56* LEY 
on the Ohio; in which is a fettlement of Chriftian In¬ 
dians, formed by the Moravian miffionaries. 
LEX, /. [Latin.] The Law. See that article. 
LEX TALIO'NIS. See Talio. 
LEX TER'RAJ, the law and cuftom of the land ; by 
which name it is diltinguifhed from the civil law. See the 
article Law, p. 365. 
LEXAWAS'SIN, a river of Pennfylvania, which runs 
into the Delaware in lat. 41.17. N. Ion. 74. 58. W. 
LEX'DEN, a village in the county of Eftex, in the li¬ 
berty of Colchefter, on the fide of a fine heath. 
LEX'EN, a town of Moravia, in the circle of Olmutz : 
eighteen miles north-weft of Olmutz. 
LEX'HAM, Eaft and Weft, villages in Norfolk, north- 
eaft of Swaffham. 
LEX'IARCH, / [Greek.] An officer at Athens, of 
which there were fix, aftifted by thirty inferior ones, whofe 
bufinefs it was to lay fines upon fuch as came not to the 
public aflemblies, and alfo to make- fcrutiny among fuch 
as were prefent. The lexiarchi kept a regifter of the age, 
manners, and abilities, of all the citizens, who were always 
enrolled at the age of twenty. 
LEXICOG'RAPHER, / [ lexicon , and y^xCpu, Gr. to 
write.] A writer of diftionaries.—Commentators and lexi¬ 
cographers acquainted with the Syriac language, have given 
thefe hints in their writings on feripture. Watts. 
LEXICOG'R APHY, f . The art or pradlice of writing 
dift ionaries. 
LEX'ICON,/ [Greek.] A diflionary; a book teach¬ 
ing the fignification of w'ords*.—Though a linguift ihould 
pride himfelf to have all the tongues that Babel cleft the 
world into, yet, if he had not ftudied the folid things in 
them as u'ell as the words and lexicons, yet he were no¬ 
thing fo much to be efteemed a learned man as any yeo¬ 
man competently wife in his mother-dialefi only. Milton. 
—It is chiefly ufed in fpeaking of Greek dictionaries. 
LEX'INGTON, a county of South Carolina. 
LEX'INGTON, a town of United America, in the ftate 
of Kentucky, fituated on the Elkhorn river, w'here the 
courts are held. It is twenty-three miles eaft of Frank¬ 
fort,and 480 weft-fouth-weft of Philadelphia. Lat. 37.57.N. 
Ion. 84. 43. W. 
LEX'INGTON, a town of the ftate of Maffachufetts, 
celebrated for being the firft place where hoftilities com¬ 
menced between the Britifh troops and the Americans, in 
April 1775. It is twelve miles north-weft of Bollon. 
LEX'INGTON, a town of Virginia : 160 miles weft of 
Richmond. 
LEXO'VII, a people of Gaul, at the mouth of the 
Seine, conquered with great daughter by a lieutenant of 
Julius Caefar. Caf. Bell. G. 
LEY, a village of Devonfhire, in the parifh of Bear 
Ferris. 
LEY,/. A lea ; a meadow ; a piece of ground that lies 
untilled. 
To LEY, v. n. To lie as land uncultivated ; to lie un¬ 
tilled. Obfolete. 
LEY,/. See Lixivium. 
LEY,/ in the cotton-manufaflure, 120 yards: feven 
leys make a hank, 
LEY, f. [old French.] The law. 
LEY'-GAGER, f. An old word, a wager of law ; one 
who commences a lawfuit. Phillips. 
LEY'S A, a town of South America, in New Grenada : 
ninety miles north-north-eaft of Santa Fe da Bogota, and 
320 fouth-fouth-eaft of Cvthagena. 
LEY'BORN, a confiderable village in the North Riding 
of Yorkfhire, a mile and a half north of Middlehnm ; with 
four fairs, viz. on the fecond Fridays of February, May, 
October, and December. It is 229 miles from London. 
LEY'BOURNE (William), a mathematician, but ori¬ 
ginally a printer in London. He publilhed a courfe of 
mathematics, which was held in confiderable eftimation. 
He was author of a treadle on Surveying, a work on Di- 
L E Y 
ailing, and another work, entitled the Trader’s Guide. He 
died about the year 1690. 
