LEX LOCI. See CONFLICT OF LAWS. LEYDEN, or LEIDEN, li'den. one of the oldest and most famous cities of the Netherlands, situated in the Province of South holland, ou sev eral arms of the Old Rhine, 22 miles southwest of Amsterdam and six miles inland( Nlap: Nether lands, C 2). It is a regularly built town. and is too large for its present population. Of its churches the most noteworthy are Saint Pan cras (Hooglandsche Berk), a- fine late Gothic building originally erected in the fifteenth cen tury and restored in ISS5; and the Church of Saint Peter. dating from 1315, and containing many monuments to distinguished scientist-. The sixteenth-century town hall in Dutch style, and the Lakenhal ('cloth hall') or Municipal Museum. dating from the seventeenth century, are the most prominent secular buildings. On an elevation in the centre of the town are the ruins of the old Burg. Besides its university (see LEYDEN, UNIVERSITY OF) , to which it chiefly owes its fame, Leyden has a gymnasium. two other high schools. and a navigation school. Lev den was the birthplace of Rembrandt. In the
fifteenth century its textiles were famous throughout Europe. The chief manufactures are various woolen products, cotton goods. leather. iron products. and spirits. There is a consider able trade in local manufactures and dairy prod ucts. The population of Leyden is believed to have been about 100.000 in the eighteenth cen tury. In 1900 it was 54.421.
The most brilliant event in the history of Lev den was its heroic defense against the Spaniards. who besieged the city for a whole year—I573-74. The citizens withstood the siege almost to the last point of endurance, when William of Orange at last relieved them by opening the dikes and flooding the country. From 1609 to 1620 Ley den was the place of refuge of a band of English Non-Conformists from among whom came the 'Pilgrims' who founded Plymouth Colony. In 181)7 a large section of the most beautiful quarter of the city was laid in ruins by the explosion of a pimder-ship in the river. This part. is now occupied by a park.