a famous English antiquary, was born in London, towards the close of the reign of Henry VII. An orphan at a very early age, he was befriended by a Mr Thomas Myles, who placed him at St Paul's School, under Lily, the famous grammarian. He studied first at Christ's College, Cambridge; and a few years afterwards at All Souls' College, Oxford. After residing for some time in Paris, to increase his acquaintance with Latin and Greek, and to acquire French, Italian, and Spanish, he returned to England, and, entering into holy orders, became chaplain to Henry VIII., who appointed him, in 1530, to the rectory of Popeling, in the marches of Calais, made him his librarian, and in 1533 honoured him with the title of the king's antiquary. By a commission given along with this title, he was empowered to search for all records, manuscripts, and relics of antiquity, in the cathedrals, colleges, abbeys, and priories throughout England. Accordingly, being allowed by a special dispensation to supply his place at Popeling with a curate, he set out on a tour which lasted six years, and afforded him ample and varied materials for study during the remainder of his life. On his return in 1542, he was rewarded by the king with the rectory of Haseley in Oxfordshire; in 1543 he was presented to a canonry in King's College (now Christ's Church), Cambridge, and about the same time to the prebend of East and West Knowle in the Cathedral of Sarum. Leland now withdrew to his house in the parish of St Michael le Querne, London, and devoted himself exclusively to the digesting of his information. Shortly after the death of Henry VIII., in 1547, he fell into a state of insanity, which continued until his death on the 18th April 1552. Some of Leland's papers, after passing through several hands, were deposited by Burton, the historian of Leicestershire, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford in 1632. Others came into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, and are now, along with the rest of his books, in the British Museum. Leland gained additional fame in his own day as a linguist and a poet. His principal works are,—A Newe Yeare's Gift to King Henry VIII., in the 37 yeare of his Roygne, Lond. 1549; Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis, edited by Anthony Hall, Oxon., 1709, 2 vols. 8vo; The Itinerary, published by Thomas Hearne, Oxford, 1710-12, 9 vols. 8vo, and reprinted in 1770; and De Rebus Britannicis Collectanea, edited by Hearne, Oxon., 1715, 8vo, and reprinted at London in 1770.

Leland, John, D.D., an eminent Christian apologist, was born at Wigan, Lancashire, in 1691; but soon afterwards removed, along with his family, to Dublin. At an early age, he was appointed minister of a congregation of Presbyterian Dissenters in Dublin. He received the degree of D.D. from the University of Aberdeen. In 1733 he published a pamphlet in reply to Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation. In 1737 he answered The Moral Philosopher of Dr Thomas Morgan; and in 1742 Dodwell's Christianity not founded upon Argument. His remarks on Bolingbroke's Letters on History appeared in 1753. In the following year, his calm scrutiny of objections, his learning, and solidity of argument, were shown to advantage in his View of the Principal Deistical Writers that have appeared in England. Towards the close of his life he wrote an elaborate treatise on The Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, shown from the state of Religion in the ancient Heathen World. Leland died in 1766, leaving behind him a reputation for charity and candour, unembittered by a long life of controversy and dispute.

Leland, Thomas, the translator of Demosthenes, was born at Dublin in 1722. Entering the university of that city as a pensioner of Trinity College in 1737 he was elected a scholar in 1741, and a fellow in 1746. In 1763 he was nominated professor of poetry. In 1768 the Lord Lieutenant appointed him his chaplain, a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral, and vicar of Bray. In this new capacity, his energetic and perspicuous eloquence soon rendered him the most admired preacher in Dublin. He died in 1785.

His works are—Translation of Demosthenes, London, 1777; History of the Life and Reign of Philip of Macedon, London, 1805; A Dissertation on the Principles of Human Eloquence, London, 1764; Sermons, 3 vols., Dublin, 1788; and History of Ireland, London, 1773.