FAMILY NAMES among the early Saxons, and subsequently among the Anglo-Saxons, it is well known, were derived or adopted from trades, callings, professions, names of places, moral and physical excellencies or deformities, acts performed, places resident, or from terminal affixes to parental designations. English literature abounds in this species of etymology, a copious list of which may be found in "Harrison's Rise and Progress of the English Language."
The name LELAND, variously written previously to the reign of George II., may owe its origin to the locality occupied by the family in England, or to the original Saxon or Norman district whence the family took its rise. It is stated by one eminent biographical writer, that a district of country in England gave name to the family. This may be true, or the reverse may be the true hypothesis, viz: that the family gave name to the district. The strip of territory, denominated Leyland on most full maps of the Island of Great Britain, one of which is inserted in "McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary," gives color to either supposition. Leyland as applied to a portion of country, is a description of the uses to which it is devoted, taking the etymology of the word in the sense used by the early Anglo-Saxons. The words, Lee, Leigh, Lea, Ley, Lye, though orthographically different, have all the same signification, and denote a pasture; and united with the last syllable of the name is often found written lond or londe, this being the mode of spelling the word land during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as may be seen by consulting the speech of William Thirnyng to Richard II., at the Tower of London, as given by Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chief Justices.
The same name is somewhat common in France, slightly varied in its orthography to suit the genus of that beautiful language. It is there written Lalande, the article La being substituted for Le or Ley, the noun following being feminine, and the e final added in accordance with the grammatical structure of that tongue.
The orthography of the English language was in an unsettled state so late even as the time of Dr. Johnson, and the names of persons, as well as of things were, in the absence of any recognized standard of authority, written according to the ear of the writer, and the unestablished value attached to the symbols used. Words were laden down with diphthongs, double consonants, and silent letters, without rule and without reason. During this state of learning the name, now universally written Leland, is found in books and ancient documents written Leyland, Lealand, Leeland, Layland, and Leylonde, nor is this, by any means, a singular instance of diversity: Campbell gives numerous instances in which the names of well known persons in England, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, exhibit from five to twenty variations in their orthography.
The earliest of our name, historically known to the writer, is John Leland, born at London about the year 1512. He flourished in the reign of Henry VIII,. and was one of the most accomplished scholars, and voluminous writers of the sixteenth century. In looking over a catalogue of his works, their vast variety and extent, one is astonished that a man dying at the age of about forty, could have accomplished so much. His education commenced under the famous William Lily, at St. Paul's, and was subsequently continued at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow. His academic course was finally completed at All Soul's College, Oxford. Contemporary and subsequent history pronounce him one of the most accomplished linguists of his age. He spoke and wrote the Latin, Greek, Saxon and Welsh, with the facility and correctness of natives of those countries.
On leaving Oxford, he went to Paris, at which city, and on the continent, he spent several years, the literary associate and companion of Budaen, Faber, Paulus Ĉmilius, Ruellius amd Francis Sylvius. While there he added to his knowledge of European languages, those of French, Italian and Spanish, and returned to England about the year 1537. Shortly after, Henry VIII., made him his chaplain, and conferred on him the rectory of Pepling, and about the same time created for him a new office, that of the "Kings Antiquary, which has the honorable distinction, that the office was created for John Leland, and expired with him, he being the first and last Royal Antiquary of England. With this commission he was authorized to survey and examine all the antiquities of the realm, monasteries, monastic and college libraries, natural curiosities, and whatever might contribute to the history of the country and the glory of the nation. In the execution of this trust he spent six years, visited every part of the island, "surveyed towns and cities and rivers; castles, cathedrals and monasteries; tumuli, coins and inscriptions; collected authors and transcribed manuscripts." Over his vast collection of materials he wrought six additional years, writing out, mostly, in elegant Latin, an account of his great discoveries. Henry was a munificent patron, conferring on his Antiquary valuable livings, and cheering him on in the accomplishment of his magnificent undertakings. "Henry," says D'Israeli, "was worthy of Leland, and the genius of the author was magnificent as that of the monarch who created it." Among other elegant fruits of the Antiquary Royal, was the production of his "Strena, or a New Year's Gift," which he presented to the king in 1545. "It consists," says the author just quoted, "of an account of his studies; and sketches with a fervid and vast imagination, his magnificent labor, which he had already inscribed with the title "De Antiquitate Britannica," and which was to be divided into as many books as there were shires. All parts of this Address of the King's Antiquary to the King, bear the stamp of his imagination and his taste." His principal great works are the following: "Commentarii de Scriptoribus," "The 'Itinerary," "De Rebus Britanicus Collectanĉ," and a work entitled "Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii Regis Britanniĉ," -relating to the illustrious Arthur, king of England.
