Ihillings per ton home, but directly after fold at the wharfs 
at twenty-four Ihillings per ton. Many veffels ply (be¬ 
tween this place and Brimfcomb-port) on the laid canal; 
and great quantities of corn are fent thither for Briftol, 
Stourport, Worcefter, &c. The communication between 
the Severn and Leachlade was completed in 1789. 
Leachlade is fix miles diftance from Farringdon, Berks; 
fix from Highworth, Wilts; thirteen from Cirencefter, 
and twelve from Northleach, both in Gloucefterfliire ; nine 
from Burford, and twelve from Witney, both in Oxford- 
Ihire ; all good market-towns. It is probable, that it was 
anciently a Roman town upon the Thames; for a very 
plain Roman road runs from hence to Cirencefter. The 
river Lech, which rifes near North Lech in this county, 
difeharges itfelf into the Thames a little below St. John’s 
Bridge in this parilh, and thereby gives name to the town. 
Friday is the market-day, but no great deal of bulinefs is 
done on it. Here is one good fair in the year, held on 
the 9th of September, for neat cattle, horfes, cheefe, &c. 
See. this fair was ufually kept in a meadow near St.John’s 
Bridge; but, owing to a flood in the year 1774, it was 
then removed to the town of Leachlade, where it has been 
held ever fince. In a meadow near St. John’s Bridge there 
formerly flood a priory, dedicated to St. John the Baptift, 
the foundations of which have been often difcovered by- 
digging. 
Three miles from Leachlade, and about a mile and a 
half from the village of Bufcott, is a noble maniion, called 
Bufcott Park, erected by Edward Loveden Loveden, efq. 
member for Abingdon, Berks. 
Between Leachlade and Cricklade is Kempsford. Hers 
is a large handfome church : and to this place the Stroud 
canal is extended, which was opened on April 22, 1789, 
whereby a communication was formed between the Severn 
and Thames. 
LE'ACOCK, a townfhip in Lancafter-county, Pennfyl- 
vania, North America. 
.LEAD',/! [laeb, Sax.] One of the metals, of which the 
chemical properties have been explained under the article 
Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 295. and fee farther the articles 
Mineralogy and Plumbum. — Lead is very ductile, 
though lefs fo than gold : it is very little fubje< 5 t to ruft. 
The fpecific gravity of lead is to that of water as u'352 
to 1000. Lead, when kept in fufion over a common fire, 
throws up all other bodies, except gold, that are mixed, 
all others being lighter, except mercury, which will not 
