Leckey, William

Leckey, William, a Presbyterian minister in Ireland, flourished in the second half of the 17th century. He made himself conspicuous by the part he took in the Blood plot — an attempt, after the Restoration, to complicate the Nonconformists and the government by warring against Romanism. He was imprisoned May 22, 1663, and, refusing to conform, was condemned to death, and executed on July 15 at Gallows Green, near Dublin. Leckey was a fine preacher and an able scholar, a fellow of the College of Dublin, which high school petitioned for his life. This request was granted upon the conformity of Leckey, which, as we have seen above, he refused. See Reid, Hist. of the Presbyterian Ch. in Ireland, 2:275-282. Leclerc, David, a Protestant theologian, was born at Geneva Feb. 19,1591. He studied at Geneva, Strasburg, and Heidelberg, and in 1615 went to England to perfect himself in the study of Hebrew. He subsequently returned to his native place, and in 1618 was appointed professor of Hebrew at the university. He was ordained for the ministry in 1628, and died April 21, 1654. He wrote Quaestiones sacrae, in quibus multa Scripturae loca variaque linguae sacrae idiomata explicatvur, etc.; accesserunt similium argumentorumn diatribm Steph. Clerici (Amst. 1685, 8vo): — Orationes (13), conspectus ecclesiasticus et poemata; accedunt Steph. Clerici Dissertationes philologicae (Amsterd. 1687, 8vo): — a Latin translation of Buxtorf's Synagogue (Basle, 1641, 8vo and 4to); etc. See La Vie de ravid Leclerc, in his Questiones sacrae; Senebier, Iist. Literaire de Geneve; Haag, La France Protestante; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 30:195.