Part 51

[12] The title was taken, not from Leeds in Yorkshire, but from Leeds in Kent, 4½ m. from Maidstone, which in the 17th century was a more important place than its Yorkshire namesake.

[13] _Memoirs of Sir John Macky_ (Roxburghe Club, 1895), 46.

[14] Boyer's _Annals_, 219, 433.

[15] _Harleian MSS._ 2264, No. 239.

[16] Boyer's _Annals_, 515.

LEEDS, a city and municipal county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 185 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1891) 367,505; (1901) 428,968. It is served by the Great Northern railway (Central station), the Midland (Wellington station), North-Eastern and London & North-Western (New station), and Great Central and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways (Central station). It lies nearly in the centre of the Riding, in the valley of the river Aire.

The plan of the city is in no way regular, and the numerous handsome public buildings are distributed among several streets, principally on the north side of the narrow river. The town hall is a fine building in Grecian style, well placed in a square between Park Lane and Great George Street. It is of oblong shape, with a handsome façade over which rises a domed clock-tower. The principal apartment is the Victoria Hall, a richly ornamented chamber measuring 161 ft. in length, 72 in breadth and 75 in height. It was opened in 1858 by Queen Victoria. Immediately adjacent to it are the municipal offices (1884) in Italian style. The Royal Exchange (1872) in Boar Lane is an excellent Perpendicular building. In ecclesiastical architecture Leeds is not rich. The church of St John, however, is an interesting example of the junction of Gothic traditions with Renaissance tendencies in architecture. It dates from 1634 and contains some fine contemporary woodwork. St Peter's parish church occupies an ancient site, and preserves a very early cross from the former building. The church was rebuilt in 1840 at the instance of the vicar, Dr Walter Farquhar Hook (1798-1875), afterwards dean of Chichester, whose work here in a poor and ill-educated parish brought him fame. The church of All Souls (1880) commemorates him. It may be noted that the vicarage of Leeds has in modern times commonly formed a step to the episcopal bench. There are numerous other modern churches and chapels, of which the Unitarian chapel in Park Row is noteworthy. Leeds is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, with a pro-cathedral dedicated to St Anne. There is a large free library in the municipal offices, and numerous branch libraries are maintained. The Leeds old library is a private institution founded in 1768 by Dr Priestley, who was then minister of the Unitarian chapel. It occupies a building in Commercial Street. The Philosophical and Literary Society, established in 1820, possesses a handsome building in Park Row, known as the Philosophical Hall, containing a laboratory, scientific library, lecture room, and museum, with excellent natural history, geological and archaeological collections. The City Art Gallery was completed in 1888, and contains a fine permanent collection, while exhibitions are also held. The University, incorporated in 1904, grew out of Yorkshire College, established in 1875 for the purpose of supplying instruction in the arts and sciences which are applicable to the manufactures, engineering, mining and agriculture of the county. In 1887 it became one of the constituent colleges of Victoria University, Manchester, and so remained until its separate incorporation. The existing building was completed in 1885, and contains a hall of residence, a central hall and library, and complete equipments in all departments of instruction. New departments have been opened in extension of the original scheme, such as the medical department (1894). A day training college is a branch of the institution. The Mechanics' Institute (1865) occupies a handsome Italian building in Cookridge Street near the town hall. It comprises a lecture room, library, reading and class rooms; and day and evening classes and an art school are maintained. The grammar school, occupying a Gothic building (1858) at Woodhouse Moor, dates its foundation from 1552. It is largely endowed, and possesses exhibitions tenable at Oxford, Cambridge and Durham universities. There is a large training college for the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in the suburb of Headingley. The Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education has as its object the promotion of female education, and the instruction of girls and women of the artisan class in domestic economy, &c. The general infirmary in Great George Street is a Gothic building of brick with stone dressings with a highly ornamental exterior by Sir Gilbert Scott, of whose work this is by no means the only good example in Leeds. The city possesses further notable buildings in its market-halls, theatres, clubs, &c.

Among open spaces devoted by the corporation to public use that of Woodhouse Moor is the principal one within the city, but 3 m. N.E. of the centre is Roundhay Park, a tract of 700 acres, beautifully laid out and containing a picturesque lake. In 1889 there came into the possession of the corporation the ground, lying 3 m. up the river from the centre of the city, containing the celebrated ruins of Kirkstall Abbey. The remains of this great foundation, of the middle of the 12th century, are extensive, and so far typical of the usual arrangement of Cistercian houses as to be described under the heading Abbey. The ruins are carefully preserved, and form a remarkable contrast with the surrounding industrial district. Apart from Kirkstall there are few antiquarian remains in the locality. In Guildford Street, near the town hall, is the Red Hall, where Charles I. lay during his enforced journey under the charge of the army in 1647.

