LEAD, led, or LEADS, MRS. Jane (Ward), English mystic: b. County of Nor folk, 1623; d. Stepney, 19 Aug. 1704. She came of an excellent family and at 16 is said to have heard a miraculous voice during the Christ mas festivities in her father's house, after which time she devoted herself seriously to religion. She was married in 1654, widowed in 1670, and thereafter lived in seclusion in Lon don with her only daughter. Her inclination toward mysticism was accentuated by her study of the works of Jacob Boehme, and in April 1670 she began her spiritual diary in which she recorded her frequent prophetic visions. The diary was published in two volumes, 'The Heavenly Cloud' (1681) and 'The Revelation of Revelations) (1683). In 1693 one of the books was translated into Dutch and German by Fischer of Rotterdam and attracted con siderable attention. Francis Lee, a y Oxonian traveling in Holland, was induce upon his return to England to make Mrs. Lead's acquaintance and urge her to further writing. Lee was deeply influenced by her sincere piety, became her secretary and after being adopted as her son married her daughter.
Lee wrote many of Mrs. Lead's works at her dictation, and was instrumental in the organiza tion of a society of theosophists called the of whom Mrs. Lead was the head, and whose membership included many followers throughout England, Holland and Germany. Mrs. Lead's closing years were clouded by poverty and jealousies among her followers, one of whom, however, granted her a small annuity. She died in one of the alms houses of Lady Mico at Stepney. Lee, who remained faithful to her, wrote a descrip tion of her death, 'The Last Hours of Jane Lead,' which was translated into German. During Mrs. Lead's lifetime her voluminous writings enjoyed a wide vogue but they are now rare. She wrote also 'Enochian Walks with (1694); 'The Laws of Paradise' (1695) ; 'A Fountain of Gardens' (4 vols., 1696-1701) ; 'A Living Funeral (1702), etc.