E A 
LEA 
LEAF-INSECT. See Cimex paradoxus, vol. iv. p. 598. 
LE'AFED, adj. Furnilhed with one leaf. 
LE'AFLESS, adj. Naked of leaves.—Bare honefly, 
without fome other adornment, being looked on as a leaf- 
le/s tree, nobody will take himfelf to its lhelter. Govern¬ 
ment of the Tongue. 
Where doves in flocks the leajlefs trees o’erthade, 
And lonely woodcocks haunt the wat’ry glade. Pope. 
LE'AFY, adj. Full of leaves: 
Her leafy arms with fuch extent were fpread. 
That liofts of birds, that wing the liquid air. 
Perch’d in the boughs. Dryden's Flower and Leaf. 
LEA'GA, or Binea'ga, a harbour on the fouth-weft; 
coalt of Sumatra. Here the chief mate of the Orange- 
Tree tloop, captain Duggin, was flabbed by an Achee- 
neer. Four or five aflaflins intended to have murdered 
the captain, and feize the veffel, but were overpowered ; 
two were killed; the reft jumped overboard and efcaped. 
It is fourteen miles eaft from the mouth of Sinkel River. 
LEAGUE, f [licue , Fr. leuca, Lat. from lech, Wellh, 
a ftone that was ufed to be eretled at the end of every 
league. Camden.'] A meafure of length, containing three 
miles: 
Ev’n Italy, though many a league remote, 
In diftant echoes anfwer’d. Addifon. 
A fea-league is ufually reckoned 3000 geometrical 
paces, or three Englifh miles; the large leagues of France 
are ufually 3000, and in fome places 3300? paces; the 
mean or common league is 1500 paces, and the little 
league 2000. Chorier obferves, that the ancient Gaulilh 
leagues were but 1300 paces; and the modern French 
league is 2500 toifes, 222 5328;$ Englifh yards. The term 
licue, or league, is applied in different parts of France to 
very different diftances. The aftronomical league of 23 
to a deg . e meafures 4865 Englifh yards. The legal 
lieues, of two French miles, by which the highways were 
meafured, contain each 4263 Englifh yards. The marine 
league of 20 to a degree meafures 6081 Englifh yards. 
The Spanifh leagues are larger than the French, 17 Spa- 
nifh leagues making a degree, or 20 French leagues, or 
69I Englifh ftatute miles. The league of Spain is four 
ancient Roman miles, 22: 6441792 yards. The large 
league of Spain is five ancient Roman miles, or 805174 
Englifh yards. On roads made fince 1766, the diftances 
are laid down at the rate of 8000 varas to the league; 
that is, 7416 Englifh yards; fo that five fuch leagues 2= 
21 Englifh miles nearly. But the juridical league is 5000 
varas, or 4635 Englifh yards; fo that eight of thefe are 
equal to 21 Englifh miles. Marine leagues are reckoned 
at the rate of 20 to a degree; but in different parts of 
Spain, the leagues are very different. The leagues of 
Germany and Holland contain four geographical miles 
each. The German league, or that of Scandinavia, is 
9662 Englifh yards. The mile or league of Germany 
is 200 Rhenifh yards, or 8240 Englifh. The Perfian 
leagues are nearly the fame with the Spanifh; that is, each 
is equivalent to four Italian miles; which come nearly to 
what Herodotus mentions of the parafanga, an ancient 
meafure among the Perfians, containing thirty ftadia ; 
eight of which, according to Strabo, make a mile. The 
Perfians mark their leagues by trees, as the ancient Ro¬ 
mans did by Hones, lapides ; for which reafon they are 
alfo called agag, a Turkifli word fignifying a tree. In 
Japan, the league confills of 1800 fathoms. Thefe are all 
diftinguifhed by little hillocks, raifed on purpofe by the 
road-fide. 
LEAGUE,/ [ligae, Fr. ligo, Lat.] A confederacy; a 
combination either of intereft or friendfhip.— It is a great 
error, and a narrownefs of mind, to think, that nations 
have nothing to do one with another, except there be ei¬ 
ther an union in fovereignty, or a conjunftion in pacts or 
hagues: there are other bands of fociety and implicit con¬ 
federations. Eaton's Holy War. 
