Leslie, John

Leslie, John D.D., a noted prelate of the Irish Church, father of the celebrated Charles Leslie, was descended from an ancient family, and born in the north of Scotland about the beginning of the 17th century, and was educated at Aberdeen and at Oxford. Afterwards he traveled in Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. He spoke French, Spanish, and Italian with the same propriety and fluency as the natives; and was; so great a master of the Latin that it was said of him when in Spain, "Solus Lesleius Latine loquitur." He continued twenty-two years abroad, and during that time was at the siege of Rochelle, and in the expedition to the isle of Rhe with the duke of Buckingham. He was all along conversant in courts, and at home was happy in that of Charles I, who admitted him into his privy council both in Scotland and Ireland, in which stations he was continued by Charles II after the Restoration. His chief preferment in the Church of Scotland was the bishopric of the Orkneys, whence he was translated to Raphoe, in Ireland, in 1633, and the same year sworn a privy councilor in that kingdom. During the Rebellion he openly and valiantly espoused the cause of his royal master, and after the Restoration was translated to the see of Clogher. He died in 1671. See Chambers, Biog. of Eminent Scotsmen, s.v.