For manufacturing and commercial purposes the situation of Leeds is highly advantageous. It occupies a central position in the railway system of England. It has communication with Liverpool by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and with Goole and the Humber by the Aire and Calder Navigation. It is moreover the centre of an important coal and iron district. Though regarded as the capital of the great manufacturing district of the West Riding, Leeds is not in its centre but on its border. Eastward and northward the country is agricultural, but westward and southward lies a mass of manufacturing towns. The characteristic industry is the woollen manufacture. The industry is carried on in a great number of neighbouring townships, but the cloth is commonly finished or dressed in the city itself, this procedure differing from that of the wool manufacturers in Gloucestershire and the west of England, who carry out the entire process in one factory. Formerly much of the business between manufacturer and merchant was transacted in the cloth halls, which formed a kind of market, but merchants now order goods directly from the manufacturers. Artificial silk is important among the textile products. Subsidiary to these leading industries is the production of machine-made clothing, hats and caps. The leather trade of Leeds is the largest in England, though no sole leather is tanned. The supply comes chiefly from British India. Boots and shoes are extensively manufactured. The iron trade in its different branches rivals the woollen trade in wealth, including the casting of metal, and the manufacture of steam engines, steam wagons, steam ploughs, machinery, tools, nails, &c. Leeds was formerly famed for the production of artistic pottery, and specimens of old Leeds ware are highly prized. The industry lapsed about the end of the 18th century, but has been revived in modern times. Minor and less specialized industries are numerous.

The parliamentary borough is divided into five divisions (North, Central, South, East and West), each returning one member. The county borough was created in 1888. Leeds was raised to the rank of a city in 1893. The municipal borough is under a lord mayor (the title was conferred in 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee), 16 aldermen and 48 councillors. Area, 21,572 acres.

Leeds (Loidis, Ledes) is mentioned by Bede as the district where the Northumbrian kings had a royal vill in 627, and where Oswy, king of Northumbria, defeated Penda, king of the Mercians, in 665. Before the Norman Conquest seven thanes held it of Edward the Confessor as seven manors, but William the Conqueror granted the whole to Ilbert de Lacy, and at the time of the Domesday Survey it was held of him by Ralph Paganel, who is said to have raised Leeds castle, possibly on the site of an earlier fortification. In 1207 Maurice Paganel constituted the inhabitants of Leeds free burgesses, granting them the same liberties as Robert de Lacy had granted to Pontefract, including the right of selling burgher land to whom they pleased except to religious houses, and freedom from toll. He also appointed as the chief officer of the town a reeve who was to be chosen by the lord of the manor, the burgesses being "more eligible if only they would pay as much as others for the office." The town was incorporated by Charles I. in 1626 under the title of an alderman, 7 principal burgesses and 24 assistants. A second charter granted by Charles II. in 1661 appointed a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 assistants, and is still the governing charter of the borough. The woollen manufacture is said to have been introduced into Leeds in the 14th century, and owing to the facilities for trade afforded by its position on the river Aire soon became an important industry. Camden, writing about 1590, says, "Leeds is rendered wealthy by its woollen manufactures," and the incorporation charter of 1626 recites that "the inhabitants have for a long time exercised the art of making cloth." The cloth was then, as it is now, made in the neighbouring villages and only finished and sold in the town. A successful attempt was made in the beginning of the 19th century by Mr William Hirst to introduce goods of a superior quality which were made and finished in his own factory. Other manufacturers followed his example, but their factories are now only used for the finishing process. The worsted trade which was formerly carried on to some extent has now almost disappeared. The spinning of flax by machinery was introduced early in the 19th century by Mr John Marshall, a Holbeck manufacturer, who was one of the first to apply Sir Richard Arkwright's water frame, invented for cotton manufacture, to the spinning of linen yarn. The burgesses were represented in parliament by one member during the Commonwealth, but not again until by the Reform Act of 1832 they were allowed to return two members. In 1867 they were granted an additional member.

See James Wardell, _The Municipal History of the Borough of Leeds_ (1846); J. D. Whitaker, _Loidis and Elmete: or an Attempt to illustrate the Districts described in these words by Bede_ (1816); D. H. Atkinson, _Ralph Thoresby, the Topographer; his Town (Leeds) and Times_ (1885-1887).

