414 
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beef, penetrates into its body, and caufes it to fwell fo as 
to bear (trongly agninlt the edges of the broken plank, and 
thereby hops the influx of the water. 
To LEAK, v. 7 i. To let water in or out.—His feet 
Ihould be walked every day in cold water; and have his 
fhoes fo thin, that they might leak, and let in water. 
Locke. —To drop through a breach, or difeontinuity.— 
The water, which will perhaps by degrees leak into feveral 
parts, may be emptied out again. Wilkins. 
Golden (tars hung o’er their heads. 
And feem’d fo crowded, that they burft upon ’em, 
And dart at once their baleful influence 
In leaking fire. Dry den and Lee. 
LEAKAGE, f. The ftate of a veflel that leaks ; that 
is, lets water, or other liquid, ooze in or out. 
Leakage alfo denotes an allowance of three barrels in 
thirty-fix, of (trong beer, table-beer, and ale, and after 
that rate for any greater or lefs quantity, out of the ex- 
cife, to the common brewer, in full compenfation for all 
wade or other Ioffes whatfoever. 43 Geo. III. c. 69. 
LEAKE, adj. fhlece, Sax.] Leaky.—And fifty lifters 
water in leake veflels draw. Spenfer. 
Yet is the bottle leake, and bag fo torn. 
That all which I put in falls out anon. Spesfer. 
LEAKE (Richard), was born at Harwich in the year 
1629, and was bred to the fea-fervice. At the reftoration 
he was made mafter-gunner of the Princefs, a frigate of 
fifty guns; and in the firft Dutch war diftinguiflied him- 
felf by his fkill and bravery in two very extraordinary ac¬ 
tions ; in one againft fifteen fail of Dutch inen-of-war; and 
another, in 1667, againlt two Danifli ftiips in the Baltic, in 
which, the principal officers being killed, the command 
devolved on him, though only mafter-gunner. In 1669, 
he was promoted to be gunner of the Royal Prince, a firft- 
rate man-of-war. In 1673, he was engaged, with his two 
fons Henry and John, in the battle againft Van Tromp, 
when the fliip had all her mails (hot away, nearly four 
hundred men killed and difabled, and moll of her upper 
tier of guns difmounted. As (lie lay like a wreck, a 
Dutch man-of-war and two fire-fhips came down upon 
her; and captain Rooke, afterwards fir George, conceiving 
it impolfible to defend her, defired the men to fave their 
lives, and Itrike the colours. Mr. Leake, hearing this, or¬ 
dered the lieutenant off the quarter-deck, and took the 
command, faying, “ The Royal Prince lhall never be given 
up to the enemy while I am alive to defend her.” The 
undaunted fpirit of the brave gunner infpired the fmall re- 
fidue of the fltip’s company with refolution ; they returned 
to the fight; and, under the direction of this valiant gun¬ 
ner and his two fons, funk both the fire-lhips, and obliged 
the man-of-war to fheer off; and, having thus faved the 
Royal Prince, he brought her into Chatham. Mr. Leake’s 
joy in obtaining this victory was miferably damped by the 
lots of his eldeft fon Henry, who was killed by his fide. 
Mr. Leake, in confequence of his great merit, was made, 
in 1677, majler-gunner of England, and llore-keeper of the 
ordnance at Woolwich. He invented, among other things, 
the cufhee-piece; and contrived a new method of firing 
a mortar. He died in 1686. He had a furprifing genius 
for all inventions relating to gunnery, and alio in the 
compofition of fire-works. He left a fon, 
LEAKE (John), who was but fixteen years of age when 
he was engaged in the battle juft referred to, and in which 
he took a confpicuous part. He was (hortly after made 
captain, and performed many prodigies of valour, and, 
among others, he executed a defperate attempt of con¬ 
voying fome victuallers into Londonderry, which obliged 
the enemy to raife the liege ; he was alfo at the battle of 
La Hogue. In 1702, being commodore of a fquadron, he 
deltroyed the French trade and fettlements at Newfound¬ 
land, and reltored the Englifh to the poflelfion of the 
whole ifland. On his return he was made rear-admiral j 
and, in a Ihort time afterwards, he was created vice-admi- 
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ral of the blue, and received the honour of knighthood. 
