a town in Cornwall, seated in a plain. Leslie, John, bishop of Rothes in Scotland, the son of Gavin Leslie an eminent lawyer, was born in the year 1526, and educated at the university of Aberdeen; of which diocese he was made official, when but a youth. He was soon after created doctor of civil and canon law; but being peculiarly addicted to the study of divinity, he took orders, and became parson of Ure. When the Reformation began to spread in Scotland, and disputes about religion ran high, Dr Leslie, in 1560, distinguished himself at Edinburgh as a principal advocate for the Roman church, and was afterwards deputed by the chief nobility of that religion to console with Queen Mary on the death of her husband the king of France, and to invite her to return to her native dominions. Accordingly, after a short residence with her majesty, they embarked together at Calais in 1561, and landed at Leith. She immediately made him one of her privy council, and a senator of the college of justice. In 1564, he was made abbot of Lindores; and on the death of Sinclair was promoted to the bishopric of Rothes. These accumulated honours he wished not to enjoy in luxurious indolence. The influence derived from them, he exerted to the prosperity of his country. It is to him that Scotland is indebted for the publication of its laws, commonly called "The black acts of parliament," from the Saxon character in which they were printed. At his most earnest desire, the revision and collection of them were committed to the great officers of the crown. In 1568, Queen Mary having fled to England for refuge, and being there detained a prisoner, Queen Elizabeth appointed certain commissioners at York to examine into the cause of the dispute between Mary and her subjects. These commissioners were met by others from the queen of Scots. The bishop of Rothes was of the number, and pleaded the cause of his royal mistress with great energy, though without success; Elizabeth had no intention to release her. Mary, disappointed in her expectations from the conference at York, sent the bishop of Rothes ambassador to Elizabeth, who paid little attention to his complaints. He then began to negotiate a marriage between his royal mistress and the duke of Norfolk; which negotiation, it is well known, proved fatal to the duke, and was the cause of Leslie's being sent to the Tower. In 1573 he was banished the kingdom, and retired to Holland. The two following years he spent in fruitless endeavours to engage the powers of Europe to espouse the cause of his queen. His last application was to the pope; but the power of the heretic Elizabeth had no less weight with his holiness than with the other Roman Catholic princes of Europe. Finding all his personal applications ineffectual, he had recourse to his pen in Queen Mary's vindication; but Elizabeth's ultima ratio regum was too potent for all his arguments. Bishop Leslie, during his exile, was made coadjutor to the archbishop of Rouen. He was at Brussels when he received the account of Queen Mary's execution; and immediately retired to the convent of Guiterberg near that city, where he died in the year 1596. It was during the long and unfortunate captivity of Mary, that he amused himself in writing the History of Scotland, and his other works. The elegance and charms of literary occupations served to assuage the violence of his woes. His knowledge and judgment as an historian are equally to be commended. Where he acts as the transcriber of Boece, there may be distinguished, indeed, some of the inaccuracies of that writer. But, when he speaks in his own person, he has a manliness, a candour, and a moderation, which appear not always even in authors of the Protestant persuasion. His works are, 1. Affliction animi consolationes, &c., composed for the consolation of the captive queen. 2. De origine, moribus, et gestis Scothorum. 3. De titulo et jure serenissime Mariae Scothorum reginae, quo regni Anglicae successionem fidei jus vindicat. 4. Parænœs ad Anglos et Scothos. 5. De illuftris familiae regum Elizabetham pro libertate impetranda. 6. Parænœs ad nobilitatem populique Scothicum. An account of his proceedings during his embassy in England from 1568 to 1572; manuscript, Cxon. 9. Apology for the bishop of Rothes, concerning the duke of Norfolk; manuscript, Oxon. 10. Several letters, manuscript.

Leslie, Charles, a learned divine of Ireland, the time and place of whose birth is uncertain. He was educated at Inniskilling; and in 1664, was created fellow of Trinity-college, Dublin, where he continued till he became A.M. At the decease of his father he came over to England, and entered himself in the Temple at London. The study of the law very soon disgusted him, and he turned all his attention to theology, being admitted into holy orders in 1680. In 1687, he was chosen chancellor of the church and diocese of Connor, at which time he made himself extremely unpopular by his determined opposition to the tenets of the church of Rome. He imbibed the absurd and pernicious doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance, by which his judgment was so much baffled, that he refused to take the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary, at the revolution.

He was a strenuous champion for the cause of the nonjurors, in defence of which he published a work in 1692, being an answer to The State of Protestants in Ireland under the late King James's Government, written by Archbishop King. He also wrote a paper called the Rehearsal, originally published once a week, and afterwards twice, in a folio half-sheet, consisting of a dialogue on the affairs of the times. It lasted during They were afterwards collected and published by an eminent writer, who observes that he pursues a thread of argument in them all, against the lawfulness of reliance in any case whatever, deriving the source of government wholly from God. He wrote against the Deists, Jews, Papists, and Socinians, all of which he collected together, and published in two volumes folio, with the exception of a very illiberal piece against the learned and pious Dr Tillotson.

The frequent visits which he paid to the courts of St Germain and Bar-le-Duc, made him obnoxious to the British government, which was increased by his "Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Affirmed," of which he was the reputed author. He was sent to Bar-le-Duc by some gentlemen of eminence, to attempt to convert the son of James II. to the Protestant religion, who wished to see him settled on the throne. At Bar-le-Duc he was permitted to discharge the duties of the sacristy office, according to the forms of the church of England, where he endeavoured, but in vain, to convert the Pretender. It is the opinion of Lord Bolingbroke, that he was ill used by the Pretender, who not only refused to hear him himself, but sheltered the ignorance of his priests behind his authority, and prohibited all discourse concerning religion.

At the close of the reign of Queen Anne, when the partizans of the Pretender were anxious to promote his interest in England, Mr Leslie wrote a letter from Bar-le-Duc, in which he dwelt at large on the graceful men of the Pretender, his magnanimity of spirit, devotion free from bigotry, application to business, ready apprehension, sound judgment, and affability, so that none conversed with him, who were not charmed with his good sense and temper. In 1715, a rash and ill digested enterprise took place in Scotland and in the northern parts of England, in favour of the Pretender, which ultimately terminated in the dispersion of the rebels; this obliged him to quit France, and retire to Italy, whither Mr Leslie followed him, and remained in that country till the year 1721. He met with so many difficulties and disappointments at this time, that he determined to return and die in his native country. Some of his friends acquainted Lord Sunderland with his resolution, who generously promised to protect him from the interference of government. On the arrival of Mr Leslie in England, a member of the house of commons waited upon his lordship with the news; but we are happy to inform our readers that he had no great reason to boast of his reception. On Mr Leslie's return to Ireland, he died in 1722, in the month of April, at his own house, in the county of Monaghan.

He was undoubtedly a man of great merit and extensive erudition, distinguished by his piety, humility, and integrity, among whose works are some masterly defences of the Christian religion, against Deists and Jews, and of Protestant faith against that of the church of Rome. His opinions were rather singular respecting church government, but it must be allowed that he defended them with great ability and acuteness.