LEEK, a market town in the Leek parliamentary division of Staffordshire, England, 157 m. N.W. from London, on the Churnet Valley branch of the North Staffordshire railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 15,484. The town lies high in a picturesque situation near the head of the river Churnet. The church of St Edward the Confessor is mainly Decorated, and stands in a churchyard commanding a beautiful view from an elevation of some 640 ft. There is here a curious pillar of Danish work ornately carved. An institute contains a free library, lecture hall, art gallery and school of art. A grammar school was established in 1723. In the vicinity are ruins of the Cistercian abbey De la Croix, or Dieulacresse, erected in 1214 by Ralph de Blundevill, earl of Chester. The slight remains are principally embodied in a farm-house. The silk manufacture includes sewing silk, braids, silk buttons, &c. Cloud Hill, rising to 1190 ft. W. of the town, causes a curious phenomenon in the height of summer, the sun sinking behind one flank to reappear beyond the other, and thus appearing to set twice.

Leek (Lee, Leike, Leeke) formed part of the great estates of Ælfgar, earl of Mercia; it escheated to William the Conqueror who held it at the time of the Domesday Survey. Later it passed to the earls Palatine of Chester, remaining in their hands until Ralph de Blundevill, earl of Chester, gave it to the abbey of Dieulacresse, which continued to hold it until its dissolution. The same earl in a charter which he gave to the town (_temp._ John) calls it a borough and grants to his free burgesses various privileges, including freedom from toll throughout Cheshire. These privileges were confirmed by Richard, abbot of Dieulacresse, but the town received no royal charter and failed to establish its burghal position. The Wednesday market which is still held dates from a grant of John to the earl of Chester: in the 17th century it was very considerable. A fair, also granted by John, beginning on the third day before the Translation of Edward the Confessor is still held. The silk manufacture which can be traced to the latter part of the 17th century is thought to have been aided by the settlement in Leek of some Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In the 17th and 18th centuries the town was famous for its ale. Prince Charles Edward passed through Leek on his march to Derby (1745) and again on his return journey to Scotland. A story in connexion with the Civil Wars is told to explain the expression "Now thus" occurring on the tombstone of a citizen, who by this meaningless answer to all questions sought escape on the plea of insanity.

LEEK, the _Allium Porrum_ of botanists, a plant now considered as a mere variety of _Allium Ampeloprasum_, wild leek, produced by cultivation. The plant is probably of Eastern origin, since it was commonly cultivated in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, and is so to the present day; while as regards its first appearance in England both Tusser and Gerard--two of the earliest writers on this class of subjects, the former of whom flourished in the early part and the latter in the later part of the 16th century--speak of it as being then commonly cultivated and used.[1] The Romans, it would appear, made great use of the leek for savouring their dishes, as seems proved by the number of recipes for its use referred to by Celsius. Hence it is more than probable that it was brought to England by the Romans. Italy was celebrated for leeks in the time of Pliny (_H.N._ xix. c. 6), according to whom they were brought into great esteem through the emperor Nero, derisively surnamed "Porrophagus," who used to eat them for several days in every month to clear his voice. The leek is very generally cultivated in Great Britain as an esculent, but more especially in Scotland and in Wales, being esteemed as an excellent and wholesome vegetable, with properties very similar to those of the onion, but of a milder character. In America it is not much cultivated except by market gardeners in the neighbourhood of large cities. The whole plant, with the exception of the fibrous roots, is used in soups and stews. The sheathing stalks of the leaves lap over each other, and form a thickish stem-like base, which is blanched, and is the part chiefly preferred. These blanched stems are much employed in French cookery. They form an important ingredient in Scotch winter broth, and particularly in the national dish _cock-a-leekie_, and are also largely used boiled, and served with toasted bread and white sauce, as in the case of asparagus. Leeks are sown in the spring, earlier or later according to the soil and the season, and are planted out for the summer, being dropped into holes made with a stout dibble and left unfilled in order to allow the stems space to swell. When they are thus planted deeply the holes gradually fill up, and the base of the stem becomes blanched and prepared for use, a process aided by drawing up the earth round about the stems as they elongate. The leek is one of the most useful vegetables the cottager can grow, as it will supply him with a large amount of produce during the winter and spring. It is extremely hardy, and presents no difficulty in its cultivation, the chief point, as with all succulent esculents, being that it should be grown quickly upon well-enriched soil. The plant is of biennial duration, flowering the second year, and perishing after perfecting its seeds. The leek is the national symbol or badge of the Welsh, who wear it in their hats on St David's Day. The origin of this custom has received various explanations, all of which are more or less speculative.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Tusser, in his verse for the month of March, writes:--

"Now leckes are in season, for pottage ful good, And spareth the milck cow, and purgeth the blood, These hauving with peason, for pottage in Lent, Thou spareth both otemel and bread to be spent."

