LEOPARDI, GIACOMO, modern Italian poet, born near Ancona; a
precocious genius; an omnivorous reader as a boy, and devoted to
literature; of a weakly constitution, he became a confirmed invalid, and
died suddenly; had sceptical leanings; wrote lyrics inspired by a certain
sombre melancholy (1788-1837).

LEOPOLD I., king of the Belgians, son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg; in
his youth served in the Russian army; visited England in 1815, and
married Princess Charlotte, who died two years later; he declined the
throne of Greece in 1830, but accepted that of the Belgians in 1831, and
proved a wise, firm, constitutional sovereign; in 1832 he married the
French princess Louise; he was succeeded by his son Leopold II.
(1790-1865).

LEOPOLD II., king of the Belgians, born at Brussels, son and
successor of Leopold I.; has travelled much in Europe and Asia Minor;
founded, and is now ruler of, the Congo Free State; married in 1853 the
Archduchess Maria of Austria, by whom he has had three daughters; _b_.
1835.

LEPSIUS, KARL RICHARD, a celebrated Egyptologist, born in Prussian
Saxony; took at first to the study of philology under Bopp, but early
devoted himself to the study of the antiquities of Egypt; headed in 1842
an expedition of research among the monuments under the king of Prussia,
which occupied five years, and was fertile in important results, among
others the production of a work in 12 vols. on the subject entitled
"Denkmaeleraus Egypten und Ethiopien," issued between 1849 and 1860; he
was the author also of works on philology (1810-1884).

LERNAEAN HYDRA, a monster with nine heads, one of them immortal, that
infested a swamp near Lernae, and which Hercules was required to slay as
one of his twelve labours, only as often as he cut off one head two grew
on, but with the assistance of Iolcus his servant he singed off the eight
mortal ones, cut down the ninth, and buried it under a huge rock.

LERWICK (31), the capital of Shetland, on the E. of Mainland;
fishing and knitting the chief industries.

LE SAGE, ALAIN RENE, French dramatist and novelist, born at Sarzeau,
in Brittany; educated at a Jesuit school at Vannes; went to Paris in
1692; studied the Spanish language and literature, and produced
translations of Spanish works and imitations; some of his dramas attained
great popularity, and one in particular, the "Turcaret," a satire on the
time generally, and not merely, as represented, on financiers of th