discipline. On 18 June 1577 the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry directed him, in the queen's name, to suppress the prophesyings which he encouraged in his archdeaconry. He left London for Sherburn in July 1577, and died on the road at Ware. He was buried in the chancel of the chapel of Sherburn Hospital, beneath a blue marble stone, on which are inscribed the words, ‘Preacher to King Edward VI.’
In the spring of 1559 he married a widow with three children. A daughter was born to him in July 1560, and he had a son, Sampson.
Lever was, according to Baker, a man of ‘much natural probity and blunt native honesty.’ ‘Preaching, indeed, was his talent.’ His sermons resembled Latimer's in their bluntness and boldness, and his reputation was made by his sharp rebukes of the courtiers when preaching before Edward VI. Baker, the historian of St. John's College, Cambridge, described him as ‘one of the best masters, as well as one of the best men, the college ever bred.’ He also showed much wisely directed energy at Sherburn Hospital, where he was succeeded by his brother Ralph.
Lever's works were: 1. ‘A fruitful Sermon made in Poules Churche, at London, in the Shroudes, the Seconde Daye of February 1549–1550,’ London (by John Daye and William Seres), 8vo, 9 April 1550 (Brit. Mus.). 2. ‘A Sermon preached the iiij Sonday in Lent before ye Kynges Majestie, and his honourable Counsell, Anno Domini mcccccl,’ London (by John Daye), 8vo, 9 April 1550. Some title-pages of this sermon describe it erroneously as ‘preached ye third Sundaye in Lent’ (cf. Nichols, Lit. Mem. of Edward VI, Roxb. Club, vol. i. p. cxxxvi; STRYPE, Eccl. Memorials, ii. 261, 272). 3. ‘A Sermon preached at Pauls Crosse the xiiii Day of December,’ London (by John Daye), 1550, 8vo (Bodleian); reprinted in 1572. 4. ‘A Meditacion upon the Lorde's Prayer, made at Sayncte Mary Wolchurche in London, Anno mdli,’ London (by John Daye), 8vo, 1551. 5. ‘A Treatise of the right Way from the Danger of Sinne and Vengeance in this wicked Worlde, unto Godly Wealth and Salvation in Christe,’ Geneva, 1556; newly augmented 1571, London (by Henry Bynneman), 8vo, 1571, 1575. The sermons numbered 1, 2, and 3 were reissued (as ‘Three fruitfull sermons, now newlie perused’) by Lever in 1572 (Lambeth and St. John's College, Cambridge), and they were reprinted by Professor Arber in 1871.
To John Bradford's ‘Godly Meditations,’ London, 1567, Lever contributed a preface ‘showing the true understanding of God's Word,’ and ‘A Meditation on the Tenth Commandment’ (see Bradford, Works, ed. Townsend, i. 565, 569). Some prayers by him appear in ‘A collection by certain godly learned men,’ London (by William Powell), n. d. 8vo, and he helped to compose ‘An Admonition to the Parliament for the Reformation of Church Discipline.’
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 366–8, 565; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Arber's reprint of Lever's three sermons pref. and introd. 1871; Baker's Hist. of St. John's College, Cambridge, ed. Mayor, esp. i. 130–6; Strype's Works; Le Neve's Fasti; Nichols's Lit. Memorials of Edward VI.]
LEVERIDGE, RICHARD (1670?–1758), vocalist, song-writer, and composer, was born in London about 1670. He sang in the celebration of St. Cecilia's day in 1695, and is said by Rimbault to have been a celebrity at Bartholomew Fair before the close of the century. Leveridge was also a member of the Drury Lane company, and took part in the ‘Island Princess,’ as altered by Motteux and revived in 1699, with music composed by Daniel Purcell, Jeremiah Clarke, and himself. Leveridge's ‘Enthusiastick Song’ was long a popular number. On 21 Nov. 1702 ‘Macbeth’ was revived at Drury Lane, ‘with vocal and instrumental music all new composed by Mr. Leveridge, and performed by him and others.’ This music has not been identified with certainty. It seems improbable that it was the music popularly associated with ‘Macbeth,’ which seems to have been first produced in 1672, and, although ascribed in error to Matthew Locke [q. v.], is with greater probability assigned to Henry Purcell [q. v.] Incidental music to ‘Macbeth’ was used for many seasons at Drury Lane, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and ‘probably by the same company’ at Covent Garden in 1735 and following years, being advertised as ‘the music proper to the play.’ In 1738 at Covent Garden ‘Macbeth’ was announced ‘with the original music,’ and Leveridge sang. He usually took the part of Hecate (cf. Walpole, Letters, vi. 339). Between 1703 and 1708 Leveridge sang at Drury Lane in the revivals of Purcell's operas and masques, ‘Fairy Queen,’ ‘Timon of Athens,’ ‘Amphitrion,’ ‘Libertine Destroyed,’ ‘Tempest,’ ‘King Arthur,’ ‘Indian Queen,’ ‘Œdipus;’ between 1705 and 1708 in Locke's ‘Psyche;’ and in ‘Arsinoe,’ ‘Camilla,’ ‘Rosamond,’ and ‘Thomyris.’ The opera company migrated to the Haymarket in 1708, where Leveridge took part in ‘Love's Triumph’ (Grove), in Handel's ‘Faithful Shepherd,’ 1712, and in ‘Theseus,’ 1713. From about 1715 to 1732 he sang at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, with an interval of retirement about