LEER, a town and river port in the Prussian province of Hanover, lying in a fertile plain on the right bank of the Leda near its confluence with the Ems, and at the junction of railways to Bremen, Emden and Münster. Pop. (1905) 12,347. The streets are broad, well paved, and adorned with many elegant buildings, among which are Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and a new town hall with a tower 165 ft. high. Among its educational establishments are a classical school and a school of navigation. Linen and woollen fabrics, hosiery, paper, cigars, soap, vinegar and earthenware are manufactured, and there are iron-foundries, distilleries, tanneries and shipbuilding yards. Many markets for horses and cattle are held. The transit trade from the regions traversed by the Westphalian and Oldenburg railways is considerable. The principal exports are cattle, horses, cheese, butter, honey, wax, flour, paper, hardware and Westphalian coal. Leer is one of the principal ports for steamboat communication with the North Sea watering-places of Borkum and Norderney. Leer is a very old place, although it only obtained municipal privileges in 1823. Near the town is the Plitenberg, formerly a heathen place of sacrifice.

LEEUWARDEN, the capital of the province of Friesland, Holland, on the canal between Harlingen and Groningen, 33 m. by rail W. of Groningen. Pop (1901) 32,203. It is one of the most prosperous towns in the country. To the name of the Frisian Hague, it is entitled as well by similarity of history as by similarity of appearance. As the Hague grew up round the court of the counts of Holland, so Leeuwarden round the court of the Frisian stadtholders; and, like the Hague, it is an exceptionally clean and attractive town, with parks, pleasure grounds, and drives. The old gates have been somewhat ruthlessly cleared away, and the site of the town walls on the north and west competes with the park called the Prince's Garden as a public pleasure ground. The Prince's Garden was originally laid out by William Frederick of Nassau in 1648, and was presented to the town by King William I. in 1819. The royal palace, which was the seat of the Frisian court from 1603 to 1747, is now the residence of the royal commissioner for Friesland. It was restored in 1816 and contains a portrait gallery of the Frisian stadtholders. The fine mansion called the Kanselary was begun in 1502 as a residence for the chancellor of George of Saxony (1539), governor of Friesland, but was only completed in 1571 and served as a court house until 1811. It was restored at the end of the 19th century to contain the important provincial library and national archives. Other noteworthy buildings are the picturesque weigh-house (1595), the town hall (1715), the provincial courts (1850), and the great church of St Jacob, once the church of the Jacobins, and the largest monastic church in the Netherlands. The splendid tombs of the Frisian stadtholders buried here (Louis of Nassau, Anne of Orange, and others) were destroyed in the revolution 1795. The unfinished tower of Oldehove dates from 1529-1532. The museum of the Frisian Society is of modern foundation and contains a collection of provincial antiquities, including two rooms from Hindeloopen, an ancient village of Friesland, some 16th- and 17th-century portraits, some Frisian works in silver of the 17th and 18th centuries, and a collection of porcelain and faience.

Leeuwarden is the centre of a flourishing trade, being easily accessible from all parts of the province by road, rail and canal. The chief business is in stock of every kind, dairy and agricultural produce and fresh-water fish, a large quantity of which is exported to France. The industries include boat-building and timber yards, iron-foundries, copper and lead works, furniture, organ, tobacco and other factories, and the manufacture of gold and silver wares. The town is first mentioned in documents of the 13th century.

LEEUWENHOEK, or LEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN (1632-1723), Dutch microscopist, was born at Delft on the 24th of October 1632. For a short time he was in a merchant's office in Amsterdam, but early devoted himself to the manufacture of microscopes and to the study of the minute structure of organized bodies by their aid. He appears soon to have found that single lenses of very short focus were preferable to the compound microscopes then in use; and it is clear from the discoveries he made with these that they must have been of very excellent quality. His discoveries were for the most part made public in the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the Royal Society, to the notice of which body he was introduced by R. de Graaf in 1673, and of which he was elected a fellow in 1680. He was chosen a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1697. He died at his native place on the 26th of August 1723. Though his researches were not conducted on any definite scientific plan, his powers of careful observation enabled him to make many interesting discoveries in the minute anatomy of man, the higher animals and insects. He confirmed and extended M. Malpighi's demonstration of the blood capillaries in 1668, and six years later he gave the first accurate description of the red blood corpuscles, which he found to be circular in man but oval in frogs and fishes. In 1677 he described and illustrated the spermatozoa in dogs and other animals, though in this discovery Stephen Hamm had anticipated him by a few months; and he investigated the structure of the teeth, crystalline lens, muscle, &c. In 1680 he noticed that yeast consists of minute globular particles, and he described the different structure of the stem in monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants.