LEA 
fear that degree of heat: it afterwards vitrifies with the 
bafer metals, and carries them off, in form of fcorice, to 
the fides of the veil'd. The weakeft acids are the belt lbl- 
vents for lead.: it dilfolves very readily in aqua fortis di¬ 
luted with water, as all'o in vinegar. The fmoke of lead- 
works is a prodigious annoyance, and iubjects both the 
workmen, and the cattle that graze about them, to a mor¬ 
tal difeale. Hill. —Of lead, fome I can ihovv you fo like 
fteel, and lo unlike common lead ore, that the workmen 
call it lteel ore. Boyle. — Lead is employed for the refining 
of gold and filver by the cupel ; hereol is made common 
cerufs with vinegar ; of cerufs, red lead ; of plumbum ul- 
tum, the belt yellow ocre; of lead, and half as much tin, 
folder for lead. Grew. 
Thou "art a foul in blifs, but I am bound 
Upon a wheel of fire ; that mine own tears 
Do fcald like molten lead. Shakefpeare. 
[In the plural.] Flat roof to walk on, when houfes are co¬ 
vered with lead. —I would have the tower two Itories, and 
goodly leads upon the top, .raifed with itatues interpofed. 
Bacon. 
Stalls, bulks, windows. 
Are fmother’d up, leads fill’d, and ridges hors’d 
With variable complexions; all agreeing 
In earneltnefs to fee him. Shakefpeare. 
ManufaElure of Lead. See Plumbery. 
Black Lead. See Graphites in the article Minera¬ 
logy. 
White Lead. See Chemistry,- vol. iv. p. 353. 
To LEAD', v. a. To fit with lead in any manner.—He 
falhioneth the clay with his arm, he applieth himfelf to 
lead it over; and he is diligent to make clean the furnace. 
Ecclus, xxxviii. 30. 
To LE'AD, v. a. prefer. I led-, part. led-, [lxban, Sax. 
leiden, Dut.] To guide by the hand.—Doth not each on 
the fabbath loofe his ox or his afs from the flail, and lead 
him away to watering? Luke xiii. 15.—They thruft him 
out of the city, and led him unto, the brow of the hill. 
Luke iv. 29.—To conduft to any place.—Save to every 
man his wife and children, that they may lead them away 
and depart. 1 Sam. xxx. 22.—Then brought he me out of 
the W’ay, and led me about the w r ay without unto the 
outer gate. Fzek. xlvii. 2.—He maketh me to lie down in 
green paftures; he leadeth me befide the Hill waters. Pfal. 
xxiii. 2.—To conduft as head or commander.—Chrill 
took not upon him flefli and blood, that he might conquer 
and rule nations, lead armies, or poifefs places. South. 
He turns againfl: the lion’s armed jaws; 
And, being no more in debt to years than thou. 
Leads ancient lords and rev’rend bifhops on 
To bloody battles. Shakefpeare's Henry IV. 
To introduce by going firfl.—Which may go out before 
them, and which may go in before them, and which may 
lead them out, and which may bring them in. Numb. 
xxvii. 17. 
His guide, as faithful from that day, 
As Hefperus that leads the fun his way. Fairfax. 
To guide; to fhow the method of attaining.—Human 
tellimony is not fo proper to lead us into the knowledge 
of the eflence of things, as to acquaint us with the exilt- 
ence of things. Watts. —To draw; to entice; to allure.— 
Appoint him a meeting, give him a fhew of comfort, and 
lead him on with a fine baited delay. Shakefpeare. —To in¬ 
duce ; to prevail on by plealing motives.—What I fay will 
have little influence on thole whofe ends lead them to wifli 
the continuance of the war. Swift. 
What I did, I did in honour, 
Led by th* impartial conduft of my foul. Shakefpeare. 
To pafs; to fpend in any certain manner.—Luther’s life 
was led up to the doftrines he preached, and his death was 
the death of the righteous. Francis Atterbury. —Celibacy, 
a? then jpraftifed in the church of Rome, was commonly 
LEA 411 
forced, taken up under a bold vow, and led in all un- 
cleannefs. Francis Atterbury. 
