window was saved. In the vaults repose Sir Robert and other
Logans, besides several of the lords Balmerino, and Lord Brougham’s
father lies in the kirkyard. The well of St Triduana, which was
reputed to possess wonderful curative powers, vanished when the
North British railway was constructed.
LEITMERITZ (Czech, Litoměřice), a town and episcopal see of
Bohemia, 45 m. N. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 13,075, mostly
German. It lies on the right bank of the Elbe, which becomes
here navigable for steamers and is spanned by an iron bridge
1700 ft. in length. The fine cathedral, founded in 1057, was
built in 1671 and contains some valuable paintings. The library
of the episcopal palace, built between 1694 and 1701, possesses the
oldest maps of Bohemia made in 1518 by Nicolaus Claudianus
of Jung-Bunzlau. Of the other churches that of All Saints dates
from the 13th century. The town-hall, with its remarkable
bell tower, dates from the 15th century. Leitmeritz is situated in
the midst of a very fertile country, called the “Bohemian
Paradise,” which produces great quantities of corn, fruit, hops
and wines. The beer brewed here enjoys a high reputation.
On the opposite bank of the river, where the Eger discharges
itself into the Elbe, lies Theresienstadt (pop. 7046), an important
garrison town. It was formerly an important fortress, erected
in 1780 by the emperor Joseph II. and named after his mother
Maria Theresa, but the fortress was dismantled in 1882.
Leitmeritz was originally the castle of a royal count and is first mentioned, in 993, in the foundation charter of the convent of St Margaret near Prague. In 1248 it received a town charter, and was governed by the laws of Magdeburg until the time of Ferdinand I., having a special court of jurisdiction over all the royal towns where this law obtained. The town reached its highest degree of prosperity under Charles IV., who bestowed upon it large tracts of forest, agricultural land and vineyards. In the Hussite wars, after its capture by the utraquist, Leitmeritz remained true to “the Chalice,” shared also in the revolt against Ferdinand I., and suffered in consequence. It was still more unfortunate during the Thirty Years’ War, in the course of which most of the Protestant inhabitants left it; the property of the Bohemian refugees being given to German immigrants. The present bishopric was established in 1655.
LEITNER, GOTTLIEB WILHELM (1840–1899), Anglo-Hungarian
orientalist, was born at Budapest in 1840. He was the son
of a physician, and was educated at Malta Protestant college.
At the age of fifteen he acted as an interpreter in the Crimean
War. He entered King’s College, London, in 1858, and in
1861 was appointed professor of Arabic and Mahommedan law.
He became principal of the government college at Lahore in
1864, and there originated the term “Dardistan” for a portion
of the mountains on the north-west frontier, which was subsequently
recognized to be a purely artificial distinction. He
collected much valuable information on Graeco-Buddhist art
and the origins of Indian art. He spoke, read and wrote twenty-five
languages. He founded an oriental institute at Woking,
and for some years edited the Asiatic Quarterly Review. He died
at Bonn in 1899.
See J. H. Stocqueler, Life and Labours of Dr Leitner (1875).
LEITRIM, a county of Ireland in the province of Connaught,
bounded N.W. by Donegal Bay, N.E. by Fermanagh, E. by
Cavan, S.E. by Longford, S.W. by Roscommon and W. by
Sligo. The area is 392,381 acres, or about 613 sq. m. The
northern portion of the county consists of an elevated tableland,
of which the highest summits belong to the Truskmore Hills,
reaching 1712 ft.; with Benbo, 1365 ft. and Lackagh, 1446 ft.
In the southern part the country is comparatively level, and
is generally richly wooded. The county touches the south coast
of Donegal Bay, but the coast-line is only about 3 m. The
principal river is the Shannon, which, issuing from Lough Allen,
forms the south-western boundary of the county with Roscommon.
The Bonnet rises in the north-west and flows to Lough
Gill, and the streams of Drones and Duff separate Leitrim from
Donegal and Sligo. Besides Lough Allen, which has an area of
8900 acres, the other principal lakes in the county are Lough
Macnean, Lough Scur, Lough Garadice and Lough Melvin.