Vol. XII. No. 840. 
415 
You peers continue this united league: 
I every day expeft an embafifage 
From my Redeemer, to redeem me hence. 
And now in peace my foul (hall part to heav’n. 
Since I have made my friends at peace on earth. Shakejp. 
The league, by way of eminence, denotes that famous 
one on foot in France, from the year 1576 to 1593. Its 
intent was to prevent the fucceflion of Henry IV. who 
was of the reformed religion, to the crown ; and it ended 
with his abjuration of that faith. The leaguers,. or confe¬ 
derates, were of three kinds. The zealous leaguers aimed 
at the utter deftruftion not only of the Huguenots, but 
alfo of the miniftry. The Spanifi leaguers had principally 
in view the tranferring the crown of France to the king 
of Spain, or the infanta his daughter. The moderate lea¬ 
guers aimed only at the extirpation of Calvinifm, without 
any alteration of the government. 
To LEAGUE, v.n. To unite; to confederate—Where 
fraud and falfehood invade fociety, the band prefently 
breaks, and men are put to a lofs where to league and 
to fallen their deoendances. South. 
LE'AGUE BREA'KER, f. One that breaks a league; 
They took thee 
As a league-breaker, and delivered bound 
Into our hands. Milton's Samfon Agoniflcs. 
LE'AGUED, adj. Confederated : 
And now, thus leagu'd by an eternal bond. 
What (hall retard the Britons’ bold defigns ?. Philips. 
LE'AGUER, f [ beh’ggercn, Dut.] One who enters 
into a league. A befieging army.—We will bind and 
hoodwink him fo, that he Ihall fuppofe no other but that 
he is carried into the leaguer of the adverfaries, when we 
bring him to our own tents. Shakefpeare. 
And hafting forward up the banks they pafs. 
Till far behind the Chriftian leaguer was. Fairfax. 
LE'AGUING,/! The a< 5 t of joining in a league. 
LE'AH, [Heb. weary.] The wife of Jacob, and La¬ 
ban’s eldeft daughter. Her father introduced her into 
Jacob’s chamber, on the wedding-night, inftead of Ra¬ 
chael, for whom he had ferved feven years. When he 
complained of the cheat, Laban anfwered that the cuftom 
of the country forbad to marry the younger daughters 
before the elder. Gen. xxix. 23, &c. See Laban, p. 2, 3. 
Laban afterwards married Rachel; but the Lord, obferv- 
ing Jacob to have more inclination for Rachel than for 
Leah, made Leah the mother of fix fons and one daugh¬ 
ter, viz. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Iflachar, Zebu- 
lun, and Dinah. We know not the year of Leah’s 
death; but (he died in the land of Canaan, and w'as 
buried in the fame cave with Sarah, Abraham, and Ilaac. 
Gen. xlix. 31. 
LEAK, f. [leek, leke, Dut.] A breach or hole which 
lets in water.—There will be always evils, which no art 
of man can cure; breaches and leaks more than man’s wit 
hath hands to Hop. Hooker.- —The water rufhes in, as it 
doth ufually in the leak of a fhip. Wilkins. 
Whether (he fprung a leak I cannot find, 
Or whether lhe was overfet with wind. 
Or that fome rock below her bottom rent; 
But down at once with all her crew fhe went. Dryden. 
A ready way to find a leak in a fhip, is to apply the 
narrow end of a fpeaking-trumpet to the ear, and the other 
to the fide of the fhip where the leak is fuppofed to be ; 
then the noife of the water iffuing in at the leak will be 
heard diftindtly, whereby it may be difeovered. Phil. 
Tranf. No. 201. 
Tire manner of flopping a leak is, to put into it a plug 
wrapt in oakum, and well tarred, or in a tarpauling clout, 
which keeps the water out; or nailing a piece of flieet- 
lead on the place. Seamen fometimes ftop a leak by 
thru fling a piece of fait beef into it. The fea-water, fays 
Mr. Boyle, being frefher than the brine imbibed by the 
5 N beef, 