In the midst of these great labors, the Antiquary frequently gave wings to his brilliant and chaste imagination, throwing off elegant effusions, sometimes in prose, but oftener in Latin and English verse; one of which, entitled the "Cygnea Cantio," or "the Song of the Swans," is still beautiful for its plan, and the subjects introduced. The Swan of Leland melodiously floats down the Thames from Oxford to Greenwich, and chants, as she passes along, the ancient names and honors of the towns and castles.
The genius of Leland was lofty and brilliant. Whatever he touched received the mark of his own greatness. Whether pouring over the dry details of antiquarian research, or striking the harp strings of the muses, he left the impress of a mind always profound, always brilliant, always alive to the honor and glory of his country. The man appears on every page; even his humbler efforts are worthy of himself. The king died soon after receiving the "New Year's Gift," and from this moment the Royal Antiquary was another being. His wonted energy gave way; the man of labor became melancholy, and began to look upon his vast labors with something of indifference. Once he had dreams of enduring and world-wide fame; in his hours of melancholy his ambition shrunk within the narrower limits of his own country and his own age. He gave vent to this feeling in the following beautiful Latin verse, taken from D'Israeli's " Miscellanies of Literature:-"POSTERITATIS AMOR DUBIUS "Posteritatis amor mihiperblanditur, et ultro
Promittit libris secula multa meis.
At non tam facile est oculato imponere, nasco,
Quom nom sim tali dignus honore frui.
Grĉcin magnilocuos vates desiderat ipsa,
Roma suos etiam disperiise dolet.
Examplis quum sim claris edoctus ab istis,
Qui sperem Musas vivere posse meas?
Certe mi sat erit prĉsenti scribere seculo;
Aribus et patriĉ complacuisse meĉ."Posteritatis Amor Dubuis- Imitated
"Posterity, thy soothing love I feel,
That o'er my volumes many an age may steal:
But hard it is the well-cleared eye to cheat
With honors undeserved, too fond deceit !
Greece, greatly eloquent, and full of fame,
Sighs for the want of many a perished name;
And Rome o'er her illustrious children mourns,
Their fame departing with their mouldering urns,
How can I hope, by such examples shown,
More than a transient day, a passing sun?
Enough for me to win the present age,
and please a brother with a brother's page."
This melancholy state of mind increased with time, and at length, involved the whole mental structure of the man. Various causes are assigned for this, and among them, the death of Henry, to whom the Antiquary seems to have been devotedly attached, has been regarded most prominent. It is also suggested by some writers, that his stipend or allowance was not regularly paid him under the new dynasty, but for this there does not seem to be any reliable evidence. The suggestion probably has its origin in some melancholy but touching Latin verses of the Antiquary, addressed to Archbishop Cranmer, which though abounding in allusions to the state of his mind, do not show any thing relating to his worldly prospects was the cause of his mental depression. The Catholics attributed it to remorse for having withdrawn from the church of Rome. True, John Leland did withdraw from the Catholic communion, and adopt the more simple tenets and less gorgeous ceremonials of the church of England, but it does not appear that he was not to the last perfectly satisfied with the step he had taken. The more probable solution is, that he had over taxed his mental powers, and sank under the magnitude of his self imposed labors. Be the cause of his disorder what it may, the disease terminated in a permanent state of mental aberration. Edward VI., the successor of Henry VIII., by letters patent, dated March 5th, 1550, granted custody of the Antiquary to his brother, and for his maintenance he was to receive the profits of the rectories of Hasely and Pepling, with his Salisbury prebend, which had been conferred on him by Henry VIII. He died April 18, 1552. His numerous manuscripts and vast collection of papers, were committed by the king to the care of Sir John Cheke, who shortly after left the country, leaving the manuscripts in the custody of Humphrey Punefoy, Esq. Burton, the historian, subsequently obtained possession of them, and also of eight other volumes of manuscripts in quarto, comprising the "Itenerary," all of which are now in the Bodlian Library, London. Another collection of John Leland's manuscripts is in the Cottonian Collection in the British Museum, among which are the Latin and English verses, written by the Antiquary, and spoken in the Pageant, as Ann Bolyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII., and mother of Queen Elizabeth, went to her coronation.