The scenery of the north is wild and attractive, while in the
neighbourhood of the Shannon it is of great beauty. Lough
Melvin and the coast rivers afford rod fishing, the lough being
noted for its gillaroo trout.
This varied county has in general a floor of Carboniferous Limestone, which forms finely scarped hills as it reaches the sea in Donegal Bay. The underlying sandstone appears at Lough Melvin, and again on the margin of a Silurian area in the extreme south. The Upper Carboniferous series, dipping gently southward, form mountainous country round Lough Allen, where the name of Slieve Anierin records the abundance of clay-ironstone beneath the coal seams. The sandstones and shales of this series scarp boldly towards the valley of the Bonnet, across which rises, in picturesque contrast, the heather-clad ridge of ancient gneiss which forms, in Benbo, the north-east end of the Ox Mountains. The ironstone was smelted in the upland at Creevelea down to 1859, and the coal is worked in a few thin seams.
The climate is moist and unsuitable for grain crops. On the higher districts the soil is stiff and cold, and, though abounding in stones, retentive of moisture, but in the valleys there are some fertile districts. Lime, marl and similar manures are abundant, and on the coast seaweed is plentiful. The proportion of tillage to pasture is roughly as 1 to 3. Potatoes are grown, but oats, the principal grain crop, are scanty. The live stock consists chiefly of cattle, pigs and poultry. Coarse linens for domestic purposes are manufactured and coarse pottery is also made. The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties railway, connecting Sligo with Enniskillen, crosses the northern part of the county, by way of Manor Hamilton; the Mullingar and Sligo line of the Midland Great Western touches the south-western boundary of the county, with a station at Carrick-on-Shannon; while connecting with this line at Dromod is the Cavan and Leitrim railway to Ballinamore and Arigna, and to Belturbet in county Cavan.
The population (78,618 in 1891; 69,343 in 1901) decreases owing to emigration, the decrease being one of the most serious shown by any Irish county. It includes nearly 90% of Roman Catholics. The only towns are Carrick-on-Shannon (pop. 1118) and Manor Hamilton (993). The county is divided into five baronies. It is within the Connaught circuit, and assizes are held at Carrick-on-Shannon, and quarter sessions at Ballinamore, Carrick-on-Shannon and Manor Hamilton. It is in the Protestant diocese of Kilmore, and the Roman Catholic dioceses of Ardagh and Kilmore. In the Irish House of Commons two members were returned for the county and two for the boroughs of Carrick-on-Shannon and Jamestown, but at the Union the boroughs were disfranchised. The county divisions are termed the North and South, each returning one member.
With the territory which afterwards became the county Cavan, Leitrim formed part of Brenny or Breffny, which was divided into two principalities, of which Leitrim, under the name of Hy Bruin-Brenny, formed the western. Being for a long time in the possession of the O’Rourkes, descendants of Roderick, king of Ireland, it was also called Brenny O’Rourke. This family long maintained its independence; even in 1579, when the other existing counties of Connaught were created, the creation of Leitrim was deferred, and did not take place until 1583. Large confiscations were made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., in the Cromwellian period, and after the Revolution of 1688.
There are “druidical” remains near Fenagh and at Letterfyan, and important monastic ruins at Creevelea near the Bonnet, with several antique monuments, and in the parish of Fenagh. There was a flourishing Franciscan friary at Jamestown. The abbeys of Mohill, Annaduff and Drumlease are converted into parish churches. Among the more notable old castles are Manor Hamilton Castle, originally very extensive, but now in ruins, and Castle John on an island in Lough Scur. There is a small village named Leitrim about 4 m. N. of Carrick-on-Shannon, which was once of enough importance to give its name to a barony and to the county, and is said to have been the seat of an early bishopric.
LEIXÕES, a seaport and harbour of refuge of northern
Portugal; in 41° 9′ 10″ N., 8° 40′ 35″ W., 3 m. N. of the mouth
of the Douro. Leixões is included in the parish of Matozinhos
(pop. 1900, 7690) and constitutes the main port of the city of