I' 1 i 7 ° 5 > he faved the important fortrefsof Gibraltar from 
the combined attacks of France and Spain, and was en¬ 
gaged in the reduflion of Barcelona. In the courfe of 
the following year he relieved that fame city, when it was 
reduced to the laft extremity, and obliged king Philip to 
raife the liege. Soon after this he took the dries of Car- 
thagena, Ahcant, and Joyce, and concluded the exploits 
of the year with the reduction of the city and ifland of 
Majorca. On his return home, he was prefented by 
prince George of Denmark with a valuable diamond ring, 
worth 400I. and from the queen he received 1000I. as a 
reward of his important fervices. On the death of ad¬ 
miral fir Cloudefley Shovel, in 1707, he was made admi¬ 
ral of the white, and commander-in-chief of her majelly’s 
fleet. _ In the following year he furprifed a convoy of the 
enemies' corn, fent it to Barcelona, and thus faved the 
city and confederate army from the danger of famine. He 
reduced the ifland of Sardinia to obedience to Charles 
king of Spain, and aflilted lord Stanhope in the conqueft 
of Minorca. Returning home, he was appointed one of 
the council to the lord high-admiral, and in 1709 he was 
made rear-admiral of Great Britain. He was feveral times 
chofen member of parliament for Rochefter; and in 1712 
conduCled the forces to take poflelfion of Dunkirk. On 
the acceflion of George I. he was fuperfeded, and allowed 
a penfion of 600I. upon which he lived in a private man¬ 
ner till his death, which happened at his houfe in Green¬ 
wich in 1720. He left no children, but was fucceeded 
in his property by 
LEAKE (Stephen Martin), who was fon of captain 
Martin, the brother-in-law of admiral Leake. Inheriting 
the property of the admiral, he took his name in addition 
to that of his own. He went through the different ranks 
in the Herald’s office, till he came to be Garter. He was 
the firft perfon who wrote profefledly on Englilh coins. 
He publifhed a hiftory of Britilh coins, under the title of 
Nummi Britannici Hilloria : he wrote alfo the Life of Sir 
John Leake, of which only fifty copies were printed; and 
in 1766 he printed fifty copies of the Statutes of the Or¬ 
der of the Garter. He died in 1773. 
LEAKE (John, M. D.), was born of Scottilh pa¬ 
rents in Cumberland, and received his education at 
the grammar-fehool at Bifhop-Auckland. This being 
finiftied, he fet off for London, intending to engage in 
the military profeffion ; but, finding fome promifes, with 
which he had been flattered, were not likely foon to 
be realized, he turned his attention to medicine. After 
attending the hofpitals, and being admitted a member of 
the corporation of furgeons, an opportunity prefented it- 
feif of improving himfelf in foreign fchools; he embarked 
for Lifbon, and afterwards vifited Italy. On his return, 
he ellablifhed himfelf as a furgeon and accoucheur in the 
neighbourhood of Piccadilly ; and about that time pub- 
liflied a Differtation on the Properties and Efficacy of the 
Lifbon Diet-drink. Where he obtained his doctor’s di¬ 
ploma is not known ; but he became here long a licenti¬ 
ate of the College of Phyficians, and removed to Craven- 
flreet, where he began to lefture, as well as continued to 
praCtife, in the oblletric art. In 1765, he purchafed a piece 
of ground on a building-leafe, and afterwards publifhed 
the plan for the inllitution of the Weftminfter Lying-in- 
Hofpital; and, as foon as the building was raifed, he vo¬ 
luntarily, and without any confideration, afligned over to 
the governors all his rights on the premifes, in favour of 
the hofpital. He enjoyed a confiderable (hare of reputa¬ 
tion and practice as an accoucheur, and as a IeCiurer; 
and was efteenred a polite and accomplilhed man. He 
added nothing, however, in the way of improvement, to 
his profeffion ; and his writings are not charaCterifed by 
any extraordinary acutenefs, or depth of refearch; but are 
plain, corredt, and practical. He was attacked, in the 
fummer of 1792, with a diforder of the cheft, with which 
he had been previoufly affeCled, and was found dead in 
his bed on the eighth of Augult of that year. He pub- 
lifhed 3 