Leland has been the common fountain from which many subsequent writers on English antiquities have drawn. To him, Hollinshed, Drayton, Camden, Dugdale, Stowe, Sambord and Battelay are indebted for the best portions of their relative works - a noble fountain, which even those voluminous authors have not exhausted of its riches. He was buried in London, at the west end of Cheapside. The monument erected over his remains was destroyed by the great fire of 1666, and a street now passes over the place of his ashes. The following inscription, the authorship of which, tradition ascribes to the Antiquary himself, was, says Weever, inscribed upon his monument."Quantum Rhenano debit Germania docto
Tantum debebit terra Britanna mihi.
Ille suĉ gentis ritis et nomina prisca
Ĉstivo fecit lucidiora die.
Ipse antiquarum rerum quoque magnus amator
Ornabo patriĉ lumina clara meĉ.
Quĉ cum prodierint nivies inscripta tabellis
Tum testes nostrĉ sedulitatis erunt."Inscription on Leland's Monument-Imitated
"What Germany to learned Rhenanus owes,
That for my Britain shall my toil unclose;
His volumes mark their customs, names and climes,
And brighten, with a summers light, old times.
I also, touch'd by the same love, will write,
To ornament my country's splendid light.
Which shall, inscribed on snowy tablet, be
Full many a witness of my industry."Whether the family, in the time of the Antiquary, was numerous in England, or otherwise, is unknown to the writer.
Nearly a century and a half after, appeared the eminently illustrious theologian, John Leland, D. D., born at Wigan, in Lancashire in 1691. The family moved to Dublin during his childhood, where at the proper age, John entered upon his collegiate course of education. This completed, he prepared himself for the ministry, and was early settled over a congregation of Dissenters, in New Row, Dublin, about the year 1716. The father was cotemporary with Henry Leland, the ancestor of the American branch of the family, and in early life both were residents of nearly the same quarter of the island of Great Britain. Precisely what their relationship was, the writer has not been able to ascertain. As Dr. John Leland occupied an important place in the religious world, for the space of nearly half a century, a short account of his cast of mind and great labors may not be out of place.
Dr. Leland had the good sense to confine himself to the duties of his profession, and the results corresponded to the singleness of his life's purpose. To a mind eminently logical and analytical by nature, was added great historical and theological learning, resting on a memory vast and tenacious as his reading and observation were extensive. As a controversialist Dr. Leland had few equals, and fewer superiors. On all occasions he was ready to avow and to defend the faith that was in him. Learned, yet not ostentatious, fearless, yet far removed from recklessness or temerity, he met the opponents of Christianity, whether their approaches were openly or insidiously made, with a logical acuteness as admirable as it was irresistable. His first appearance, as an author, was in 1733, in answer to Tindal's book entitled "Christianity as Old as the Creation." This reply is a masterly refutation of the positions and assumptions of his able as well as ingenious antagonist, and brought its autor prominently before the public. In 1737, he encountered Thomas Morgan, a man of celebrity, who had just written a bold work, of doubtful morality, entitled "The Moral Philosopher." Dr. Leland's answer is entitled "The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament Asserted." In 1742, he wrote and published an answer to a pamphlet entitled "Christianity not founded on Argument;" amd in 1753, appeared his "Reflections on the Late Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study and Use of History, as they relate to Christianity and the Holy Scriptures." This is an admirable production, and added greatly to the fame of the author.
