LEE 305 ford circuit, Conn. The peculiarities of Lee's preaching awakened general attention. After visiting Norwalk, New Haven, and other towns, and establishing classes, he visited Boston in 1790, and preached his first sermon on the common. For six years he travelled through- out nearly all New England, penetrating to the remotest N. E. portions, preaching in private houses, in barns, and on the highways, forming new circuits, and directing the labors of his assistants. In 1796 he became an assistant to Asbury in preaching, holding conferences, and superintending the churches. Subsequently to 1800 he spent most of his time in the south. He ever studied the interests of the church, and aimed to perfect her polity. In 1808 he advo- cated a delegated general conference, a plan that had been suggested by him 14 years be- fore ; and this plan was adopted soon after, the general conference thus becoming the supreme authority of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1807, 1812, and 1813 he was elected chap- lain of the house of representatives at Wash- ington, and in 1814 the senate, which office he filled to the time of his death. In 1807 he published a " History of Methodism," which was the first work on that subject, and is a most valuable authority on the early history of this church. See "Life and Times of Jesse Lee," by Leroy M. Lee (Kichmond, 1848). LEE, Leroy Madison, an American clergyman, born in Petersburg, Va., April 30, 1808. He studied law, but entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1828. He occu- pied important stations in the Virginia confer- ence till 1836, when he was appointed editor of the " Richmond Christian Advocate." He was a member of the general conference of 1844, and took an active part in the events which resulted in the division of the church, and like- wise represented the Virginia conference in the convention at Louisville in 1845, when the organization of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, was effected. Retiring from the edi- torial management of the " Richmond Chris- tian Advocate " in December, 1858, he resumed the work of the itinerant ministry, and is now (1874) presiding elder of the Petersburg dis- trict, Virginia conference. Besides occasional sermons, he has published "Letters to a Young Convert," "Life and Times of Jesse Lee" (Richmond, 1848), "Confirmation," and a small volume on "Perseverance." LEE, Lather, an American clergyman, born in Schoharie, N. Y., Nov. 30, 1800. He united with the Methodist Episcopal church in 1821, and soon began to preach. In 1827 he joined the Genesee conference, and was stationed at Malone, N. Y., with a circuit embracing the entire county of Franklin, portions of Clin- ton and St. Lawrence, and appointments in Lower Canada. During the six years that were spent in the St. Lawrence region, Mr. Lee was engaged in several important doctrinal controversies that produced a very deep im- pression throughout the country. From 1833 to 1838 he was stationed at Lowville, Water- town, and Fulton. In 1838 he engaged in lec- turing against slavery, and in 1841 assumed the editorial management of the "New England Christian Advocate," an anti-slavery journal published at Lowell, Mass. Soon after he is- sued a paper entitled " The Sword of Truth," and in the autumn of 1842, in connection with the Rev. Orange Scott, he began a weekly journal called " The True Wesleyan." When in 1843 the "Wesleyan Methodist Connec- tion" was organized, he became pastor of a church in Syracuse, N. Y. At the first gen- eral conference of the Wesleyan church, he was chosen president; and he was editor of the "True Wesleyan," the organ of that body, published in New York, till 1852, after which he became successively pastor of churches in Syracuse and Fulton, N. Y. In 1856 he was elected president and professor of theology of Michigan Union college at Leoni ; but the fol- lowing year he resigned this office and served churches in Ohio. From 1864 to 1867 he was connected with Adrian college, Mich. ; but at the latter date he withdrew from the Wesley- an church and returned to the Methodist Epis- copal church, because slavery, the cause of the organization of the former, having been abol- ished, he saw no sufficient reason for its con- tinuance. Since 1867 he has been a member of the Michigan conference, and now (1874) resides at Northville, Mich. He is the author of the following works : " TJniversalism Exam- ined and Refuted " (1836) ; " The Immortality of the Soul" (1846); "Revival Manual" (1850); "Church Polity" (1850); "Slavery Examined in the Light of the Bible " (1855); and " Elements of Theology " (1856). LEE, Nathaniel, an English dramatic poet, born at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, about 1657, killed in London in 1691. He was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, and on leaving the univer- sity tried to push his fortunes at court; but not being successful, he began to write for the stage. From 1675 to 1681 he produced a new play every year. He became insane in 1684, and was confined in Bedlam for four years, when, having recovered his reason, he was lib- erated and resumed his former occupation. He is said to have lost his life in a noctur- nal riot. He was an admirer and imitator of Dryden, whom he assisted in writing " (Edi- pus" and the "Duke of Guise." He was the author of 11 tragedies, two of which, "Theodosius" and "Alexander the Great," were long popular on the stage. LEE, Mrs. R. Bowdieh, an English authoress, born about 1800, died in 1856. During a resi- dence in Gold Coast colony, Africa, whither her first husband, Mr. T. E. Bowdieh, had been sent on a mission of pacification to the Ashan- tees, she collected the materials for an inter- esting work, which appeared in 1825 under the title of " Stories of Strange Lands." An- other work of the same character, entitled The African Wanderers" (3d ed., 1854), has
