John Le, a most celebrated writer and universal scholar, born at Geneva in 1657. After he had passed through the usual course of study at Geneva, and had lost his father in 1676, he went to France in 1678; but returning the year after, he was ordained with the general applause of all his examiners. In 1682, Le Clerc visited England with a view to learning the language. He preached several times in the French churches in London, and visited several bishops and men of learning; but the smoky air of the town not agreeing with his lungs, he returned to Holland within the year, where he at length settled. He preached before a synod held at Rotterdam by the remonstrants in 1684; and was admitted professor of philosophy, polite literature, and the Hebrew tongue, in their school at Amsterdam. The remainder of his life affords nothing but the history of his works, and of the controversies he was engaged in; but these would lead into too extensive a detail. He continued to read regular lectures; and because there was no single author full enough for his purpose, he drew up and published his Logic, Ontology, Pneumatology, and Natural Philosophy. He published Ars Critica; a Commentary on the Old Testament; a Compendium of Universal History; an Ecclesiastical History of the two first Centuries; a French Translation of the New Testament, &c. In 1686, he began, jointly with M. de Crofe, his Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique, in imitation of other literary journals; which was continued to the year 1693 inclusive, in 26 vols. In 1703, he began his Bibliothèque Choise, and continued it to 1714, and then commenced another work on the same plan, called Bibliothèque Ancienne et Moderne, which he continued to the year 1728; all of them justly deemed excellent stores of useful knowledge. In 1728 he was seized with a palsy and fever; and after spending the last six years of his life with little or no understanding, died in 1736.

John Le, called Chevalier, an eminent historical painter, was born at Nancy in 1587, but studied in Italy, where he resided for 20 years; and was a disciple of Carlo Venetiano, with whom he worked a long time, and whose style he so effectually studied and imitated, that several of the pictures which were finished by Le Clerc were taken for the work of Venetiano. He was most highly esteemed at Venice for his extraordinary merit; and as a token of public respect, he was made a knight of St Mark. His freedom of hand was remarkable; he had a light pencil; and in his colouring he resembled his master, He died in 1633.

Sebastian le; engraver, and designer in ordinary to the French king, was born at Metz in 1637. After having learnt designing, he applied himself to mathematics, and was engineer to the marthal de la Ferté. He went to Paris in 1665, where he applied himself to designing and engraving with such success, that M. Colbert gave him a pension of 600 crowns. In 1672 he was admitted into the royal academy of painting and sculpture; and in 1680 was made professor of geometry and perspective in the same academy. He published, besides a great number of designs and prints, 1. A Treatise on theoretical and practical Geometry. 2. A Treatise on Architecture; and other works: and died in 1714.—He was an excellent artist, but chiefly in the petit style. His genius seldom exceeds the dimensions of six inches. Within those limits he could draw up 20,000 men with great dexterity. No artist except Callot and Della Bella could touch a small figure with so much spirit. His most esteemed prints are: 1. The passion of our Saviour, on 36 small plates, lengthwise, from his own compositions. The best impressions are without the borders. 2. The miracle of the feeding five thousand, a middling sized plate, lengthwise. In the first impressions, which are very rare, a town appears in the back-ground; in place of which a mountain is substituted in the common ones. 3. The elevation of the large stones used in building the front of the Louvre, a large plate, lengthwise. The first impressions are without the date 1677, which was afterwards added. 4. The academy of the sciences, a middling sized plate, lengthwise. The first impressions are before the skeleton of the stag and tortoise were added. The second impressions are before the shadow was enlarged at the bottom, towards the right-hand side of the print. Both these impressions are very scarce. The fifth is rarely met with. This print was copied for Chambers's Dictionary. 5. The May of the Gobelins, a middle-sized plate, lengthwise. The first impression is before the woman was introduced, who covers the wheel of the coach. 6. The four conquests, large plates, lengthwise, representing the taking of Tournay, the taking of Douay, the defeat of the comte de Marfin, and the Switzerland alliance. 7. The battles of Alexander, from Le Brun, six small long plates, including the title, which represents the picture gallery at the Gobelins. The first impressions of the tent of Darius, which plate makes part of this set, is distinguished by the shoulder of the woman, who is seated in the front, being without the shadow, which was afterwards added; for which reason they are called the prints with the naked shoulder. 8. The entry of Alexander into Babylon, a middle-sized plate, lengthwise. In the first impressions, the face of Alexander is seen in profile; in the second, it is a three-quarter face, and therefore called the print with the head turned.

George le. See BUFFON.