LELAND, or LAYLONDE, JOHN, 1500-52; b. England; having under the patron age of Thomas Myles studied ancient and modern languages at St. Paul's school with William Lilly as instructor, and at Cambridge and at Oxford, he pursued the same studies in Paris. In 1533, having filled the office of chaplain to Henry VIII., who gave him the rectory of Popeling, near Calais, and made him librarian, he was commissioned as his antiquary to explore the antiquities of the cathedrals, colleges, abbes, and pri ories of his realm, receiving a stipend and a consideration for non-residence on his living. On his return in 1542 he was rewarded by Henry VIII. with the rectory of Hasely, in Oxfordshire, and a canonry of King's college, Oxford. In 1545, having lost his canonry by the surrender of that college to the king, he was awarded the prebend of East and West Knowle, in the church of Sarum. He was celebrated as a linguist and poet. In 1549 there appeared from his pen A New Yeare's Gift to King Henry VIII in time 37th Yeare of his Raygne. During the preparation of his voluminous manuscripts he
withdrew to his house in •the parish of St. Michael le Querne, London. In 1709 his Commentarii de Scrintoribus Brittanicis appeared in 2 vols.; in 1710-12, Itinerary of Eng land, 9 vols.; in 1715, De Rebus Brittanicis Colleclanea. His manuscripts which descended from Humphrey Purefoy to Burton, the historian of Leicestershire, were deposited by him in the Bodleian library at Oxford; others that came into the possession of sir Robert Cotton, were placed in the British museum. He was associated with Nicholas Udall in preparing the English and Latin verses which were recited on the occasion of the coro nation of Anne Boleyn. Leland's Remains were a convenient fund for Stowe, Camden, Lambarde, Dugdale, and Burton to draw upon in- their antiquarian works. He was buried in the church of St. Michael le Querne. For several years previous to his death his mind was disordered, the result of protracted and solitary study.