LEIGH

leigh, edward (1602-1671), english puritan and theologian, was born at shawell, leicestershire. he was educated at magdalen hall, oxford, from 1616, and subsequently became a member of the middle temple. in 1636 he entered parliament as member for stafford, and during the civil war held a colonelcy in the parliamentary army. he has sometimes been confounded with john ley (1583-1662), and so represented as having sat in the westminster assembly. the public career of leigh terminated with his expulsion from parliament with the rest of the presbyterian party in 1648. from an early age he had studied theology and produced numerous compilations, the most important being the _critica sacra, containing observations on all the radices of the hebrew words of the old and the greek of the new testament_ (1639-1644; new ed., with supplement, 1662), for which the author received the thanks of the westminster assembly, to whom it was dedicated. his other works include _select and choice observations concerning the first twelve caesars_ (1635); _a treatise of divinity_ (1646-1651); _annotations upon the new testament_ (1650), of which a latin translation by arnold was published at leipzig in 1732; _a body of divinity_ (1654); _a treatise of religion and learning_ (1656); _annotations of the five poetical books of the old testament_ (1657). leigh died in staffordshire in june 1671.