LELAND, John, an eminent English antiquarian, was born in London about the year 1507. Having lost his parents when a child, he had the good fortune to find a friend and patron in a Mr Thomas Myles, who placed him in St Paul’s school, of which the grammarian William Lilly was master. From that school he was sent to Christ’s College, Cambridge, whence, after some years’ residence, he removed to All Souls, Oxford. From Oxford he went to Paris, chiefly with a design to study the Greek language, which at that time was but little understood in this kingdom. Upon his return to England he took orders, and was soon afterwards appointed chaplain to King Henry VIII., who also gave him the rectory of Poppeling, in the marches of Calais; appointed him his librarian; and in 1533 granted to him, by commission under the great seal, the office of king’s antiquary, an office never borne by any other person before or since. By this commission he was empowered to search for ancient writings in all the libraries of abbeys, priories, colleges, cathedrals, and places where “records, writings, and secrets of antiquity were reposited” in his majesty’s dominions. We are informed by one of his biographers, that he renounced popery soon after his return to England; but no authority is quoted for his statement. Be this as it may, in 1536 he obtained a dispensation to keep a curate at Poppeling, and set out on his journey in quest of antiquities. In this employment he spent six years, during which time he visited every part of England where monuments of antiquity were expected to be found. After his return, in the year 1542, he was presented by the king to the rich rectory of Haseley in Oxfordshire; and in the following year Henry gave him a prebend of King’s College, now Christ’s Church, Oxford, besides that of East and West Knowle, in the cathedral of Salisbury. Being thus amply provided for, he retired to a house of his own in the parish of St Michael le Querne in London, where he spent six years more in digesting the materials which he had collected. Henry VIII. died in 1547; and in a short time afterwards poor Leland appears to have lost his senses. He was at first seized with a deep melancholy, which was succeeded by a total deprivation of reason. In this lamentable state he continued till the beginning of the year 1552, when he was happily released by death. He was buried in the church of St Michael le Querne, which was destroyed by the fire in 1666. Leland was a man of great learning, an accomplished linguist, and an indefatigable and skilful antiquarian. Upon his death, Edward VI. gave all Leland’s papers to Sir John Cheke, his tutor, and Latin secretary of state. When this king died, Sir John, being obliged to leave the kingdom, gave to Mr Humphrey Purefoy four folio volumes of Leland’s collections, which, in 1612, were transferred by his son to William Burton, author of the history of Leicestershire. This gentleman also became possessed of the Itinerary in eight vols. folio, which, in 1632, he deposited in the Bodleian Library. After the death of Sir John Cheke, many other of Leland’s manuscripts fell into the hands of Lord Paget, Sir William Cecil, and others, and at last fortunately came into the possession of Sir John Cotton. These were of great use to all our succeeding antiquarians, particularly Camden, Dugdale, Stowe, Lambard, Batteley, and Antony Wood. His Itinerary throughout most parts of England and Wales was published by Mr Hearne, in nine vols. 8vo, 1710-1711; as was also his Collectanea de Rebus Britannicis, six vols. 8vo, 1715.

Leland, John, a distinguished writer in defence of the Christian religion, was born at Wigan, Lancashire, in 1691, and descended of eminently pious and virtuous parents, who took the earliest care to season his mind with proper instructions. But, in his sixth year, the small-pox deprived him of his understanding and memory, and expunged ail his former ideas. He continued in this deplorable state [7:13:225]near twelve months, when his faculties seemed to spring up anew; and though he did not retain the least traces of any impressions made on him before the distemper, yet he now discovered a quick apprehension and strong memory. In a few years afterwards his parents settled in Dublin. When he was properly qualified by years and study, he was called to officiate as pastor to a congregation of Protestant dissenters in that city. He was an able and acceptable preacher, but his labours were not confined to the pulpit. The many attacks made on Christianity, and by some writers of no contemptible abilities, induced him to consider the subject with the greatest care, and the most faithful examination. Upon the most deliberate inquiry, the truth and divine original, as well as the excellence and importance, of Christianity, appeared to him so clear and certain, that he published answers to several authors who appeared successively in that cause. He was indeed a master in this controversy; and his View of the Deistical Writers that have appeared in England, is very greatly and deservedly esteemed. In the decline of life he published another laborious,work on the Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, shown from the State of Religion in the ancient Heathen World, especially with respect to the Knowledge and Worship of the one true God, in two vols. 4to. This noble and extensive subject, the several parts of which have been slightly and occasionally handled by other writers, Leland treated at large with the greatest care, accuracy, and candour. In his View of the Deistical Writers, his cool and dispassionate manner of treating their arguments, and his solid confutation of them, have contributed much more to depress the cause of infidelity than the angry zeal of intemperate disputants. Besides his learning and abilities, his amiable temper, great modesty, and exemplary life, recommended his memory to general esteem and affection. He died in 1766.