456 L E I 
it. The hypothefis of the perfection of the univerfe, ill 
confequence of which it is capable of continuing for ever 
by mechanical laws in its prefent ftate, led Leibnitz to dif- 
fcinguilh between the quantity of motion and the force of 
bodies; and, while he owns, in oppofition to Des Cartes, 
that the former varies, to maintain that the quantity of 
force is for ever the fame in the univerfe; and to meafure 
the force of bodies by the fquare of their velocities. He 
propoles two principles as the foundation of all our know¬ 
ledge : The firft, That it is impofiible for a thing to be 
and not to be at the fame time ; which, he fays, is the 
foundation of fpeculative truth. The other is, That no¬ 
thing is without a Jujficient reafon why it fhould be fo ra¬ 
ther than otherwife ; and by this principle, according to 
-him, we make a tranfition from abltraCted truths to natu¬ 
ral philofophy. Hence he concludes, that the mind is 
naturally determined, in its volitions or elections, by the 
.greateft apparent good ; and that it is impofiible to make 
a choice between things perfectly like, which he calls itt- 
dificerniblcs ; whence he infers, that two things perfectly 
like could not have been produced, even by the Deity. 
For this reafon, and other metaphyfical confiderations, he 
rejeCts a vacuum, the parts of which muft be fuppofed per¬ 
fectly like to each other. For the fame reafon lie alfo re¬ 
jects atoms, and all fimilar particles of matter; to each of 
which, though divifible in infinitum, he afcribes a monad, 
or adtive kind of principle, endued with perception and 
appetite. The effence of Jubilance he places in aCtion or 
activity ; or, as he expreffes it, in lomething that is be¬ 
tween acting and the faculty of aCting. He affirms that 
abfolute relt is impofiible ; and holds motion, or a fort of 
s tifius, to be effential to all material fubftances. Each mo- 
had he defcribes as reprefentative of the whole univerfe 
from its point of fight; and, after all, in one of his let¬ 
ters tells us, that matter is not a fubftance, but a Jubfian- 
tiatum, or phenomene bien fionde. 
The power of mechanilm was never more magnified 
than by Leibnitz’s famous doCtrine of a pre-efiablifiicd har¬ 
mony, as he calls it. According to Des Cartes, the brutes 
were mere machines; and this doCtrine, to many, appeared 
incredible. But this is nothing in comparifon to what 
Leibnitz'would have us believe, when he tells us that the 
foul does not aCt on the body, nor the body on the foul; 
that both proceed by necefiary laws, the foul in its per¬ 
ceptions and volitions, and the body in its motions, with¬ 
out affeCting each other; but that each is to be confidered 
as a feparate independent machine. The volitions of the 
mind are followed inftantly by the defired motions of the 
body, not in confequence of thofe volitions in the lead, 
but of the nice and well-adjulted machinery of the body. 
The impreflions produced in the fenfory have no effeCt on 
.the mind ; but the correfponding idea arifes, at that pre- 
.cife time, in confequence of a chain of caules of a different 
kind. Thus all that men do or fiay is no more than the effect 
of exquifite machinery, according to his philofophy. 
LEIB'NITZ, a town of Saxony, in the margravate of 
Meiffen: four miles fouth of Drelden. 
LEIB'NITZ, a town of the duchy of Stiria, on the 
Sulm, the ufual refidence of the bifhop of Seckau: fixteen 
miles fouth of Gratz. 
