Lee, Samtiel (2), a minister of the United Pres- byterian Church, born at Jericho, Yt., July 20, 1805, was converted at the age of nineteen, and educated at Ver- mont University. He studied theology at Auburn Seminary, and was licensed and ordained by Oneida Congregational Council Sept. 23, 1834. He spent one year of his ministry at Cazenovia, N. Y'., and then went to Northern Ohio, and took charge of the Church in Me- dina, Ohio. Afterwards his labors were divided between the churches of Mantua and Streetsborough, Ohio. He died Jan. 28, 18GG.— Wilson, Presb. Hist. A Im. 1867, p. 310. Lee, "Wilson, an early Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born in Sussex County, Del., in 1761 ; entered the itinerancy in 1784; labored extensively in the West, mostly in Kentucky, until 1794, when he was appointed to New London, Conn. ; to New York in 1795 ; to Phil- adelphia in 1796-7-8 ; to Baltimore District in 1801-2-3 ; superannuated in 1804, and died in Arundel County, Md., Oct. 1 1 of the same year. Mr. Lee was '-one of the most laborious and successful jNIethodist preachers of his time." He was eminently shi'ewd and circumspect, and deeply pious. He was '■ a witness of the perfect love of God for many years before he died. He was an excel- lent presiding elder, and an eloquent, argumentative, and often overpowering preacher. His labors in the West were very heroic, and contributed largely to the evangelization of Kentuckj' and Tennessee." — Minutes of Conferences, i, 127; i^{Q\e\vi, Memorials of Methodism, ch. xviii ; Bangs, Hist. Meth. Episc. Ch. vol. i. (G. L. T.) Leech. See Horse-lef.ch.
Leek ("I'^^n, chatsir', from '^^'n, to enclose, also to grow green ; occurs in several places in the Old Testa- ment, where it is variously translated, as gi-ass in 1 Kings xviii, 5 ; 2 Kings xix, 26 ; Job xl, 1 5 ; Psa. xxxvii, 2, etc.; Isa. xv, 6, etc.; herb in Job viii, 12; hay in Prov. xxvii, 25, and Isa. xv, 6 ; and court in Isa. xxxiv, 13; but in Numb, xi, 5 it is translated '-leeks;" Sept. to. ■rpc'iaa, Yii\g. porri). Hebrew scholars state that the \\OTd signifies '• greens" or '• grass" in general ; and it is no doubt clear, from the context of most of the above
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passages, that this must be its meaning. See Grass. There is, therefore, no reason why it should not be so translated in all the passages where it occurs, except in tlie last. It is evidently incorrect to translate it hay, as in the above passages of Proverbs and Isaiah, because the people of Eastern countries, as it has been observed, do not make hay. The author of Fragments, in contin- uation of Calmet, has justly remarked on the incorrect- ness of our version, '• The hay appeareth, and the tender yrass showeth itself, and the heibs of the mountains are gathered'' (Prov. xxvii, 25) : " Now certainly,'' says he, '■if the tender ffiriss is but just beginning to show itself, the hay, which is grass cut and dried after it has arrived at maturity, ought by no means to be associated with it; still less ought it to be placed before it." The au- thor continues: "The word, I apprehend, means the tirst shoots, the rising, just budding spires of grass." So in Isa. XV, G. See Hay.
In the passage at Numb, xi, 5, where the Israelites in the desert long for '• the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic" of Egypt, it is evident that it was not grass which they desired for food, but some green, perhaps grass-like vegetable, for wliich the word chatsir is used. In the same way that in this country the word greens is applied to many vari-
The Leek {Allium Porrum).
eties of succulent plants as food, in India suhzi, from suhz, '• green," is used as a general term for herbs cooked as kitchen vegetables. It is more tlian probable, there- fore, that chatsir is here similarly employed, though this does not ])rove that leeks- are intended. Ludolphus, as quoted by Celsius {Ilierohot. ii, 2G4), supposes that it may mean lettuce, or salads in general, and others that the succory or endive may be the true plant. But Eo- senmiiUer states, " Tlie most ancient Greek and the Clialdee translators unanimously interpret the Hebrew l)y the Greek -iroaaa, or leeks." The name, moreover, seems to have been specially applied to leeks from the resemblance of their leaves to grass, and from their be- ing conspicuous for their green color. This is evident from minerals even having been named from Trpaaov on account of their color, as prasius, prasites, and chry- soprasium. Tlie Arabs use the wortl h'lras, or Jcuraf/i, as tlie translation of the -pcKrof of the Greeks, and with tliem it signifies the leek, both at the present dav and in their older works. It is curious that of tlic dif- ferent kinds described, one is called kurusal-bukl, or leek used as a vegetable. That the leek is esteemed in Egypt we have the testimony' of Hasschpitst, who says {Travels, p. 291), '• The kind called karrat by the Arabs must certainly have been one of those desired by the children of Israel, as it has been cultivated and esteemed from the earliest times to the present time m Egypt."