articles on commercial questions relating to the Channel Islands, which were contributed to Jonathan Duncan's ‘Guernsey Magazine’ (1836–8). In 1848 appeared a remarkable essay by Le Quesne, entitled ‘Ireland and the Channel Islands, or a Remedy for Ireland.’ He attributed the discontent in Ireland mainly to the system of land tenure, and suggested the application to Ireland of the land system of the Channel Islands, which divides the land among many small proprietors. In 1856, the year of his death, Le Quesne published a ‘Constitutional History of Jersey,’ a standard work, from which quotation has frequently been made in lawsuits relating to the Channel Islands heard before the privy council. The ‘History’ is written in English, and prints for the first time many valuable documents. Part of its contents was borrowed from Edward Durell's edition of Falle's ‘History,’ 1837.
Le Quesne was elected a jurat of the Royal Court of Jersey on 2 July 1850; was officer in the island artillery, and president of the Jersey chamber of commerce.
Le Quesne was an active and liberal member of the states of Jersey, and, though attached to the constitution of the island, was a staunch supporter of useful and progressive reform. He died on 18 Aug. 1856 at St. Helier. He married Kate, daughter of Colonel English, R.E.
[Payne's Armorial of Jersey, p. 250; local newspapers.]
LERPINIERE, DANIEL (1745?–1785), engraver, was born in England, probably of French parentage, about 1745. He was instructed by Francis Vivares [q. v.], whose manner he followed, and was afterwards employed exclusively by Messrs. Boydell, for whom he engraved some fine plates, chiefly landscapes, between 1776 and 1785. Among these were ‘The Young Herdsman’ and ‘Evening,’ after Cuyp; ‘The Molten Calf,’ ‘The Flight into Egypt,’ and ‘St. George and the Dragon,’ after Claude; six plates of rural amusements, after Loutherbourg; six British naval victories, after R. Paton; ‘Morning,’ after Pynacker; two views of London and three views in Jamaica, after G. Robertson; two Italian landscapes, after J. Taylor; and ‘Calm’ and ‘Storm,’ after J. Vernet. He also engraved some of the views in the third volume of Stuart's ‘Antiquities of Athens.’ Lerpiniere exhibited a few drawings and engravings with the Free Society of Artists between 1773 and 1783. He died at Walcot Place, Lambeth, in 1785.
[Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers (Armstrong); Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Strutt's Dict. of Engravers; Dodd's Collections in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 33399.]
LESIEUR, Sir STEPHEN (fl. 1586–1627), ambassador, seems to have been a Frenchman. He was living at Dunkirk in January 1586, and in October of that year became secretary to the French ambassador in England. In May 1589 he tried to become a denizen, and succeeded shortly afterwards. Cecil took him into the public service about 1598. In October 1602 he was sent with Lord Eure, Sir John Herbert, and Dr. Daniel Donne [q. v.], to treat with the king of Denmark and the Hanse Towns at Bremen. While he was at Bremen the queen died, to the great injury, he afterwards complained, of his prospects. On 25 June 1603 he was sent on an embassy to the emperor, Rudolph II. In March 1605 he was living next to York House in London. He seems to have had a pension of 50l. a year from 1605, and on 31 Jan. 1607–8 he received a grant of 4,000l. of old crown debts to recover. James I also, on 23 March 1608, gave him 1,000l. In 1608 he seems to have been in Florence, in 1609 he went on an embassy to the archduke, and in Nov. 1609 he set out for Florence again, when the Bishop of Winchester asked him to take his son with him. At Florence he had small success, and going to the emperor in 1612–3, he was recalled as ‘unacceptable.’ He remained, however, at Prague till April 1614, and wrote his name in an autograph book belonging to John Opsimathis of Moravia, which is preserved in the British Museum (Eg. MS. 52). Letters of Lesieur between 1597 and 1603 are mentioned in ‘Hist. MSS. Comm.’ 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Reps. He seems to have had no further public employment, and in 1627 petitioned Charles I for the continuance of the pension which James I had granted to him. The date of his death is uncertain. He married by license, granted 21 Dec. 1592, Mary, widow of Francis Littleton.
[Calendars of State Papers, Dom. 1581–1628, passim; Syllabus to Rymer's Fœdera, 828–31; Chester's London Marriage Licenses; Devon's Issues of the Exchequer.]
LESLEY. [See also Leslie and Lesly.]
LESLEY, ALEXANDER (1693–1758), jesuit, born in Aberdeenshire 7 Nov. 1693, was third son of Alexander Leslie, third baron of Pitcaple, by his second wife Henrietta Irvine of Drum. After having gone through a course of classics at Douay he completed his studies at Rome; entered the