LEY'DECKER (Melchior), a celebrated Dutch Calvi- 
nift divine, was born at Middleburg, in Zealand, in the 
year 1652. For fome time he officiated as pallor of a 
church in his native place ; and, in the year 1678, was ap¬ 
pointed profeflor of divinity at Utrecht. Some time af¬ 
terwards he received the degree of doiffor in that faculty. 
He was profoundly (killed in divinity, ecclefiaftical hiftory, 
and rabbinical learning ; but he had no tafte for polite li¬ 
terature, or criticifm. He was alfo prejudiced in the ex¬ 
treme againft writers who did not come up to his lland- 
ard of orthdoexy. The union of the Calvinifts and Lu¬ 
therans was an objedl which he had much at heart ; and 
he made fome ineffectual efforts to promote it. He died 
in 1721, about the age of fixty-nine. He was the author 
of, r. Fax Veritatis, 1667, 8vo. 2. Synopfis Controver- 
fiarum de Fcedere. 3. Commentary on the Catechifm of 
Heidelberg. 4. The Hiftory of the Church of Africa, 4to, 
5. An Analyfis of Scripture, wfith Rules for Preaching. 6. 
A Continuation of the Ecclefiaftical Hiftory of Hornius, 
with Notes. 7. A Hiftory of Janfenifm, 1695, 8vo. 8. 
Treatife on the Republic of the Hebrews, 2 vols. folio, 1714 
and 1717; replete with erudition and interelting matter. 
The author left behind him a third volume in manufeript, 
bringing down the hiftory of the Jews from the birth of 
Chrift to his own time ; but we do not learn that it has 
been fent to the prefs. All Dr. Leydecker’s works are 
written in Latin, udthout any pretenfions to elegance or 
purity of ftyle. Moreri. 
LEY'DEN, a city of Holland, fuppofed to be the fame 
which Ptolemy calls Lugdunum Batavorum, and Antoninus, 
in his Itinerary, Caput Germanorum. It holds a fourth rank 
amongthefix capital cities of Holland,and is the capital of 
a fmall diftrict, called Rhynland, which comprehends forty- 
nine towns, or villages; the llreets are exceedingly neat, 
wide, and long, divided by many handfome canals; and 
it is, without doubt, one of the handlbmeft and largeft 
cities of Holland, next to Amflerdam, and one of the moll 
agreeable in Europe. It is fituated on the ancient bed of 
the Rhine, which paffes through the city, and divides it 
into about fifty iflands, which have an eafy communica¬ 
tion with each other by means of a great number of 
bridges, computed at 145, of which more than one hun¬ 
dred are built of freefone; the different ftreams of the 
Rhine unite again, at leaving the city, at the white gate. 
The city was confiderably enlarged towards the fouth in 
the year 1389. In 1419 it was befieged and taken by 
Albert count of Bavaria, for having taken part with Flo- 
rent de Wevelinchoven bifhop of Utretcht. In the year 
1574, the Spaniards, after they had taken Haerlem, and 
been obliged to raife the fiege of Alcmaer, attempted to 
lay fiege to Leyden ; but Louis of Naffnu, brother to the 
prince of Orange, advancing with fome troops, the Spa¬ 
niards, not thinking themfelves at that time in fufficient 
force, abandoned their enterprile. Some time after, hav¬ 
ing obtained a reinforcement, they returned to the fiege, 
under the command of Francis Baldez ; this general, hav¬ 
ing feized the outworks, and not thinking himfelf able 
to force the city, refolved to turn the fiege into a block¬ 
ade, and ltarve them to a furrender. It is hardly credi¬ 
ble what the inhabitants endured ; they indeed fignalized 
their conftancy on this occafion, during a fiege of five 
months, when neither famine nor peltilence were able to 
deftroy their courage. The women lined the ramparts, 
and performed all the duties of foldiers, animated by one 
whofenamewas Kennava, a woman of undaunted fpirit; the 
attended with her companions all the faliies made on the 
enemy. The mifery became fo great, that above 6000 per- 
fons died, and there remained no more than 107 muids of 
wheat for the 14,000 inhabitants w'ho yet remained alive. 
Of this theSpanifti general being apprifed, fummoned them 
to furrender; but they told him, they could not want the 
means of exiltence fo long as their left arms remained ; 
thole 
