494 L E W L E Y
published in 1804, and has since been reprinted; next to The Monk it is the work connected with the name of Lewis which has been most extensively read. By the death of his father he succeeded to a large fortune, and in 1815 embarked for the West Indies to visit his estates; in the course of this tour, which lasted four months, the Journal of a West Indian Proprietor, published posthumously in 1833, was written. A second visit to Jamaica was undertaken in 1817, in order that he might become further acquainted with, and able to ameliorate, the condition of the slave population; but the fatigues to which he exposed himself in the tropical climate brought on a fever which terminated fatally on the homeward voyage, May 14, 1818. The Life and Correspondence of M. G. Lewis, in two volumes, was published anonymously in 1839; compiled by friendly hands, it makes it sufficiently plain that, whatever may have been the errors of judgment and taste displayed in the writings of his precocious youth, he was nevertheless a man of more than ordinary discretion, good feeling, and generosity.
LEWIS, Meriwether (1774-1809), American ex plorer, was born near Charlottesville, Virginia, August 18, 1774. In 1794 he volunteered with the troops called out to suppress the "whisky insurrection," was commis sioned as ensign in the regular army in 1795, and as captain in 1800, and was President Jefferson's private secretary from 1801 to 1803. On Jefferson's recom mendation he was appointed by Congress to conduct, in connexion with Captain William Clarke, an expedition to the headwaters of the Missouri river, and thence across the mountains to the Pacific Ocean – the first extended exploration of the north-western portion of the United States. The States had as yet acquired no claim to this region, and the exploration was designed by Jefferson in the interests not only of geographical science but of territorial acquisition. Lewis and Clarke, setting out late in 1803 with twenty-eight men, spent the winter at the mouth of the Missouri. Early in the spring the party embarked in several boats, and during the summer made the difficult ascent of the Missouri as far as 47 21 N. lat., where the second winter was passed among the Mandan Indians. In 1805 the ascent of the Missouri was continued as far as the tributary which they named Jefferson river, which was followed to its source in the south-western part of what is now Montana territory. Procuring a guide and horses from the Shoshone Indians, they pushed westward through the mountains, and on October 7 embarked in canoes on a tributary of the Columbia river, the mouth of which they reached on November 15. They had travelled upwards of 4000 miles from their starting point, had en countered various Indian tribes never before seen by whites, had made scientific collections and observations, and were the first explorers to reach the Pacific by crossing the conti nent north of Mexico. After spending the winter upon the Columbia, they made the return journey across the moun tains and down the Missouri, reaching the Mississippi in September 1806. The reports of the Lewis and Clarke expedition attracted great attention at the time, and it has scarcely been exceeded in romantic interest by later explora tions in any quarter of the globe. The leaders and men of the exploring party were rewarded with liberal grants of land, and Lewis was made governor of the territory of Mis souri. In the unwonted quiet of his new duties his mind, always subject to melancholy, became unbalanced, and, while on his way to Washington, he committed suicide near Nashville, Tennessee, October 11, 1809.
Jefferson wrote a memoir of Lewis, published in 1814 in connexion with Biddle and Allen's Narrative of the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. A new edition by M'Vickar was published at New York in 1843.
LEWISTON, a city of the United States, in Androscoggin county, Maine, is situated 36 miles north of Portland, on the left bank of the Androscoggin, and is connected by several bridges with Auburn, a city of 9556 inhabitants, and the capital of the county. As the river at this point breaks over a ledge of mica schist and gneiss, and the natural fall of 40 feet has been raised to 50 feet by a strong granite dam, Lewiston commands an abundant supply of water-power. Cotton and woollen goods (shirtings, sheetings, cassimeres, beavers, tweeds, cloakings), twine, boots and shoes, machinery, &c., are produced to the annual value of $11,000,000 – there being nine considerable manufacturing corporations in the city besides the Franklin Company, which owns the entire water-power. The city hall (1872) is a very fine building; and a public library (over 6000 volumes in 1880) was founded by the corporation in 1861. Bates College, founded by the Free Baptists in 1863-64, and named in honour of Benjamin F. Bates of Boston, possessed in 1880 11 professors, 161 students, and a library of 5537 volumes.
Lewiston dates from 1770. In 1 795 it was incorporated as a town, and in 1861 as a city. The population was 3584 in 1850, 7424 in 1860, 13,600 in 1870, and 19,083 in 1880.
LEXINGTON, capital of Fayette county, Kentucky, is situated near the centre of the State, in the midst of a table-land 1100 feet above the sea, known as the Blue Grass region. It stands on a small subtributary of the Kentucky river, 79 miles south of Cincinnati, and 94 miles east by south of Louisville. The population (3584 in 1850, 7424 in 1860, and 13,600 in 1874) in 1880 was 16,656, including about 8000 negroes. Lexington is an important railway junction, has an extensive trade, and manufactures whisky, flour, bagging, ropes, carriages, and machinery. Two railroads, completed in 1882, give access to the mountainous eastern region of the State, from which iron, coal, and timber are obtained in abundance. The surrounding district is characterized at once by beauty and fertility, and the town has been laid out in a spacious and attractive style. It is the seat of the State university (chartered in 1858, originally opened at Harrodsburg in in 1859, and removed to Lexington and incorporated with the Transylvania university in 1865), the State agricultural college, and one of the State lunatic asylums (625 patients). Besides the university library, there is a public library of 15,000 volumes.
Lexington was founded by Colonel Robert Patterson in 1775, and received its name in honour of the first contest in the war of American independence, fought in April of that year at Lexington, Middlesex county, Massachusetts.
Lexington in Kentucky must not be confounded with (1) Lexington, the capital of Lafayette county, Missouri, with a population in 1880 of 3996; or (2) Lexington, capital of Rockbridge county, Virginia, a place of 2771 inhabitants, and the seat of the Washington and Lee university (founded in 1749; professors in 1880, 9; students, 300; library, 15,000 volumes), and of the Virginia military institute, founded in 1839, under the patronage of the State, with 12 professors and 300 students.
LEYDEN, or Leiden, a city of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, about 20 miles south-west of Amsterdam, and 6 miles inland from the German Ocean. The Old Rhine, on which it is situated, enters at the eastern side by two arms which unite near the middle of the town so as to divide the western half into two nearly equal portions. Though the boundaries, which now include about 467 acres, have been six times extended, the general shape is wonderfully regular, nor is regularity wanting in the interior arrangement of the quiet respectable town with its canals and moats, its broad streets, and lifeless squares. The pensive and even melancholy impression which it seems sometimes to produce on the stranger is easily explained. Leyden is par excellence an academic city; the bustle of its great markets for cattle and dairy produce is