In 1754, Dr. Leland published his chief work entitled "A View of the Pricipal Deistical Writers that have appeared in England in the Last and Present Century," in letters to a friend. To this great work he subsequently appended a supplement, relating to the works of Hume and Lord Bolingbroke. This is a masterly effort of learned and logical acumen, from which subsequent writers have liberally drawn, when treating on the same subject. It is still a standard work, and of high authority amongst theologians. Dr. Leland gave to the world but one other work, and this after he was seventy years old. It is entitled "The Advantages and Necessity of the Christian Revelation." In reading it one hardly knows which most to admire, its admirable logic or its beautiful display of fervid piety. Though now superseded by other works on the same subject, more eloborately written, it is still resorted to, by thorough students, as well for its facts, as for its arguments. Dr. Leland died in 1766, being then in his seventy-fifth year. His sermons, in four volumes, were subsequently published by the Rev. Isaac Weld, his associate and colleague at the New Row Church, in Dublin.
Nearly cotemporary with Dr. John Leland, but younger, and a resident of the same city, was Thomas Leland, D. D., born in 1722. The writer is not informed as to the relationship existing between them. Thomas was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, at which institution, in 1763, he became professor of oratory; and shortly afterwards was appointed chaplain to the lord lieutenant of Ireland. He was not only a ripe, but an elegant scholar, and contributed largely to the literature of his time. His religious opinions were those of the church of England, of which he is said to have been a brilliant ornament. As an author he is well known to scholars and general readers of the present day; his principal works being still found in nearly all public, and in many private libraries. While occupying the professorship of oratory he translated from the Greek into Latin, the orations of Demosthenes, and subsequently put them in an English dress. His translation of three celebrated orations is still the very best extant, a beautiful model of correct rendering, and elegant English. He also translated the orations of Ĉschines with equal fidelity, and no less credit to himself. About the same time, or perhaps a little before, an ingenious historical romance appeared entitled "Longsword," the authorship of which, though never avowed by Dr. Leland, is, and was believed, during his life, to have emanated from his pen. Of this book the writer knows nothing, never having seen a copy. It is said to possess some points of real excellence and great beauty.
Dr. Thomas Leland's most eloborate work, is a history of Ireland, in three volumes, quarto, commencing with the invasion of Henry II., and bringing the narration down to the time of the flight of James II., and the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England. The work is written in a plain, matter of fact style, according to the custom of that day, without much ornament, and with less of disquisition. It is, nevertheless, regarded as a faithful chronicle of events as they transpired within the period embraced, and altogether, a valuable standard work.
Another considerable work from the pen of Dr. Leland; is his "Life of Phillip of Macedon," a well written and very insructive book. This was followed by an elaborate "Dissertation on the Priciples of Oratory," an able and valuable work for the time, but now superseded by books of higher finish, and more in consonance with modern practice.
Dr. Leland was, during a long literary life, on terms of intimacy with many of the distinguished scholars of his age. It was at his suggestion, in 1765, in concurrence with Dr. Andrews, that Trinity College, conferred on Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer, its highest academic honor, that of L.L.D. Dr. Leland obtained the prebend of Notmichael in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, Dublin, where he occasionally officiated, with great satisfaction to the people, and with credit of heart. He died in 1785, at the age of sixty-three. He left a family, but how numerous, is unknown to the writer. The name of his oldest son, was, or is, if living, John, who, it is beleived, is the father of the present eminent physician and surgeon, Dr. Leland of Dublin. The present "North Ireland Street," Dublin, derives its name from this family.
The transatlantic branch of the family is still numerous in England, there being both at London and Liverpool, several houses of extensive business and sound reputation, all descendants, like the American branch, from a common ancestry. Of these, it is not in place here, to speak in detail.
CUI DEBEO FIDUS
From Scott Hayes, St. Patricks Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland- 1768 - Thomas Leland succeeded to the Prebendary of RATHMICHAEL. Collated and instituted by the Bishop of the Diocese on the 11 March. Installed as a member of the Chapter on 17 March (St Patrick's Day) Sources: Dioces Register of Dublin, Chapter Books of St Patrick's, Dictionary of National Biography Died August 1785 ALL THE ABOVE IS TAKEN FROM "THE FASTI OF ST PATRICK'S",H.J.LAWLOR,Published 1930 by W Tempest, Dundalk. June 16, 2000; R.M.Leland III