So fhnit thou lead 
Safell thy life, and bell prepar’d endure 
Thy mortal pafiage when it comes. Milton. 
To LE'AD, v.n. Togo firfl, and fliow the way.—I will 
lead on foftly, according as the cattle that goelh before 
me, and the children, be able to endure. Gen. xxxiii.— 
To conduft as a commander.—Cyrus was beaten and (lain 
under the leading of a woman, whofe wit and conduft 
made a great figure. Temple. —To lliow the way by going 
firfl:: 
The vefl’els heavy-laden put to fea 
With profp’rous gales, a woman leads the way. Dryden ► 
To exercife dominion : 
For fhepherds, laid he, there doen lead 
As lords done otherwhere. Spenfer's July. 
LE'AD, f. Guidance; firfl place: a lew defpicable 
word.—Yorklhire takes the lead of the other counties. 
Herring. 
LEAD' HILLS, a village of Scotland, in the county of 
Lanerk, faid to be the moft lofty habitable fituation in 
Great Britain. Here refide many hundreds of miners 
with their families. Thefe miners, though in a great 
meafure excluded from fociety by their fituation, yet not 
only find means to procure a comfortable fubfiftence, but 
alfo pay more attention to the cultivation of the mind 
than many of their countrymen lituated feemingly in 
more favourable circumftances for the attainment of 
knowledge. As an evidence of this, they are very intel¬ 
ligent, and have provided a circulating library for the in- 
ftruftion and amufement of the little community belong¬ 
ing to the village. Amid thefe mountains particles of 
gold have fometimes been found warned down by the rains 
and ftreams of water; but this d'efert traft is chiefly valu¬ 
able for producing the metal whofe name it bears. “No¬ 
thing, fays Mr. Pennant,can equal the gloomy appearance 
of the country round. Neither tree, nor Ihrub, nor verdure, 
nor pifturelque rock, appear to amufe the eye. The fpec- 
tator mult plunge into the bowels of thefe mountains for 
entertainment.” The veins of lead lie moftly north and 
fouth ; and their thicknefs varies from a few inches to 
twenty inches and two feet. At one place, the Sufannah- 
vein (the richelt ever difcovered at Lead hills) fwelled 
out to the extraordinary thicknefs of fourteen feet. Some 
have been found filled with ore within two fathoms of the 
furface ; others fink to the depth of ninety fathoms. The 
earl of Hopetoun, the proprietor, has in his poffeffion a 
folid mafs of lead-ore from thefe mines weighing five tons. 
His lordfhip has alfo, it is faid, a piece of native gold 
that weighs two ounces, which was found here. The 
lead fmelted at this place is all fent to Leith, where it has 
the privilege of being exported free of duty. The Icanty 
paflure afforded by this barren region feeds fome fheep 
and cattle ; but thofe in the neighbourhood of the mines 
fometimes perifh by drinking of the water in which the 
lead-ore has been waflied ; for the lead-ore communicates 
a deleterious quality to the water, though that liquid ac¬ 
quires no hurtful taint from remaining in leaden pipes or 
ciilerns. Thefe mines have been wrought for two cen¬ 
turies. The village is fifteen miles fouth of Lanerk. 
LEAD'-STEP BAY, a bay on the fouth coaft of 
Wales, in the county of Pembroke. Lat. 51. 37. N. Ion, 
4. 45. W. 
LEAD'EN, a river of England, which runs into the 
Severn oppofite Gloucelter. 
LEAD'EN, adj. Made of lead.—A leaden bullet fhot 
from one of thele guns againfl a Hone wall, the fpace of 
twenty-four paces from it, will be beaten into a thin plate, 
Wilkins. 
This tiger-footed rage, when it fliall find 
The harm of unfkann’d fwiftnefs, will, too late, 
Tye leaden pounds to’s heels. Shakefpeare 
Heavy; 