LEICESTER, the county-town of Leicefierfhire. This 
place makes an evident fnow of confiderable antiquity. It 
has been faid that Leicester was built two thouland five 
hundred years ago ; or, 884 B. C. King Lear built Caire 
Lear, now called Leicefter; he had three daughters, Gone- 
ral, Regale, and Cordelle, which Cordelle fucceeded him in 
his kingdom when he had reigned forty years. Much cre¬ 
dit is not however to be given to accounts of that diilant 
period. King Lear has the reputation of building the 
great temple of Janus, which flood near the banks of the 
river Leir, now Soar, and wherein, it is faid, he was bu¬ 
ried. That a great temple, or heathen edifice, flood near 
the feite of St. Nicholas church, is probable, foundations 
.of llrong and amazingly-thick walls having been fre¬ 
quently difeovered leading from that church nearly to the 
L E I 
banks of the river. It is agreed by all writers, that Lei¬ 
cefter was built long before the time of the Romans; in¬ 
deed the variation of its name demonftrates that it has 
paffed through along fucceffion of time; its firft name 
was Caer Leir, or Lerion, afterwards Lege Ceftria, Leo- 
gora, Legeocefter, in the Saxon annals Legercealter, and, 
with fome other little variations, now Leicefter. Con¬ 
cerning the antiquity of Leicefter; many writers ftate, 
that there were anciently in Britain twenty-eight flamens, 
and three archflamens, placed in twenty-eight cities ; that 
thefe, upon the conversion of the Britons to Chriftianity, 
about the year 180 after the birth of Chrilt, were made 
bilhops’ fees. Ninnius, the monk of Bangor, who lived 
about the year of Chrilt 6ao, gave a particular account of 
thefe cities, one of which was Cair Lerion, fignifying the 
City of King Leir, now Leicefter. It flourilhed long In 
the time of the ancient Britons; and afterwards was a 
place of confequence in the time of the Romans, accord¬ 
ing to Camden, by the name of Rates. In fupport of his 
opinion, the Itone found near Thurmafton turnpike is 
mentioned: this ftone was found in the year 1771, near 
the old fofs-road, by workmen digging for gravel; it 
ferved as a bafe to a large milliare ; its height three feet 
fix inches, and in circumference five feet leven inches ; 
the infeription is reckoned the molt ancient in Britain. 
The fofs or Roman road, which paffes through the town 
of Leicefter, is another work of great antiquity; its re¬ 
mains are vifible in many parts of Leicefterlhire; it inter¬ 
fered the Watling-ftreet Roman road at High-crofs in 
this county, and took its courfe thence in a right line, 
between the villages of Sharnford and Frolefworth, and 
fo on towards Narborough, leaving that village a little on 
the left; it then, taking nearly a middle courfe between 
Ailftone and Braunftone, paffes by the upper end of the 
paddock of Weftcoats, and the garden of Danet’s Hall, to 
Rata:, from or by Leicefter, through Thurmaftone, near 
Syfton and Ratcliff-on-the Wreck, leaving both the latter 
on the right, to Seg’s Hill, for Newark in Nottingham- 
Ihire. Roman pavements are found in Leicefter at va¬ 
rious diltances from the furface of the earth: the molt cu¬ 
rious of them is that called Diana and ACtteon, preferved 
in a cellar near the town-gaol. Roman coins which have 
been found in Leicefter alfo prove its antiquity ; they are 
innumerable; the greateft difeoveries of them were in the 
year 1718, near the north gate; about fix feet under 
ground, there was found an earthen jug, which held about 
three pints, full of them: they were of a fort of copper, 
molt of them about the fize of a filver twopence, and 
fome about the fize of a copper halfpenny; among them 
were obferved the coins of Titus, Trajan, Dioclefian, 
Conftantine the Great, Conftantine jun. Conftantius, Va- 
lentinian, Theodofius, Gratian, Arcadius, and Hono- 
rius. A fine gold Roman coin has lately been found 
in Northgate-ftreet, among the ruins of an old building. 
It is in the higheft ftate of prefervation, and weighs 
four dwts. twelve grains. Round the head is imp. 
CK.%. TER. TRAIANO OPTIMO. AUG. GER. DAC. On 
the reverfe, p. m. tr. cos. vi, p. p. spor. which is un- 
derltood to be “ Pontifiex Maximus tribunicia potefiate con- 
ful fiext. pater patrice Senatus Populufque Romanus. 1 ' Roman 
pottery has alfo at various times been found on tfie weft 
fide of the town. In 1783, as fome men were digging for 
gravel in a farm-yard in Humberftone-gate, they difeo¬ 
vered, about four feet below the furface of the earth, 
a Itrong leaden coffin, on which had been placed a bafon, 
and fix urns round it. The lead of the coffin was un¬ 
commonly thick, it weighed five cwt. over which, to fup¬ 
port the lid, were placed ftrong iron bars, fome of which 
were eaten through. 
The hiftory of Leicefter, during the Saxon heptarchy, 
is very vague and uncertain, though, from the concurrent 
tellimony of all writers, it was certainly a place of confi¬ 
derable note from the departure of the Romans to the 
time of the Norman conqueft. According to Godwin, a 
bilhop’s fee was transferred from Sidnacelter to Leicefter 
1 in 
